WILMINGTON, DEL. - Accused murderer Irina Malinovskaya once again broke down in tears Friday as prosecutors attacked her for lying about her whereabouts in the days preceding the murder of her ex-lover's girlfriend.
The Wharton undergraduate allegedly bludgeoned to death Temple graduate student Irina Zlotnikov in Zlotnikov's boyfriend Robert Bondar's Delaware apartment in Dec. 2004.
Following the prosecution's cross-examination of the defendant, the defense rested its case Friday in the second retrial of the case, which previously ended in two hung juries.
Lead prosecutor Paul Wallace focused his questioning on Malinovskaya's lies and her obsession with Bondar.
Malinovskaya said she lied to detectives about renting a car to visit Bondar in the days before the murder because she did not want her boyfriend, Sergey Dedov, to find out about their meeting.
"You didn't want to face the consequences, so you lied?" Wallace asked.
"I did," Malinovskaya responded.
As Wallace continued to press Malinovskaya about her admitted lies, the Wharton undergraduate began to weep softly. She had also burst into tears during the second trial when a member of Zlotnikov's family yelled out in the middle of her testimony that she had committed the murder.
Malinovskaya has repeatedly testified that she went to Delaware to get Bondar's help on some academic papers, but she could not recall the papers' topics or the classes they were for.
She also admitted to waiting outside of Bondar's apartment for nearly 15 hours and following him and Zlotnikov to a local shopping center the day before the murder.
"I was curious to see his new girlfriend," Malinovskaya said. "I figured since I'm already there, some time more wouldn't make a difference."
Several witnesses have testified that they saw Malinovskaya pacing outside the apartment the morning of the murder as well. Malinovskaya said Bondar asked her to meet him there at that time, but he stood her up.
"You're telling the jury that he invited you back when his girlfriend was there and he was at work?" Wallace said.
Though Malinoskaya admitted to visiting Bondar unannounced on other occasions, she said they had arranged that meeting.
Wallace also pointed to a schedule that Malinovskaya had compiled of Bondar's classes on her computer, unbeknownst to Bondar. Computer records show she accessed the document just before leaving for Delaware.
Wallace also questioned Malinovskaya on a piece of paper found in her possession that contained Bondar's and his ex-wife's social security numbers, his parents' home address and his licence plate number.
She testified that Bondar voluntarily gave her the information.
After the defendant repeatedly failed to directly respond to his questions, Wallace said, "Are you going to answer the question I've actually asked you?"
Under questioning from the defense, Malinovskaya later said the pressure of testifying is intense, especially as a non-native English speaker.
"It's indescribable," Malinovskaya said. "It's for my life."
Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday, after which the jury will begin its deliberations.
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