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Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 1/11/07 Section: News
Experts: Conviction unlikely for Malinovskaya in retrial
Third effort likely a waste of time for Malinovskaya prosecution, experts say
Clint Cohen
Experts say a third trial for Irina Malinovskaya is unlikely to win a conviction for the prosecution - and some even suggest that the defense will have a better chance at an acquittal.
Criminal-defense attorney Patrick Artur and Penn Law professor David Rudovsky said yesterday that, by the time a criminal case reaches its third trial, prosecutors have usually had an adequate chance to convict the accused.
"If the state can't convict [the suspect] in two trials, I think it's fair to say that, maybe, that's the limit," Rudovsky said.
He added that there are exceptions to this rule, although they are rare.
Malinovskaya, a Wharton undergraduate, is being charged once again with the first-degree murder of Irina Zlotnikov, a graduate student at Temple University, Delaware state prosecutor Bill George said.
Her first trial ended last February with a hung jury, 11-1 in favor of acquittal. A second trial in October ended with another hung jury, this time in a dead heat, at 6-6.
Artur said that a retrial "does not enhance the prosecution's chances normally," and that in fact it is more likely to improve the case for the defense.
With each new trial, "the witnesses start having multiple statements and multiple versions of reality that create multiple contradictions," he said.
And those witness inconsistencies, Artur said, "give the defense more ammunition."
Barring these inconsistencies, neither Rudovsky nor Artur expected new facts to be introduced during a third trial.
"You can pretty much expect to hear the same testimony," Rudovsky said.
Artur, however, did not completely rule out the possibility of new witnesses.
"Sometimes [through] the publication and notoriety of the case," he said, "you get people coming out of the woodwork."
He added, however, that "that's not usually the case."
And if the prosecution is not successful the third time around, they may not get another chance to take Malinovskaya to court, Rudovsky said.
Criminal-defense attorney Patrick Artur and Penn Law professor David Rudovsky said yesterday that, by the time a criminal case reaches its third trial, prosecutors have usually had an adequate chance to convict the accused.
"If the state can't convict [the suspect] in two trials, I think it's fair to say that, maybe, that's the limit," Rudovsky said.
He added that there are exceptions to this rule, although they are rare.
Malinovskaya, a Wharton undergraduate, is being charged once again with the first-degree murder of Irina Zlotnikov, a graduate student at Temple University, Delaware state prosecutor Bill George said.
Her first trial ended last February with a hung jury, 11-1 in favor of acquittal. A second trial in October ended with another hung jury, this time in a dead heat, at 6-6.
Artur said that a retrial "does not enhance the prosecution's chances normally," and that in fact it is more likely to improve the case for the defense.
With each new trial, "the witnesses start having multiple statements and multiple versions of reality that create multiple contradictions," he said.
And those witness inconsistencies, Artur said, "give the defense more ammunition."
Barring these inconsistencies, neither Rudovsky nor Artur expected new facts to be introduced during a third trial.
"You can pretty much expect to hear the same testimony," Rudovsky said.
Artur, however, did not completely rule out the possibility of new witnesses.
"Sometimes [through] the publication and notoriety of the case," he said, "you get people coming out of the woodwork."
He added, however, that "that's not usually the case."
And if the prosecution is not successful the third time around, they may not get another chance to take Malinovskaya to court, Rudovsky said.
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