Links to full reports by Rich Hammond and Larry Altman are below, but before you get there, here were the developments in Tuesday’s continuation of Slava Voynov’s pretrial hearing, as learned through courtroom reports:
-Judge Eric C. Taylor ruled that Little Company of Mary Medical Center social worker Justin Weber could testify. The defense had attempted to characterize the October 20 hospital conversations between Weber and Maria Varlamova, Slava Voynov’s wife, as privileged between a patient and a psychotherapist.
A lawyer representing the social worker, Justin Weber, and his employer, Little Company of Mary Medical Center, joined the fray at the start of Tuesday’s hearing and informed the judge that Weber wished to assert his privilege to not disclose his conversations with Varlamova. After lengthy debate, the judge ruled that while there was a therapist-patient relationship established between Weber and Varlamova, an exemption in the law allowed Weber to testify.
-In efforts to encourage Varlamova to change her mind about testifying and to avoid having to hold her in contempt of court, Judge Taylor offered her the opportunity to go to domestic violence counseling. He wanted the counseling to be arranged sooner than the timeframe proposed by the defense.
Judge wants an update Friday on Marta Varlamova's attempt to get into counseling. Defense says might be difficult. #SlavaVoynov
— Larry Altman (@LarryAltman) May 5, 2015
-The hearing will continue on Friday, when Redondo Beach Police Officer Gregory Wiest will be called to testify. Again, this is a pretrial hearing. Voynov’s trial is scheduled to begin on July 6. This hearing is partly used to determine whether Varlamova’s statements to witnesses will be admissible in court.
For more on today’s hearing, refer to these links:
LA Times: Social worker, told to testify, says Voynov’s wife gave fight details
Orange County Register: Judge allows social-worker testimony in Voynov hearing
Daily Breeze: Social worker: Wife of L.A. King Slava Voynov said he pushed her into television set
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