The wife of Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov could be held in contempt of court if she refuses to testify in the pending domestic violence case against the hockey player, a judge ruled Monday.
But Superior Court Judge Eric C. Taylor said he would be willing to allow Marta Varlamova to undergo domestic violence counseling before she makes a final decision on whether to testify.
“She does not wish to testify, your honor. She’s refusing to testify,” Varlamova’s attorney, Michael J. Walsh, initially told the judge.
The judge said he would “prefer not to find her in contempt” if she can be given a chance to determine if she is willing to testify after receiving counseling.
Walsh, told the judge at an April 1 hearing that his client did not want to testify in her husband’s case. In a court filing, Walsh wrote that Varlamova is concerned about her privacy and the trauma of testifying against her husband. Walsh argued in a later court filing that the law is intended to protect alleged victims of domestic violence from being forced to testify.
Given the judge’s comments regarding a possible contempt ruling, Walsh met privately with Varlamova and later announced that she was willing to undergo the counseling, which would be provided by the National Hockey League Players’ Association. It’s unclear when that counseling might occur.
Deputy District Attorney Frank Dunnick wrote in an earlier court filing that the prosecution is not asking for the court to jail Voynov’s wife for refusing to testify.
“The people simply ask the court to exercise all available powers to have a properly subpoenaed witness testify,” the prosecutor wrote in his filing, which asked the judge to order her to give her testimony in private and to find her in contempt if she refuses.
Voynov, 25, who is from Russia, is charged with a felony count of corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury. He is accused of punching his wife at a Halloween party and later kicking and choking her at their Redondo Beach home last October. Police had initially responded to the couple’s residence and found nobody home, but later were called to Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, where his wife was being treated.
At a Dec. 15 hearing in which Voynov was ordered to stand trial, Redondo Beach police Officer Gregory Wiist testified that Varlamova told him she had been in a fight with her husband that began at a Halloween party the night of Oct. 19. When the couple went outside, Voynov allegedly punched her in the face, according to Wiist.
The woman told the officer that the couple went home, where the argument continued, and Voynov threw her to the ground multiple times, repeatedly kicked her and choked her three times. Varlamova also said her husband pushed her into a flat-screen television on the wall, and her face struck the corner of it, Wiist said.
She said the attack continued until Voynov saw the blood coming from her face, according to Wiist. He said that according to Varlamova, she asked Voynov to call for “emergency services,” but he instead called a friend and then drove her to the hospital.
The injury to Varlamova’s eye required eight stitches, Wiist said.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to allow testimony about statements she allegedly made to hospital workers and Wiist the night she was treated for her injuries.
During today’s hearing, the judge heard testimony from four hospital workers, including a public safety officer who said he saw Varlamova crying outside a hospital building.
Ronnie Cornell Liston told the judge that Varlamova looked scared and “a little shaken” and that he escorted her to the emergency room.
He said he had a “gut feeling” that it might be a possible domestic violence incident and said he told the woman she didn’t have to be scared.
“… She said, ‘he hit me,”‘ the public safety officer said of the woman who he said spoke with a “pretty heavy” eastern European accent. He identified Voynov in court as a man who asked him where he could park.
Cassie Wong, a nurse who was working in the hospital emergency room’s triage area that night, said Varlamova was “more focused on her injury” than on explaining how she was injured. But she said the woman did not seem to have any difficulty understanding English.
“She said, ‘My husband pushed me into the TV stand,”‘ the nurse said. “She did say this wasn’t the first time this happened.”
Voynov has been suspended by the NHL pending the outcome of the criminal case.
The hearing is expected to continue on Tuesday afternoon.
—City News Service