By Ivan Pereira
The lawyer representing the woman accused of killing her estranged husband in a Forest Hills playground wants the judge to disregard key pieces of pre−trial testimony when her trial begins sometime next year.
Stephen Scaring, representing Mazoltuv Borukhova, asked Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy Friday to suppress the testimony made by several 112th Precinct detectives who interviewed his client immediately after her ex−husband, Dr. Daniel Malakov, was killed Oct. 28.
The attorney claimed the detectives did not treat Borukhova fairly when she was being questioned and was not given access to his law partner, Matthew Brissenden, when he arrived at the station that day.
“The police were acting in bad faith,” he said.
Borukhova, 34, and her distant uncle, Mikhail Mallayev, 51, are awaiting a joint trial on charges of first−degree murder and conspiracy in the death of Malakov, 34. The Uzbek immigrant was shot twice in the chest as he was dropping off his then 4−year−old daughter, Michelle, to visit Borukhova at the Annadale Playground on Yellowstone Boulevard and 64th Road.
While she was being interviewed by detectives as a witness, Borukhova, also an Uzbek immigrant, said she did not hear a gunshot or see anyone despite being feet away from her ex−husband, according to detectives. Brissenden, who testified before the judge Friday, said he received a call from Borukhova’s sister, Mila, who asked for his help after the shooting and retained him as counsel.
When he got to the 112th Precinct, he claimed he had to wait hours before officers would let him see his client.
“I felt like I was being jerked around,” Brissenden said.
Assistant District Attorney Donna Aldea, challenged Scaring’s claim by using Brissenden’s testimony against him. When he first announced himself to the station’s supervisors, the attorney testified detectives came to him and said Borukhova initially claimed not to have known him and did not want to talk to him.
“She came to the precinct on her own free will and choice. They characterized her as a witness and that is what they believed her to be,” Aldea said.
The judge will make his decision on the motion Nov. 25. Prosecutor Brad Leventhal said the case should begin sometime in January.
Borukhova had lost custody of Michelle days before the murder and prosecutors contend she hired Mallayev to kill her estranged husband in retaliation. Police arrested Mallayev three weeks after the shooting when they matched his fingerprints to prints found on a makeshift silencer abandoned by the shooter.
Borukhova was arrested in February after the police found she had several phone calls with Mallayev in the weeks leading up to the shooting. If convicted, both face up to life in prison without parole.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e−mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 146.
