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Judge’s Ruling: Enough evidence for Voynov to stand trial for domestic assault charge

Slava Voynov’s preliminary hearing on his criminal charge for allegedly assaulting his wife took place this morning, wrapping up in a little under two hours. The hearing featured testimony from the Redondo Beach police officer who initially responded on the evening Voynov was arrested, who was cross-examined by defense counsel. The deputy district attorney also adduced physical evidence of the alleged assault and indicated that there is evidence of previous domestic violence by Voynov, but did not provide further details in that regard.

At the conclusion of the hearing, California Superior Court Judge Hector M. Guzman dismissed defence counsel’s motions to have the charge dismissed – or, in the alternative, reduced to a misdemeanor – and ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. Voynov will return to court on December 29 for his arraignment, when the charge against him, a single felony count of corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury, will officially be read. Voynov pleaded not guilty on December 1.

Our parent site has a more detailed update on the morning’s hearing. As with most articles on this case, there is a trigger warning for domestic violence, as it embeds tweets recounting the police officer’s graphic testimony regarding Marta Varlamova’s injuries. That article is here, and the same warning applies for the full Twitter feeds of reporters Nathan Fenno and Rich Hammond, who livetweeted the hearing.

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