“I COULD NOT HAVE FORMED THAT INTENT”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, AUTHORITIES SAY A NEVADA WOMAN LURED A MAN TO AN AREA NEAR STEPHANIE WAY WHERE HE WAS SHOT TWICE AND KILLED… AND HER BID TO POSTPONE HER FIRST-DEGREE MURDER TRIAL AFTER HER EXPERT WITNESS DIED HAS BEEN REJECTED BY A JUDGE.
The first-degree murder trial of Melissa Nicole Malmstedt will move forward this fall.
Proceedings are set for October.
A judge recently denied a request filed by her defense attorneys seeking a continuance.
On Aug. 14, 2023, Paul Adam Mulkey was shot twice and killed.
Malmstedt and co-defendant Larry Allen Arnold stand accused of luring Mulkey to an area near Stephanie Way before the deadly shooting took place.
Her defense attorneys had asked the court for more time after learning that one of their expert witnesses had died.
The expert witness was expected to testify regarding the ways methamphetamine and fentanyl can affect memory.
That proposed testimony was intended to support a specific defense theory.
The defense argued that Malmstedt may not have been capable of forming the specific intent required for a first-degree murder conviction.
But the planned testimony encountered a major obstacle.
The expert witness could not state whether Malmstedt was actually under the influence when Mulkey was killed.
District Judge Tod Young questioned how the testimony could properly come before a jury without evidence of impairment.
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Judge Young noted the testimony could only be introduced if Malmstedt herself testified that she had been under the influence.
Taking the stand would also expose the defendant to cross-examination by prosecutors.
Prosecutors actively opposed the motion to delay the trial.
They argued that witnesses had already arranged their schedules to attend the October proceedings.
Prosecutors also stated that Mulkey’s family had already arranged their schedules around the upcoming trial.
The judge denied the continuance.
Malmstedt is now scheduled to proceed to trial in October.
And Arnold is expected to face a separate trial at a later date.
Prosecutors also indicated that specific written materials may be introduced as evidence in the case.
Those materials include writings described as rap lyrics that Arnold allegedly wrote to Malmstedt.
Both defendants remain in custody.
They have been charged, not convicted.
The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.
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