Voynov’s wife accepts counseling when threatened with contempt at pretrial hearing
The wife of Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has agreed to seek domestic violence counseling from the NHLPA to potentially persuade her to testify against her husband in a domestic violence case, Rich Hammond of the Orange County Register reports.
At a pretrial hearing Monday, Marta Varlamova accepted a plan for counseling after a judge in Torrance, Calif., threatened to find her in contempt of court should she refuse to answer questions at trial or pretrial proceedings, according to Larry Altman of the Daily Breeze.
Voynov is facing one count of domestic violence after allegedly abusing his wife and shoving her into a flat-screen TV on Oct. 19.
Altman had more on the hearing:
Since Voynov’s arrest, his wife’s attorney and Voynov’s attorneys have argued publicly that her injuries resulted from an accident. Varlamova has submitted court documents saying she did not wish to testify against her husband.
A police officer, however, testified during Voynov’s preliminary hearing that Voynov punched her at a Halloween party in Manhattan Beach and later kicked his wife before shoving her into the television. Varlamova hit her head on the TV and suffered a gash above her eye that required eight stitches at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance. Hospital officials, required to call authorities when they suspect domestic violence, called police, who arrested Voynov.
An emergency room nurse said Monday that Varlamova wouldn't specify how she endured the cut above her eye, but a security guard at the Torrance hospital told the court that she said Voynov was responsible, Hammond reports.
Hospital security guard: Voynov’s wife “looked me in the eye and said, ‘He hit me.’”
— Rich Hammond (@Rich_Hammond) May 4, 2015
The hearing will continue Tuesday.