Man accused of fatally stabbing wife bound over for trial

Vladimir Podnebennyy will face trial in the Oct. 26 stabbing death of his wife.

The police account of Natalya Podnebennaya’s death changed little in the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, but there were some new details.

Police still testified that Podnebennyy, 63, stabbed his wife repeatedly as the 58-year-old woman sat buckled into her silver Toyota Prius in the parking lot of the couple’s College Township townhouse.

But State College police Detective Deirdri Houck painted a more vivid picture as she testified about Podnebennaya’s autopsy.

The cause of death, multiple stab wounds to the chest, had been known. Officer Michael Pienzek said when he first found the body, a 6-inch knife, “something you’d find in a butcher block in the kitchen,” was protruding from her chest, around the same place the officer wore his badge. He saw only a quarter-sized amount of blood on her sweatshirt around the hilt.

Houck, however, testified to an array of wounds, most centered around Podnebennaya’s left breast, including two lacerations that sliced through the rib cage and breast muscle and into her heart. Either of those wounds, she said, would have been fatal.

There was also evidence that Podnebennaya, who was estranged from her husband and taking shelter at the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, had fought against the attack.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller presented autopsy photographs that showed deep damage to the victim’s hands as she tried to protect herself. Houck described the images, which were not revealed to the full courtroom. In one, she said, the left hand was almost severed. In another, the right hand showed knife cuts across all fingers, injuries that were incurred as she grabbed the blade to try to stop the stabbing.

Those pictures were one sticking point between the defense and prosecution. After Parks Miller presented them in court, defense attorney Karen Muir asked that they be admitted as evidence so that she could know exactly what pictures were being referenced in testimony later.

Parks Miller refused.

“I’m not putting them in the public record,” she said. “They are very invasive to the victim. You’ll have them in discovery.”

Muir said she had no problem with the documents being submitted under seal, or being left in custody of the court reporter or judge to be preserved.

District Judge Leslie Dutchcot denied Muir’s request, saying that was a decision for a common pleas court judge.

Muir also raised questions about the language barrier with her client.

Podnebennyy is from Kazakhstan and speaks Russian. He had a translator in court. His attorney raised the possibility of his Ukrainian translator during his interview with police on the day of the murder being a source of complication, pointing to different dialects in the various areas.

Parks Miller, however, suggested that Podnebennyy might understand more English than it appeared. She indicated that he had a Pennsylvania driver’s license, which required taking a test in English, and that he worked at Wal-Mart.

“We are just pleased that this case is headed to trial,” Parks Miller said.

Podnebennyy remains in Centre County Correctional Facility. Bail was denied at his arraignment.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Man accused of fatally stabbing wife bound over for trial ."