Mistrial motion denied in Muldoon murder trial

UPDATE: A surprise statement from a prosecution witness came close to causing a mistrial at the Lee Muldoon murder trial.

While Judge Marsha Bergan will not stop the murder trial, she will tell jurors to disregard everything one witness said.

Muldoon is on trial in Linn County for the beating death of 2 year-old Skylar Inman in July 2008.

All this came about because of something Bill Volesky said on the stand late yesterday afternoon. And it was so surprising it brought proceedings to a halt early.

Volesky, Skylar Inman's great-grandfather, was talking about bruises family members saw on the child.

When it was suggested that someone take Skylar to the doctor, Lee Muldoon allegedly said "don't do that, someone might think I'm beating her."

The defense objected, because Volesky never said anything like that to investigators or when interviewed before trial by defense lawyers.

This morning, both sides re-argued yesterday's call for a mistrial with the jury still waiting outside.

The state normally has a duty to disclose any evidence or statements to the defense beforehand in the process called discovery.

But the defense didn't file a standard pretrial discovery motion that would require such disclosure from prosecutors.

Still, Muldoon's attorney accused prosceutors of skirting court rules.

Two witnesses in the Lee Muldoon murder trial said Wednesday 2-year-old Skylar Inman looked like “someone had beat the crap out of her,” shortly before her death.

Laurie Muldoon, Lee Muldoon's step-mother, said Skylar had bruises all over – on her ear, bone behind the ear, fingertip imprints on her arms, back and sides. This would have been a few weeks before her death, she said.

Aislynn Yancy, former best friend of Brianna Volesky, Skylar's mother, and sister-in-law of Lee Muldoon, said she noticed bruises on Skylar.

“On her cheek, forehead, ear, on her back and underarms,” Yancy said. “The bruise on her back was below her shoulder blade. Her eyes looked like the blood vessels were broken.”

Muldoon, 25, of Coggon, is accused of killing Skylar July 11, 2008. She died of blunt force injuries to her abdomen.

The trial is expected to last about two or more weeks.

Trish Mehaffey will continue her live coverage from the Linn County District courtroom.