SALT LAKE CITY – On day six of the John Wall murder trial, the first witness to take the stand was Wall’s oldest daughter.
Wall is charged with killing his ex-wife Uta von Schwedler in late September 2011. Malkie Wall, 19, testified Thursday about the end of her parents’ rocky marriage, their divorce in 2006 and the aftermath.
Malkie Wall said her dad initially seemed sad about the divorce but then became increasingly angry toward his ex-wife. She said she and her siblings were staying at John Wall’s home on the night Uta died, and she said John Wall didn’t come home that night. She said the next day when she saw him, he had an injury to his eye and seemed out of sorts. Malkie Wall said John told her he had gone to see someone the night before.
Later that same day, Salt Lake police arrived at the home to talk with John Wall. After an interview with detectives, John Wall made an announcement to Malkie and her three siblings.
She testified: “He opened the door and like said, your mom’s like dead, they think I did it… Basically like was having a mental breakdown… Not coherent, he was, plenty of crying, he was just, yeah, not with it really.”
The defense spent the morning cross-examining Malkie Wall, and they alluded to the possibility that Malkie may have been essentially bullied by detectives into making incriminating statements against her father—citing an interview she gave to Salt Lake City police.
The trial is scheduled to last another two weeks and will resume Monday.
