Malmberg confesses, prosecution rests

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - After telling an FBI agent that Jozlynn Martinez died after he tripped and his knee hit the girl, Jeffrey Malmberg changed his story one last time: he said put his knee on Jozlynn's chest to calm the girl down during a fit.

That's what the jury in Malmberg's second-degree murder trial heard Friday morning; that Malmberg put his knee on the girl's chest during a tantrum in February is something both sides in the case agree on.

But the defense argues the 40-year-old defendant never meant to hurt the girl.

"You can ask Connie -- when [Jozlynn] throws a fit, she throws a fit -- kicking, screaming," Malmberg told agent Brad Beyer in a recorded interview played in court Friday. "I held her down on the floor, put my knee on her chest. I didn't think I put that much weight on her ... but that's what happened.

"How can you kill somebody by putting your knee on their chest? I just don't understand," Malmberg said in the interview. "Then all the sudden, she started gasping for air. I didn't put that much pressure on her chest ... Next thing I know, she quit breathing."

The 40-year-old went on to tell the agent he would do "anything in this world -- including taking my own life -- to bring that little girl back. I would gladly switch places right now."

So, why did he put the girl's body in the trash?

"What were you afraid of?" Beyer asked.

"I just killed my daughter. What do you think I'm afraid of?" Malmberg responded. The defendant has said he didn't tell the truth initially because he feared prison, but more than that, he feared hurting the girl's mother.

When he repeated the story of putting his knee on Jozlynn's chest to a Grand Rapids police detective, she asked why he didn't restrain the girl by holding her hands.

And Malmberg said he didn't know that an old cell phone in the apartment would have worked for a 911 call. So, why didn't he leave to find medical help?

"I was thinking about that when I was laying in bed in Lansing (where he traveled the day after the alleged murder)," Malmberg said in the recorded interview. "I should have went and called an ambulance."

"Did you not do that because of the fear that ... because of what happened ... is that why you didn't?" Detective Kristen Rogers asked.

"Yeah," he responded.

The defendant repeated the story at least one more time -- to a man suspected of bank robbery who was wearing a wire in the Kent County jail.

Malmberg asked the man if he had seen "that little girl on TV that's missing? That's my daughter."

Prosecutor Chris Becker mentioned that exchange in his opening statement in the case, saying Malmberg was "almost bragging."

The informant was paid $2,500. When called to the stand, Malmberg's lawyer, Jeffrey Kirchhoff, questioned whether the investigation into his involvement in the robbery was dropped because of his cooperation.

Becker rested his case Friday after calling one last witness: medical examiner Dr. David Start.

The prosecutor asked if Malmberg putting his knee on Jozlynn's chest for the 30 to 45 seconds he reported would be enough to kill her.

"In my opinion, that would not be a sufficient amount of time to result in death," Start said. She may have lost consciousness in that time, he said, but to die in that time frame, it would have taken a body blow before the pressure was applied.

It's not clear what exactly Becker is hoping the jury takes away from that exchange. We could learn that when the prosecutor gives his closing argument in the case.

That could come as soon as Monday, depending on whether the defense opts to present evidence or witnesses of its own.

Malmberg's lawyer told the judge Friday that remained an "open question."