Man to stand trial in wife’s death

Kim Smith

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 8:46 a.m.

A Las Vegas man suspected of killing his estranged wife just before Christmas will go to trial in March, after a judge refused Thursday to dismiss the charges against him.

Defense attorney William Terry had asked District Judge Jeffrey Sobel to drop murder charges against Vitaly Zakouto, saying that prosecutors are relying too heavily on a video taken the night of the victim's death.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane maintains Zakouto, 52, stalked his estranged wife for months before climbing into her father's kitchen window in the middle of the night Dec. 23 and shooting and stabbing her to death.

Marina Cannon, 49, had a restraining order against Zakouto, and was reportedly so frightened of him that she installed surveillance equipment in the home she shared with her father, on Purple Shadow Avenue, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors believe a videotape shot between 2:40 and 3:44 a.m. Dec. 23 is an important piece of evidence against Zakouto. Terry believes it proves nothing.

It shows a man climbing over a wall, pulling a screen off a window and crawling into Cannon's home. He is later seen coming out of the residence through a sliding glass door, looking at his hand and going back into the residence.

Cannon's son, Jason Jaeger, testified at Zakouto's preliminary hearing in February that he believes the man on the tape is Zakouto because of the man's posture, body shape and gait. He also said he recognized the way Zakouto puts his hands in his pockets.

Terry, however, said the tape is not a continuously moving tape and doesn't show the suspect walking. Nor does it show him putting his hands in his pockets or the suspect thrusting his abdomen the way Zakouto reportedly does.

Moreover, Terry noted that while a mask made of pantyhose was later found in Zakouto's car, the person in the videotape was not wearing such an item. The person on the videotape wasn't wearing gloves either, yet Zakouto's prints weren't found in the house.

Terry argued that the tape should be thrown out as evidence and that without the tape, the state doesn't have enough evidence to charge Zakouto with murder.

In a written decision released Thursday, Sobel declined to toss out the tape. He also said the state has enough evidence against Zakouto without the tape and without Jaeger's identification of Zakouto as the man on the tape.

The judge did, however, leave the door open for Terry to file a motion objecting to the admissibility of Jaeger's testimony.

Sobel rescheduled Zakouto's trial from Oct. 22 to March 25 so Terry could have more time to file additional motions.