Justice William E. Garnett said Ms. Ivanchenko's statements, which prosecutors contend are incriminating, were "not the product of any threats or coercion."
Garnett said Ms. Ivanchenko, 35, had knowingly and voluntarily waived her Miranda rights before speaking to detectives at the 122nd Precinct in September.
A trial date has not been set, although Garnett scheduled a final pretrial conference for May 13 in state Supreme Court, St George.
Ms. Ivanchenko is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, abandonment of an animal, and torturing and injuring animals.
Prosecutors allege Ms. Ivanchenko neglected her Maltese-Shih Tzu mix, she had named Snowflake and then tried to kill the 3-months-old puppy on Sept. 12 of last year.
The Bay Terrace resident is accused of putting her little dog in a plastic bag and throwing the defenseless animal out a car window. She left the pooch for dead on a street near the Staten Island Railway tracks, allege prosecutors.
Ms. Ivanchenko's lawyer, Charles Kaser, moved to toss out five statements his client allegedly made.
Specifically, when detectives came to her house several days after Charlotte was found, Ms. Ivanchenko allegedly said, "I know what it's about. It's about the dog, isn't it?"
Afterward, she also told investigators she was OK with speaking English, that her boyfriend had bought her the dog, that she was the only one to use her vehicle and that she had used the vehicle to "drop off the dog."
Kaser contended that English isn't his client's native language, and she spoke to detectives because she believed she was under arrest.
Garnett precluded the initial statement Ms. Ivanchenko made at her home, because prosecutors failed to timely notify the defense of their intention to use it at trial.
However, he said prosecutors can offer the other four statements at trial.
Garnett said Ms. Ivanchenko had no reason to believe she was under arrest when she went to the precinct, had willingly spoken to detectives after being read her Miranda rights and had done so in English, without requesting any aid or clarification.
Recounting a detective's testimony at a pretrial hearing, Garnett said Ms. Ivanchenko initially told cops the dog had been euthanized in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Detectives told her the dog was alive.
She ultimately gave investigators a written statement and when shown a photo of the pooch, admitted the dog was hers, said the judge.
According to court papers, Ms. Ivanchenko said she couldn't afford medical treatment for the pooch, which had a broken leg, so she put the little dog in a bag and threw the bag containing the injured animal from her car onto the side of the road in Bay Terrace.
Good Samaritans rescued her, she was renamed Charlotte and was cared for by the ASPCA.
She has since been adopted, renamed "Pip" by her new owner and, while recovering, still has some lingering issues from her brain injury, according to the ASPCA.
Garnett said evidence showed a veterinarian had examined the dog on the afternoon of Sept. 12 and determined the pooch had a fractured hind leg, was limp and couldn't open its jaw.
After the puppy was found, another exam revealed hind-leg and skull fractures and head trauma, said the judge.
Evidence also showed that a white Jeep Cherokee, similar to Ms. Ivanchenko's vehicle, was seen at the veterinarian's office on Sept. 12 and later that evening briefly parked at South Railroad and Hopkins avenues, near where the Good Samaritan found the badly injured dog in a plastic bag.
Kaser, Ms. Ivanchenko's lawyer, declined comment after the proceeding.
The defendant who was garbed in a brown sweater, black pants and flat shoes, said nothing during the proceeding, which was attended by about two dozen animal-rights activists.
Assistant District Attorney Jane Grinberg is prosecuting the case.
(SILive - April 22, 2015)
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