Shelley Malil - Actor pleads not guilty to attempted murder charges

'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' actor and Sherman Oaks resident faces a possibility of life in prison if convicted of an attack that left his former girlfriend in critical condition with 20 stab wounds.

August 14, 2008

A veteran Hollywood actor best known for his performance in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" pleaded not guilty today to charges of premeditated attempted murder in an attack that left his former girlfriend in critical condition with 20 stab wounds, authorities said.

Shelley Malil, 43, of Sherman Oaks faces a possibility of life in prison if convicted of the attack, which took place Sunday night, said Paul Levikow, a spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney's office. The charges against Malil include allegations of using a knife, domestic violence and causing grave bodily injury to Kendra Beebe, 35.

Malil was detained Monday night as he got off an Amtrak train in Oceanside. He had traveled there to meet with his attorney in preparation for turning himself in to police, according to a statement by Lt. Phil Brust of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Malil was ordered held in lieu of $10-million bond after Superior Court Judge Marshall Hockett deemed him a flight risk, the Associated Press reported.

In court today, prosecutor Steven Carver said Malil appeared on the back patio of Beebe's house in San Marcos and attacked her with a knife while her two children slept upstairs, according to the Associated Press.

Carver said a man who was visiting Beebe disarmed Malil, who found a second knife inside the house and continued attacking Beebe. A neighbor who heard the commotion found Malil on the front patio and took away the second weapon before the actor fled.

"He did not stop his murderous acts voluntarily but because of the heroic acts of the neighbor," Carver said.

Beebe remains hospitalized but is expected to survive, Carver said.

Eve Salony, 54, who lives across the street from Beebe said today that Beebe was having dinner with another man when Malil showed up at her San Marcos home. Salony said she was showering when she heard what sounded like screams coming from outside about 9 p.m. Sunday.

"It didn't sound normal," she said. "I had a bad feeling. At first I wasn't sure if the neighbors were kidding around. I thought maybe the kids who live east of me had gotten hurt."

When she looked out her window, police and paramedics were arriving at the
scene.

Salony said her driveway was stained with blood, which she said authorities told her came from the woman's dining companion, who apparently fled the home after being cut.

Salony described the neighborhood, which was built three years ago, as tightknit and quiet.

"We're like a Whoville, usually," she said, referencing the Dr. Seuss-created neighborhood. "Even the police said nothing like this ever happens here."

Salony said Beebe's next-door neighbor heard screaming and "poked his head" over the shared fence. He later told Salony that he saw a man attacking his neighbor with a knife.

"He saved her life," she said. "He ran over there and said, 'Drop the knife right now,' and [the attacker] did."

San Diego police, in a statement released Tuesday, said, "Malil and the
victim had apparently been in a dating relationship which recently ended."

Malil played Haziz, one of star Steve Carell's co-workers at an electronics retail store in the "The 40-Year-Old-Virgin." He also has appeared in dozens of TV shows, including "NYPD Blue" and "Scrubs."