A Los Angeles actor will stand trial for allegedly stabbing his former girlfriend more than 20 times, a judge ruled at a preliminary hearing Wednesday.Shelley Malil, known for his bit in the Budweiser “What are you doing? Wassup” beer commercials was arrested yesterday at an Amtrak train station in San Diego for allegedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend according to Lt. Phil Brust of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. The couple had been in a dating relationship and had recently parted ways.
Shelley Malil, 44, of Sherman Oaks, is charged with premeditated attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and residential burglary for the Aug. 10 attack at Kendra Beebe's San Marcos home.
Malil, best known for a supporting role as Haziz in the film, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with a possibility of parole if convicted. He remains in Vista jail on $3 million bail.
Dr. Thomas Velky testified that Beebe suffered 23 stab wounds. One just missed an artery in her throat and another caused a lung to collapse, he said.
“It was very immediate, and she started squirming and yelling for help,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado said he took a knife from Malil, cutting his own hand in the scuffle. He threw the knife over a fence, he said, and went inside to call 911. Maldonado didn't know the address, he said, so he drove a few blocks to tell the operator the street names.
A detective testified the knife used in the stabbing had a similar label to those found in Malil's kitchen. Prosecutors allege Malil obtained a second knife from Beebe's kitchen and continued the attack before neighbors Charlton Lee and Alexandra Baquero-Lee intervened on her front porch.
Baquero-Lee testified she heard Beebe scream, “He's trying to kill me.” She said her husband, Charlton Lee, asked Malil to put down the knife, and he did, and she went in the house to check on Beebe's two children.
Sandi Sharp, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office, testified that Beebe, who wasn't in court, reported that she had dated Malil on and off for about a year before the attack.
