An emotional debate leads to a ground-breaking court ruling. 
 
 A jury will hear the testimony of New Albany mother Judy Malinowski, who died last summer. 
 
 Malinowski died last June, nearly two years after her ex-boyfriend set her on fire. 
 
 Before she died, she gave sworn testimony to be used in the event of her death. 
 
 Now, in a first of its kind case, a jury will hear her testimony in the trial of her accused killer. 
 
 In December of 2016, Michael Slager was convicted of aggravated arson and felonious assault. 
 
 Doctors told a court that Judy would not survive her injuries, and prosecutors began laying the groundwork to charge Slager with her murder. 
 
 "The State wanted to preserve her testimony due to her fragile medical condition. She was critically ill, and was the only witness who could testify about the events that transpired on the day of her injury," said Judge Guy Reece in court Friday. 
 
 The court allowed prosecutors to record Malinowski's sworn testimony in January 2017. 
 
 "The defense has argued that to allow this deposition to be used violates the defendant's rights to a fair trial, and due process rights," Reece said. "A criminal defendant's right to confrontation is of paramount importance. The defendant in this case did have an opportunity to confront the accuser, to subject her to cross-examination. Two-thirds of the deposition consists of cross-examination." 
 
 Bonnie Bowes, Judy's mother, has been in court for every hearing, for every procedural argument. 
 
 She says this one was especially important. 
 
 "To me, it was whether or not Judy's voice was going to be heard. Judy went to her grave thinking that- she went through this traumatic experience and she went to her grave thinking that the judicial system would unseal her side of the story. So it was really important to me that that happens." 
 
 Michael Slager's trial is set for July. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. 
 
 Previous Coverage ||||| An Ohio woman who survived for nearly two years after being covered in flames at a gas station in 2015 — leaving her with burns on about 90 percent of her body — was able to testify against her accused attacker before she died last summer. 
 
 On Friday, a judge ruled that her recorded testimony can be used at the upcoming murder trial of Judy Malinowski’s 42-year-old ex-boyfriend Michael Slager, PEOPLE confirms. 
 
 Slager’s defense attorney Mark Collins says he believes the decision is a first for the state and possibly the nation. 
 
 “She may be the only victim to testify in their own murder trial,” he says. 
 
 Ron O’Brien, the Franklin County prosecutor, said not being able to use the testimony would not have crippled their case, “but certainly we think it enhances our ability to present what happened that day,” according to the Columbus Dispatch. 
 
 Malinowski’s testimony was reportedly recorded five months before she succumbed to her injuries, following a January 2017 court order allowing her to be deposed under civil procedure. 
 
 An attorney for Slager was present at the time and, according to local TV station WCMH, two-thirds of her testimony was cross-examination by the defense — a fact the judge noted in ruling it admissible at the murder trial. 
 
 What’s more, the judge said, Malinowski underwent extensive mental examination finding her competent before she testified. 
 
 Malinowski’s mother, Bonnie Bowes, said she was “so grateful that Judy can tell her story … She went to her grave thinking that the judicial system would unseal her side of the story,” the Dispatch reports. 
 
 “Judy fought to tell her story,” Bowes said, according to WCMH. “I think it’s the first step towards what her legacy should and will be.” 
 
 Bowes said that in her deposition Malinowski “was extremely frail and she was burned, but yet could very clearly articulate what happened, where she was, fear, everything that you would expect. I’m so proud of her and I know one day I’ll see her, although my heart will be forever broken without her.” 
 
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 Judy Malinowski Bonnie Bowes/Facebook 
 
 The Defense Reacts 
 
 “It is what it is,” Collins said after the Friday ruling, according to WCMH. “[The judge] gave a detailed account of what he believed the rules and the case law shows. Whether we disagree or not is not a big deal. We move forward and keep preparing for the case.” 
 
 Speaking with PEOPLE, Collins declined to address the contents of Malinowski’s deposition but confirmed the Friday ruling allows prosecutors the option of using it. 
 
 He says it remains unclear which parts they may seek to share with the jury and whether it will be a central part of their case (which he says would make an appeal more likely) or merely be used to rebut the defense. 
 
 There were many objections registered by the defense during Malinowski’s testimony and the trial judge will have to sort through those in deciding which parts of the deposition are specifically usable, Collins says. 
 
 The defense had argued that because the testimony was taken under the rules of civil law, Slager’s attorneys were not allowed to prepare adequately for their cross-examination. 
 
 Nonetheless, Collins says, there were some “positive things” in the deposition. 
 
 Prosecutors did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Saturday. 
 
 Michael W. Slager Franklin County Common Court 
 
 The Case So Far 
 
 Malinowski, a mom to two daughters, died on June 27 at 33 having never recovered from what authorities said was an arson attack by Slager, then her estranged boyfriend, on Aug. 2, 2015. 
 
 Prosecutors have said that Slager doused Malinowski with gasoline before using a cigarette lighter to catch her on fire while they were at a gas station in Gahanna, Ohio, three years ago. 
 
 A 911 caller at the scene said they appeared to have been arguing beforehand, according to the Dispatch. 
 
 The witness reported that Slager used a fire extinguisher to try and put out the flames and an attorney for him previously called it an accident. 
 
 Collins, Slager’s defense attorney, says they will vigorously dispute that the fire was intentionally set. 
 
 Court records show that in December 2016, Slager pleaded no contest to the three criminal charges he faced while Malinowski was still alive: aggravated arson, possession of criminal tools and assault. 
 
 He was sentenced to 11 years, the maximum, with a year’s credit for time already served. 
 
 Once Malinowski died, however, a grand jury indicted Slager in October on charges of murder and aggravated murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. If convicted of the most serious charge, he could receive the death penalty. 
 
 He remains behind bars pending trial, which is set to begin in July. 
 
 “She showed unbelievable strength over the last two years,” Malinowski’s mom told PEOPLE not long after her daughter’s death. “I really don’t know how she did it.” 
 
 Bowes said last year that Malinowski’s decision to testify meant she “had to back off her pain medications,” but that didn’t stop her. 
 
 “It was important to her that she stand up to him in whatever way she could,” Bowes said. “She said in the video that ‘no human being should hurt like this — not even the devil should feel this kind of pain.’ ” ||||| COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The videotaped testimony from a woman who died two years after she was doused in gasoline and set ablaze can be used at her former boyfriend's trial, an Ohio judge ruled Friday. 
 
 Franklin County Judge Guy Reece called it an unprecedented situation because officials knew of no other case in which a victim would testify at his or her own murder trial. 
 
 Judy Malinowski testified five months before she died last June, expecting that the recording would be played at her former boyfriend's trial. 
 
 Malinowski, 33, was hospitalized for almost two years and underwent dozens of surgeries after she was engulfed in flames in 2015 behind a gas station in Gahanna, a Columbus suburb. 
 
 Her ex-boyfriend, Michael Slager, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading no contest in 2016 to charges including felonious assault and aggravated arson. 
 
 After Malinowski's death, a grand jury indicted Slager on aggravated murder and murder charges. He could face the death penalty, if convicted. 
 
 His defense attorneys argued against allowing the testimony from Malinowski saying prosecutors improperly relied on civil law rather than criminal law to obtain the recording. 
 
 Malinowski inspired Ohio legislation requiring six additional years in prison for crimes that permanently maim or disfigure victims. 
 
 Her two daughters said the law helped them know their mom did not suffer in vain. ||||| A woman who died after being set on fire by her boyfriend will testify at his murder trial from beyond the grave. 
 
 Judy Malinowski, 33, died in August 2017, two years after being torched by her boyfriend Michael Slager outside a gas station near Columbus, Ohio, in June 2015 but recorded a video in hospital before she lost her fight for life. 
 
 Slager goes on trial for her murder in July, and in a rare move, a judge has allowed the interview Malinowski gave from her hospital bed to be heard by the jury. The judge ruled Friday. 
 
 The mother of two suffered burns to 80 percent of her body and clung to life in a hospital for two years. 
 
 Slager was charged with assault and was due to go to trial in 2016. 
 
 OHIO WOMAN SET ON FIRE BY EX-BOYFRIEND HAS DIED, FAMILY SAYS 
 
 Malinowski recorded her video testimony for his court case from her hospital bed. 
 
 Slager’s attorneys tried to stop the tape from being used by citing a legal technicality. 
 
 They claimed it was improperly obtained by prosecutors. 
 
 But the judge allowed it on the grounds that it is an unprecedented case where the victim is able to give evidence after their own death. 
 
 Malinowski also spoke to the media from her hospital bed before she died. 
 
 Although she could barely speak, she managed to say: "I never knew that a human being could be so evil. He just stood there and did nothing." 
 
 "God please, please help me," she said. 
 
 Slager has always maintained that he set her on fire by accident when he lit a cigarette. 
 
 BURN VICTIM WHO COULDN'T TESTIFY AGAINST EX-BOYFRIEND SHOWS HER INJURIES 
 
 After her death, Ohio passed Judy's Law, which added six years onto the sentence of anyone convicted of an assault which permanently maimed their victim. 
 
 Malinowski lost both of her ears and two fingers in the attack and was left with open wounds on her back and buttocks. 
 
 She underwent 56 surgeries before she died. 
 
 Malinowski also suffered horrendous damage to her throat and never walked again after the incident. 
 
 Click here for more from The Sun.
– "She may be the only victim to testify in their own murder trial." So says the defense attorney for Michael Slager, who is accused of dousing his ex-girlfriend, Judy Malinowski, with gasoline and setting her on fire in 2015. The Ohio woman survived nearly two years before dying in 2017 at age 33; Slager, 42, pleaded no contest in 2016 to charges including arson and assault, and is now charged with her murder. Last week, a judge ruled that a "deathbed testimony" Malinowski gave will be used at the trial, People reports. The judge said the situation is unprecedented, the AP reports. Malinowski, who was burned over about 90% of her body in the attack, testified against Slager from her hospital room five months before she succumbed to her injuries, Fox News reports. Slager's attorneys tried to claim prosecutors improperly obtained the video testimony, but the judge noted that "the State wanted to preserve her testimony due to her fragile medical condition. She was critically ill, and was the only witness who could testify about the events that transpired on the day of her injury." He also found that the defendant did have his right to confrontation recognized, as two-thirds of the deposition was cross-examination by Slager's lawyers, 10 News reports. "Judy ... went through this traumatic experience and she went to her grave thinking that the judicial system would unseal her side of the story," her mother says. "So it was really important to me that that happens." Slager's trial is set to begin in July; prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.