Prosecutors File Appeal in Adair Case

In another unusual twist in a case with no shortage of surprises, prosecutors have decided to appeal a judge’s finding of factual innocence for a woman acquitted last year of the 1996 baseball-bat killing of her husband.

The appeal would have no impact on the criminal case because a defendant cannot be tried twice for the same crime. Rather, the best prosecutors can hope to win is an appellate decision that Jeanie Louise Adair, 39, is not factually innocent.

“The most important thing is that the public understand that this was a case of insufficient evidence because of judicial rulings--because of the judge--and not one of her being innocent,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Marsh Goldstein, who has frequently complained about Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt’s rulings in the case.

Rarely do defendants file a request for factual innocence, which legal experts and defense lawyers say is unusual and typically requested when charges are never brought or the defendant is exonerated. Often, prosecutors agree to the motion.

Richard Plotin, Adair’s attorney, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but both he and Adair have described prosecutors’ complaints against Wiatt’s rulings as sour grapes.

The prosecution simply never had a case against her because she didn’t do it, they have said.

Wiatt, who worked as both a prosecutor and defense attorney before becoming a judge, has repeatedly declined comment, saying he is ethically barred from making public statements on a case over which he had presided.

Robert Adair, 40, was beaten to death in his Sylmar living room Nov. 5, 1996. Despite Jeanie Adair’s contention that she had been the victim of a home-invasion robbery and that the intruder killed her husband when he stumbled upon the scene, police suspected her from the start.

She was charged with murder a year ago, based primarily on phone calls Adair was said to have made during the time that she claimed she was tied and gagged by her assailant--a period when she would have been unable to make such calls.

Prosecutors said she killed her husband to end a failing marriage and collect on his life insurance.

Adding scandal to the case, Plotin argued that his client was attacked by thugs hired by the wife of an Encino orthopedic surgeon who was jealous over her husband’s affair with Jeanie Adair. Robert Adair was an unintended victim of the attack aimed at disfiguring the defendant, Plotin said.

A jury acquitted Adair of the murder charge in October.

Jurors said they were surprised by how thin the case was against Adair.

And jurors who spoke publicly said they had no choice but to acquit, though they said they suspected the defendant may have been involved in the crime.

Goldstein acknowledged that the case against Adair was circumstantial, but blamed the case loss on misguided judicial rulings he said were the equivalent of having “a second defense lawyer” in the court.

He contends Wiatt’s unfavorable rulings were retribution for prosecutors’ successful appeal of one of Wiatt’s pretrial rulings.

At a hearing in December, Wiatt ruled blood evidence had exonerated Adair.

Wiatt found that Adair’s story of an attack by a home-invasion robber dressed in a gas company uniform was corroborated by her injuries and a witness who saw someone in just such a uniform in the neighborhood on the day of the crime.

He also said he found Adair had no motive to kill her husband.

Goldstein said Wiatt was wrong and had used the wrong legal standard in making his decision.

Goldstein has accused Adair of seeking the ruling of innocence in preparation of a lawsuit against the county for malicious prosecution.

Plotin and Adair have said the only reason for the motion was to clear her name and allow her to move forward with her life.