Man on Trial in Killing of Estranged Wife : Courts: A police detective testifies that the tax preparer tried to pin the hired slaying on men with whom he believed she was having an affair.

An Encino tax preparer accused of having his estranged wife killed tried to direct a police investigation toward men with whom he believed she was having affairs, a detective testified Monday.

Los Angeles Police Detective John Coffey said the defendant, Melvin M. Green, 56, gave him the names of three men after the Oct. 25, 1990, shooting of Anita Green, 42.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill said that Melvin Green was merely attempting to direct suspicion away from himself and that Green’s belief that his wife was involved with other men was one of many motives for having her killed.

Cahill said in opening arguments in Los Angeles Superior Court that Green also feared that the pending divorce would ruin both his personal fortune and his business because his wife “knew where the skeletons were buried.”

“He had a great deal to lose,” Cahill said. “He set the time and the place, and then he lured her there, where she was summarily executed.”

But Green’s attorneys downplayed the motives as circumstantial and said police concentrated their investigation on Green because he was the easiest suspect.

Arthur B. Alexander, one of Green’s two attorneys, said Green was not concerned about an Internal Revenue Service investigation into his business because it was “no big deal” and because Green been discussing a settlement with IRS officials at the time.

Alexander also said Green was not jealous of any possible relationships of his wife’s because both parties knew before filing for divorce that the marriage was over. Green wanted the divorce, Alexander said in his opening arguments in the trial, which is expected to take four weeks.

Alexander added that Green was not concerned about losing his fortune as a result of the divorce because Green’s personal property before the marriage exceeded the value of any community property he would have had to split with her.

Anita Green’s death shocked many in the Jewish community in Encino, where she was active in a campaign to build a permanent synagogue for the 500-family congregation of Temple Shir Chadash--the New Reform Congregation.

She was shot to death shortly after she pulled her red Corvette into the parking lot of her husband’s office in North Hollywood. According to police, she was followed by a motorcyclist who wore a visored helmet. The motorcyclist parked the bike, walked up to her and shot her once in the back of the head and then sped off.

Police are still looking for the motorcyclist.

Anita Green had arrived at the office to pick up a paycheck. She was the office manager for her husband’s business and, as part of a separation agreement, she worked out of her apartment and came to the office only to pick up documents and her paycheck.

The prosecutor contends that Green arranged for his wife to appear at his office at a certain time so that she could be ambushed and killed.