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Woman Charged in Husband’s Death

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A Frazier Park woman, who told police in 1996 that a robber beat her husband to death with a baseball bat at their Sylmar home, was charged Friday with killing him herself.

Two days after she was arrested at her Kern County home, Jean Adair, 38, was charged in San Fernando Municipal Court with one count of murder. The charge includes the special circumstance of committing the crime for financial gain, a first step toward seeking the death penalty, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Investigators contend Adair attacked her husband, Robert Adair, with a wooden bat at the couple’s Sylmar condominium in November 1996. She said a man disguised as gas company worker had talked his way into the home and beat the couple during a robbery.

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After her husband’s slaying, Adair collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in life insurance, police and Robert Adair’s family members said.

Adair, who is being held without bail, appeared briefly in court Friday but had not yet entered a plea, Gibbons said. Her arraignment was continued until Monday.

“We’re opposing bail because it is a capital case,” Gibbons said.

Adair denies committing the crime, said her lawyer, Richard Plotin.

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