Woman Denied Bail in Husband’s Beating Death

A woman who allegedly beat her husband to death with a baseball bat at their Sylmar condominium and told police they had been the victims of a home invasion robbery was again denied bail by a judge Monday.

Richard Plotin, a defense lawyer representing Jean Adair on murder charges, had requested that his client be released on bail, asserting that he had evidence indicating someone else killed 40-year-old Robert Adair.

He said police had identified two more suspects. One of the men, a known felon, matches Adair’s description of her attacker; the other resembles a man whom workers saw at the gated condominium complex the day of the death. Those workers, Plotin said, heard possible signs of a struggle coming from the condominium around the time Adair contends she was attacked and tied up.

“They focused on Jean and they were looking at evidence to try to confirm she was guilty,” Plotin said. “They were just lame.”

In November 1997, Adair ran to a neighbor’s home, her face bruised and tape hanging from her wrists. She said an intruder had beaten and tied her, then attacked her husband when he arrived home. The culprit, she said, took jewelry and other items.

Adair was arrested in January after a two-year investigation in which authorities said they checked her story and found it did not make sense.

Police said she killed her husband to collect on life insurance policies. Prosecutors may ask for the death penalty.