Cleared Widow Seeks Ruling of Innocence

A Sylmar woman acquitted of charges that she murdered her husband with a baseball bat has asked a judge to declare her innocent, saying that the not guilty verdict isn’t good enough.

Jeanie Adair, 39, has always maintained that a stranger forced his way into her condominium three years ago, robbed and beat her, then killed her husband when he stumbled upon the crime during a lunchtime visit home.

Her motion, a rare petition, is an effort to clear her name so she will not have to list the arrest in job applications, said her lawyer, Richard Plotin.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marlo Dickman, who is opposing the motion, said Plotin “wants to do it to add another arrow in his quiver in case he wants to file a lawsuit against the county for malicious prosecution.”

“This is ridiculous,” said Dan Meyers, the victim’s brother, who wondered whether Plotin may be trying to thwart a wrongful death lawsuit. “They can’t just leave things alone.”

Plotin said he has no intention of filing suit against the government. And it’s too late for Robert Adair’s family to file a civil suit because the statute of limitations has elapsed, Plotin said.

He said his efforts are a response to public statements by Robert Adair’s mother and Deputy Dist. Atty. Marsh Goldstein, who insist that Jeanie Adair ambushed 40-year-old Robert Adair, crushing his skull with repeated blows to end a crumbling marriage and collect $400,000 in insurance.

Goldstein has publicly complained that Jeanie Adair was acquitted simply because the judge consistently ruled against the prosecution in retribution for its appeal of a pretrial ruling.

“They’re saying she got away with murder,” Plotin said. “This gives the judge the opportunity” to determine whether Jeanie Adair should ever have been prosecuted.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt is expected to rule on the matter at a hearing Thursday.

Laurie Levenson, criminal law professor at Loyola Marymount University, said motions to determine factual innocence are rarely filed or granted, because a judge must find that the defendant essentially should never have been arrested.

“It says, basically, that you didn’t do anything wrong,” Levenson said. “They’re unusual because even when a defendant is acquitted, it doesn’t mean there wasn’t a reasonable cause to arrest him.”

Prosecutors say that the judge already ruled on essentially the same question in the middle of the trial. After the prosecution rested, Plotin moved for a directed verdict of acquittal and Wiatt denied it, finding that there was some evidence of guilt.

To decide now that she’s innocent “would be an inconsistent ruling,” Dickman said.

Plotin, who has twice before prevailed in similar petitions--one after a woman was acquitted of murdering her husband--said Wiatt made that ruling in Adair’s trial before the defense had put on its case. He said the defense evidence could have changed Wiatt’s view of the strength of the prosecution.

“If I didn’t think the case was bad from the beginning and shouldn’t have been prosecuted,” Plotin said, “I wouldn’t be wasting everybody’s time.”