ADAIR AVOIDING TESTIMONY OF INNOCENCE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

Acquitted of murdering her husband, Jeanie Adair is now battling prosecutors over whether she will have to take the witness stand in her effort to prove she is innocent and clear her name.

Adair triggered the inquiry by asking the court to go beyond a jury's finding of not guilty and declare her factually innocent - a move that would destroy any record of her arrest.

The request is so rare the prosecution and defense attorney said Friday they can find no other case that lays out whether Adair should be made to testify, as prosecutors want, or to remain silent, as she wants.

``She is the person who claims she is innocent, so why should she be afraid to testify?'' Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Marsh Goldstein asked after filing the last in a series of motions exploring the legal issues.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt asked the attorneys to research the law to guide him on the procedure for the hearing.

The attorneys are set to argue on the issue of Adair's testimony Friday.

Since she was acquitted, Adair cannot refuse to testify by invoking her right against self-incrimination because double-jeopardy laws ensure she cannot be retried for the murder, Goldstein said.

A jury found Adair, a 39-year-old mother of two, not guilty in October of killing her husband Robert Adair with a baseball bat in November 1996.

Prosecutors had accused her of killing to collect her husband's life insurance and end their troubled marriage.

Adair has steadfastly maintained her innocence, but now she has the burden to prove it by showing the facts of the case would not lead an average person to entertain ``any honest and strong suspicion'' that she was guilty of the crimes charged.

In court documents, defense attorney Richard Plotin said California law does not specifically require that Adair present any evidence, including her own testimony, because she was acquitted.

But Plotin, who could not be reached for comment Friday, also in his motion told the court he could find no other cases that clearly lay out how courts should go about this type of hearing or whether testimony can be taken.

He suggested Wiatt ``make the determination of factual innocence based on the present state of the record'' by considering only what is in the court record.

Goldstein, in his motion, said it is crucial he be allowed to call Adair as a witness because she gave contradictory accounts of the slaying to police and other witnesses.

``Cross-examination of the defendant is necessary to establish her version of the events that surrounded the murder of Robert Adair,'' Goldstein said in court documents.