DNA TESTING CLEARS MAN IN BABY'S DEATH.

Byline: Larry Gerber Associated Press

Like most convicted murderers, Kevin Lee Green insisted he was innocent. After 16 years in prison, it turned out he was right.

Authorities on Friday charged an imprisoned rapist with six counts of murder dating back to 1978 and 1979, including the one that sent the 37-year-old Green to prison on his wife's testimony.

In 1980, Green, a 22-year-old Marine corporal, was convicted of killing his wife's unborn baby by bludgeoning her, causing the child to be stillborn. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

This month, however, DNA samples of blood and semen from unsolved murder and rape cases pointed to Gerald Parker, 41, who was serving a sentence in Corcoran Prison for violating parole, said District Attorney Michael Capizzi.

Staffers at the sheriff's crime lab were updating their computer database with thousands of new DNA ``fingerprints'' from state files when they found a match between Parker and the unsolved cases, Capizzi said.

Deputy District Attorney Mel Jensen, who knew Green had consistently maintained his innocence, urged investigators to re-examine the Green case as well, Capizzi said.

Green wasted no time leaving California. Dressed in a blue denim jacket and carrying a small television set, he caught a plane for Missouri, KNBC-TV (Channel 4) reported. Asked what it felt like to be free, he told a reporter, ``I'll believe it when I get home. I'm not home yet.''

The former Dianna Green, who told her husband's jury that he beat her because she didn't want to have sex, was in seclusion after hearing the news.

``It's hard for me to believe all this,'' she told a reporter from The Orange County Register, who spoke with her Thursday on condition he not reveal her whereabouts.

``Somebody else hurt me,'' said Dianna D'Aiello, who divorced Green, remarried, and now uses her maiden name. ``Here I've . . . (spent) 17 years . . . believing it was Kevin. It's just hard to handle.''

She still suffers effects of the blow to her head, which left her in a coma for a month. Before Green's trial, she had trouble spelling her name or recalling her wedding date.

She and Green had been married six months, and she was nine months pregnant when she was attacked.

She said she and her husband fought that night. He claimed he went out for a hamburger and found her unconscious when he returned.

After losing the baby and reviving from her coma, she moved back in with Green. At first she couldn't recall what happened, but then, she said, her memory rushed back. It still tells her Green was the attacker.

``They're saying it was somebody else, but I can't see somebody else,'' she said this week. ``I see Kevin there.''

``She appeared very credible, and 12 jurors believed her,'' Capizzi said. ``Unfortunately, we didn't have DNA then.''

Parker had been scheduled for release in two to three weeks, said Capizzi, ``but not now.'' He will be held for trial on six murder counts, Capizzi said.

The spate of Orange County sex killings suddenly stopped in 1980, the year of Green's conviction. But Parker was also arrested that year and convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl in Tustin.

Detectives confronted Parker with the new evidence last week and took a blood sample for more tests. Capizzi wouldn't reveal what Parker told them, but he said the interview led to Friday's charges.

Green now wants some private time to start putting his life together, said attorney Ron Brower.

``He expressed no animosity or anger to police or prosecutors in the case,'' Capizzi said.