EVIDENCE CLEARS CLIENT, LAWYER SAYS.

Byline: Phillip W. Browne Daily News Staff Writer

An attorney for a woman accused of killing her husband to cash in his insurance policies said Friday he has found witnesses who can prove she is not guilty.

The evidence and comments came during a bail hearing in the case of Jeanie Adair, 38, who was arrested Jan. 6 during a search of her Frazier Park home.

San Fernando Municipal Court Judge Alice Hill postponed her decision on Adair's bail until Monday, when prosecutors will have a chance to rebut the evidence. A preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 9.

Prosecutors discounted the testimony, pointing out that the witness statements offered Friday were taken Jan. 20, more than two years after the slaying.

Initially, Adair had told police her husband, Robert, 40, was killed during a home-invasion robbery in November 1996 in which she was bound and beaten as well. Police have accused Adair of beating her husband to death with a baseball bat.

But a retired Los Angeles police homicide detective working for the defense testified Friday that he supports the home-invasion story.

Former Detective Larry Bird testified that a pair of cable repair workers heard moans and a struggle inside the couple's condominium at least an hour before Robert Adair came home for lunch at 12:30 p.m. on the day he was killed.

``They were leaving the property at 11:30 a.m. and slowed down to go over a speed bump,'' Bird said. ``That bump was right in front of the crime scene, and they described hearing a ruckus that made them stop.''

Bird testified that the workers saw a man in a gas company uniform who was ``too old and not wearing the proper attire.'' One of them said they heard a woman grunting and moaning.

``Our evidence is critical, a bombshell, in pointing to her innocence,'' Encino attorney Richard Plotin said.

Simone Adair, the slain man's sister, said she had heard some of the evidence before.

``This is a bail hearing and they are fighting like they're trying the case already,'' she said afterward. ``I guess it shows they're prepared, but it's a little ridiculous.''

She declined to comment on specifics of the case.

In November 1996, Jeanie Adair claimed her husband had been fatally beaten by a robber posing as a gas company employee at their Sylmar condominium. Detectives believe she killed her spouse because she wanted to get her hands on his two life insurance policies, from which she received at least $300,000.