Olivier Adella (pictured above center), the MMA fighter and former bodyguard who was set to be a key witness for the prosecution in the 2016 murder of Keith Green, has lost a plea deal that he struck to testify against defendants Tiffany Li and Kaveh Bayat.
We learned late last week that the trial was being delayed and that Adella had been arrested for allegedly contacting a defense witness over Instagram. That witness, an ex-girlfriend of Adella, was expected to testify about abuse she suffered from Adella when they were together.
Now, as the Associated Press is reporting, the San Mateo County DA's Office is revoking Adella's plea deal and saying he will no longer be testifying. Adella had previously pleaded no contest to being an accessory to Green's murder, and this now opens him up for further prosecution in the already bizarre and sensational case.
According to statements Adella has given to the DA, Li and Bayat arrived at his apartment one night in April 2016 with Green's already dead body in the passenger seat of a car, bleeding from the mouth and ears. Adella has alleged that Bayat and/or Li shot Green in the neck, and then handed him off to Adella to dispose of. Adella then is believed to have driven Green's body to the Healdsburg area and dumped the body by a dirt road there. Green's body was then found two weeks after he was reported missing by roommates.
Murder trial of Chinese-born heiress Tiffany Li hits major snag after key witness jailed https://t.co/p4jhYACA53
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) September 14, 2019
As of Monday's hearing, the judge has delayed the start of the trial another week, to next Monday.
The case made for viral headlines both after the arrests of Li, Bayat, and Adella, and a year later when Li's wealthy family put up over $60 million in real estate to cover her bail. That has allowed Li to remain under house arrest in her Hillsborough mansion for over two years, wearing an ankle monitor, having surrendered her passport.
Li, who grew up in the Bay Area and whose family made a fortune in construction in China, has two children who were fathered by Green. The prosecution is expected to argue that she arranged to have him killed following an argument in a Millbrae restaurant over the children's custody.
Bayat was Li's boyfriend and was reportedly living with her in the Hillsborough estate at the time of the killing. Adella had described himself as Bayat's bodyguard, and both were involved in the local mixed-martial arts world.
Previously: Key Prosecution Witness Arrested In Peninsula Murder Case