25 years of the Daily Journal — 2019

“Ms. Li, you’re free to go,” said Judge Robert Foiles in a packed courtroom Nov. 15, 2019.

Accused of forming and carrying out a plot to kill 27-year-old Millbrae resident Keith Green in 2016, 34-year-old Li was acquitted of the murder charge prosecutors levied against her, which included allegations she lured Green to her home on West Santa Inez Avenue April 28, 2016, so her boyfriend, 33-year-old Kaveh Bayat, could shoot and kill him.

Bayat was not as fortunate as Li. After each of the 12 jurors confirmed no further deliberations would yield a unanimous verdict on his felony murder charge, Foiles declared a mistrial and set a Dec. 4 hearing on the prosecution’s decision to retry the case. Later, District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said jurors who voted to acquit had told prosecutors after the November trial that circumstantial evidence in the case was insufficient to convict Bayat, 33.

Li and her family members wept as she made her way out of the San Mateo County courthouse Friday morning as a woman free of felony charges for the first time in more than three years. In April of 2017, the case made headlines when Li posted $35 million bail by putting up several Bay Area properties valued at $62 million along with $4 million in cash. Bayat was also assigned $35 million bail but has remained in custody.

Green’s mother Colleen Cudd lamented all that the jury wasn’t able to witness during the 48-day trial, such as Li’s efforts to keep Green away from his two daughters after the two broke up in 2015. Prosecutors alleged the two had been embroiled in a contentious, monthslong custody battle at the time of Green’s disappearance April 29, 2016, just after he was last seen with Li at the Millbrae Pancake House. Prosecutors also alleged Li and Bayat enlisted 44-year-old Olivier Adella, of Burlingame, to dispose of Green’s body, which was discovered off Highway 101 in Sonoma County May 11, 2016.