Man accused in high-profile Hillsborough murder case released from custody

HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. (KGO) -- A high-profile murder case on the Peninsula took a turn on Friday. One of the accused men in the 2016 killing of Keith Green was released from custody following a hearing.

Olivier Adella struck a deal to testify against two other suspects involved in Green's death -- Tiffany Li of Hillsborough, who is the mother of Green's two children, and her boyfriend, Kaveh Bayat.

EXCLUSIVE: Suspect in Millbrae man's murder cuts deal with prosecutors

Under his deal with prosecutors, if Adella does truthfully testify against Li and Bayat the murder charges against him will be dropped.

Adella will instead plead no contest to accessory after the fact, a charge that prosecutors feel more accurately fits his role in the crime. "In this case, not the killing of the victim but instead taking the body afterwards and taking it up to Sonoma County and attempting to dump it there," said San Mateo Co. District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Green's body was found off the side of the road in Sonoma County in May 2016.

Under California law, Adella has served his time - a year and a half of a maximum three-year sentence.

"And he has done that, he has been in custody of this jail for over one and a half years and, therefore, we arrived at the conclusion that he would be released from custody," Wagstaffe said.

TIMELINE: Peninsula murder mystery: Death of Millbrae resident Keith Green

Under the conditions of his release, he must stay in contact with the court and must be available to the DA's office at any time.

The attorneys for Li and Bayat however, were not happy with the decision to release Adella.

"I think he may have been the actual murderer but I don't have to prove that one, all I have to do is show that he is lying about his participation," said Tiffany Li's attorney Geoffrey Carr. "He was at least one of the individuals who participated in the murder of Mr. Greene and was not in cahoots with my client Miss Li, it was for a totally different purpose."

James McNair Thompson, who represents, Bayat wrote in an e-mail to ABC7 News that "physical evidence certainly points to Adella as the murderer, and that Adella failed a polygraph test when asked, by the prosecution's own polygrapher, if he was the one who shot Mr. Green."

EXCLUSIVE: Allegations of witness tampering in Hillsborough murder case

Adella is expected to testify sometime in August of 2019. The delay is due to a request by the attorneys for Li, who is said to be undergoing breast cancer treatment.

The case has gained national attention because Li was released after posting a $64 million bail - the highest in San Mateo County and the eighth highest in the country. She has to wear an ankle monitor and is only allowed to leave the home to receive medical treatment.

ABC7 News has found out that the second defendant, Bayat, will have a hearing in about two weeks to ask that his bail amount be reduced. The DA says his office will object to that request.

Get the latest on the high-profile case here