Man Denies Setting Up Death of His Wife : Arraignment: The tax consultant pleads not guilty in the ambush of Anita Green outside his North Hollywood office.

An Encino tax consultant pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he arranged the ambush killing of his estranged wife, local Jewish community leader Anita Green.

Melvin Green, 55, who a prosecutor said boasted to a witness in the case that he could have anyone “taken care of,” could face the death penalty if convicted of the charge of murder for financial gain.

He is accused of setting up the shooting death of his 42-year-old wife, gunned down Oct. 25 by a motorcyclist who followed her car into the parking lot behind her husband’s North Hollywood office. The gunman has not been arrested.

As the somber-appearing suspect was arraigned in San Fernando Municipal Court, more details of the slaying emerged.

The Greens, who both worked at the Oxnard Street tax-consulting firm, had separated three months earlier and were going through a divorce at the time of the killing. Anita Green was largely handling her workload outside the office and away from her husband.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill said Melvin Green had refused to mail a paycheck to his wife and insisted she come to the office to take it from him personally. On the morning she complied, she was shot to death after pulling her Corvette into the rear parking lot.

“There is no question that this was a pre-planned assassination,” Cahill said. “This was a setup. Somebody knew where she was going to be. They followed her and assassinated her in a professional manner.”

Cahill said Green became a suspect early in the case.

“He set the time and place for her to pick up the check,” Cahill said. “That was the time and place she was murdered.”

Evidence from more than 20 witnesses and other undisclosed sources also point to Green, Cahill said. Police have seized records dealing with the Greens’ financial status, he said.

“It’s not the kind of case where you point to one thing and say that’s it,” Cahill said. “When you look at all of the pieces at one time, you see the picture.

“He solicited and arranged for the murder of his wife for a variety of reasons, including his financial benefit. The divorce and alienation of the relationship created the potential for him to be hurt financially.”

The investigation of who the gunman was is continuing and will not hinder the prosecution of Green, Cahill said. Prosecutors and police have declined to say whether they have identified a gunman or if they know how he was paid for the slaying.

During Green’s arraignment, Cahill opposed the suspect’s request for bail, saying witnesses in the case could be in danger.

Cahill quoted an unnamed witness in the case as saying that Green told him, “I can have anyone I want taken care of and they will never know.”

Bail was denied by Commissioner Gerald T. Richardson.

Green’s attorney, Arthur B. Alexander, called the case a web of circumstantial evidence with which the “likelihood of conviction is questionable.”

Outside the court hearing, Alexander said Green knew he was suspected by police but said Green was shocked by his arrest Wednesday. Alexander said the suspicion cast upon Green has made him an outcast among friends and business associates.

“He is extremely upset,” Alexander said. “He has been through more than anyone else involved in this, except for Anita. He loved his wife and had to bury her. Now this.”

Alexander said police decided Green was a suspect and narrowly focused their investigation on him while the real killer remained unknown.

“All they’ve done is look for facts to support their theory,” Alexander said. “They’ve gone straight down the line, trying to pin this on Mel Green.”

Cahill denied that the investigation focused only on Green from the beginning. He said investigators followed several unrelated leads to dead ends, some of which came from Green himself.

“Mr. Green pointed the finger in a number of directions, all of which were investigated,” Cahill said. “He had his own suspect list.”

Anita Green was one of the founders of Temple Shir Chadash-The New Reform Congregation and was active in the human-rights movement in Central America and in the movement for reform in Israel.