The fate of a Union City woman was sealed when her father-in-law approached a fellow business owner and asked for help in getting rid of a family problem —- his son's new wife —- a witness testified Friday.

Herbert Green testified in Fulton County Superior Court that his landlord, Chiman Rai, came to his grocery store in Jackson, Miss., and asked Green to find a hit man from his underworld contacts.

"He said the girl was causing him some trouble," Green said. "He said he needed it done quick. He didn't tell me why."

Green, at a loss for a hit man, said he turned to Willie Fred Evans, whose tentacles reached deeper into the Mississippi criminal element. Evans, who also testified, said he secured the services of Cleveland Clark.

Green and Evans are critical witness for Fulton County prosecutors who have put the 68-year-old Rai on trial for his life for allegedly ordering the April 26, 2000, contract killing of Sparkle Rai, 22.

The case baffled police for years until investigators stumbled onto a motive two years ago. Prosecutors contend Rai, a native of India, wanted Sparkle dead because she was black and a mixed marriage would smear the Rai family name in caste-conscious Indian society. Without Green and Evans, prosecutors had no evidence of Rai's involvement. District Attorney Paul Howard offered the two men probation for their role in the murder conspiracy in return for their testimony.

But while Green stood up fairly well on the witness stand, Evans proved one of two things while testifying Friday. He is either a chronic liar, or he is a confused criminal.

Evans, 76, acknowledged telling the police at least five different versions of the conspiracy but on the witness stand, he also told different versions of the same story over two days of testimony.

Defense lawyer Don Samuel, visibly frustrated, grilled Evans on his varying stories and answers.

Samuel: "When you came in here yesterday, there were a number of things you said that weren't true?"

Evans: "Probably was."

Samuel: "Here is the problem. You say one thing one day, the other thing another day. Is there some way we can look at you and tell whether you're telling the truth?"

Evans said he was testifying the best he could remember.

And when he was scared he was likely to say anything, he said. At times, Evans seemed to be trying to appease Samuel by changing his testimony.

For instance, on Thursday he testified that Rai had paid the contract killer, Cleveland Clark, $10,000 and that Clark had returned a few days later and extorted half of Evans' $1,500 referral fee in the killing.

Samuel noted that was the first time Evans had mentioned the extortion despite repeated interviews by police over two years.

Samuel: "This story about Cleve coming back and asking for more money, when you said that yesterday it was the first time in the history of mankind that you ever told anybody that?"

Evans: "If you say so."

Samuel: "You just made that up yesterday?"

Evans: "Probably did."

Evans seemed to try to appease the defense attorney and, later in the testimony, dropped the reference to the extortion and said he only saw Clark once after the killing, to pay him.

Samuel pounced on the new inconsistency, asking why Evans was now saying he only saw Clark once when earlier he had insisted he saw him twice.

It was Evans' turn to be frustrated.

Evans: "That's what I told you but you said he never came back. Be fair with me like I'm trying to be with you. If I'm lying, I'm going to tell you I'm lying."

Samuel: "You will? We got a deal?"

Evans: "Yes."