Charlie Adelson's attorneys want Magbanua's statements private until trial
Attorneys for accused Dan Markel murder suspect Charlie Adelson are asking a Leon County judge to keep any statements made to investigators by his one-time girlfriend secret until after she testifies.
The protective order filed Tuesday in Leon County Circuit Court ask that the statements made by Katherine Magbanua — convicted of Markel’s murder last year — to investigators late last year be kept from the public to minimize the level of pretrial publicity.
Adelson is set to go to trial in connection with his ex-brother-in-law’s 2014 murder on charges of first-degree murder and related conspiracy and solicitation charges in late April.
His arrest last year signaled that after two convictions and more than eight years, investigators had gathered enough evidence to arrest the man they say was behind Markel’s murder-for-hire.
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But it's because of the intense scrutiny that has washed over Adelson, his attorneys contend, that statements made by his codefendant Magbanua be kept from public view temporarily. Prosecutors have not objected to the motion.
“Whatever the particulars of her statements, they are certain to generate widespread attention if released to the public, exacerbating the already heightened (and unwanted) publicity leading up to Mr. Adelson’s trial,” Adelson’s attorney Daniel Rashbaum wrote. “Undersigned is concerned that any additional publicity generated by the release of Ms. Magbanua’s statements to law enforcement will make it even more difficult to impanel an unbiased jury.”
Any order approved by circuit Judge Robert Wheeler would only be temporary, Rashbaum wrote, with Magbanua’s statements becoming public following her expected testimony in the case.
Magbanua was convicted in May of being the go-between in the murder-for-hire plot that investigators say was orchestrated and financed by Markel’s former in-laws.
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She then turned state’s witness in November when she was brought to Tallahassee from prison to speak to investigators, although the substance of her statements are unknown.
Adelson and Magbanua were dating at the time of Markel’s broad daylight shooting. Throughout her trial in May, prosecutors linked her to Adelson, his lucrative Tamarac dental practice and efforts to cover up the plot.
She was convicted for linking the father of her children, Sigfredo Garcia, and his friend Luis Rivera to the orchestrator of the plot, who investigators say is Adelson.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Charlie Adelson's attorneys want Magbanua's statements private until trial
