Magbanua flips: Web of lies and phone records dominate Day 3 of Charlie Adelson trial

Katherine Magbanua, one of three people already convicted in the murder-for-hire of Dan Markel, took the stand Monday to blame the hit on her ex-boyfriend, Fort Lauderdale dentist Charlie Adelson.

Magbanua, who got life plus 30 years in prison for her role in the plot, previously testified in 2019, when her trial ended with a hung jury, and last year, when she was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation. Monday marked the first time she took the stand to testify on behalf of the state.

"Why tell the truth now?" Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman asked her.

"I believe that the truth needed to come out now so that the family can get some type of closure," Magbanua said.

Wearing a purple prison jumpsuit and glasses, she told jurors that Charlie Adelson came up with the idea to kill Dan Markel, a name she said she didn't know until long after the murder.

She said that after she and Charlie Adelson went to a Halloween party in 2013, they got into the car to leave and broached the subject, though he didn't offer details at the time.

"He asked me ... do you know anyone that can harm someone?" Magbanua said. "I just said yes and kind of left it alone."

Magbanua is one of three people convicted so far in the plot. Her common law husband, Sigfredo Garcia, and his close friend, Luis Rivera, a Latin Kings gang member who said Garcia pulled the trigger, are both in prison for the murder. Garcia is serving life; Rivera, who took a deal, is serving 19 years.

Dan Rashbaum, a Miami attorney representing Charlie Adelson, grilled Magbanua about her previous testimony, when she denied all involvement, and her pending appeal, in which she continues to claim innocence. He noted that the state had offered her deals in the past that would have kept her out of prison but she didn't take them.

"The real reason you didn't cooperate, and you made it clear, is because Charlie Adelson had absolutely nothing to do with the murder of Professor Markel," Rashbaum said. "Isn't that the case?"

"Because to give up Charlie, I had to give up the father of my children," she said, referring to Garcia, "and I couldn't do that."

Markel, a 41-year-old law professor at Florida State University, was shot and killed the morning of July 18, 2014, after parking his car in the garage of his Trescott Drive home. Prosecutors say Charlie Adelson orchestrated the hit because of an ongoing child-custody battle between his younger sister, Wendi Adelson, and Markel, her ex-husband.

Wendi Adelson and her parents, Donna and Harvey Adelson, have been characterized by the state as unindicted co-conspirators in the murder. The family has long denied any involvement.

Magbanua, under direct questioning, testified that the information given to the hitmen that included a photo of Dan Markel and his address, was prepared by Charlie Adelson. She said he put it in a sealed manila envelope to give to the killers but told her not to open it or look at it.

She also shot down the defense's version of events ― that Charlie Adelson was innocent and the victim of blackmail by Magbanua and the killers, who carried out the murder on their own hoping to get paid through extortion later.

"Did you threaten Charlie Adelson in any way?" Cappleman asked. "Did you try to extort money out of him?"

"No, ma'am, I did not," Magbanua said.

Magbanua said that after Charlie Adelson first mentioned the hit, he started planting "seeds" in her head to get "the job" done. She said he became more adamant around June and July of 2014.

She said that on the night of the murder, she went to Adelson's house in Fort Lauderdale only to find him in "a panic."

"When I opened the door, he was kind of frantic," she said. "He had a gun in his hand. And he was all over the place."

Magbanua said the money for the hit, which prosecutors have said was $100,000, was in a stack and stapled together. She said it was moldy and thought perhaps that his parents had literally washed it.

"I never counted it," she said. "There were $100 bills and there were some $20s and $50s."

Earlier Monday morning, Rivera, who testified Friday, faced cross-examination by the defense. Rashbaum asked if it was possible that Garcia and Magbanua lied about an extortion plot.

"I don't know," Rivera said.

"They lied to you about the purpose of the trip going to Tallahassee," Rashbaum said. "They lied to you about the money you received. Isn’t it possible they lied to you about the purpose of the job to begin with?"

Rashbaum asked about Magbanua's motivation for taking the stand now for the state. Under Florida law, criminals can get their sentence reduced for cooperating, though a judge must approve it.

"You realize that there are only two ways to get out of that prison?" Rashbaum asked. "One way was in a coffin, right? And the other way was cooperating against Charlie Adelson, right?"

"No, sir, I wanted the truth to finally come out," she said.

Rashbaum also blasted Magbanua for seemingly maintaining her innocence at the same time she admits her guilt in the murder-for-hire plot.

"You've just testified that you did a murder and you have an appeal pending right now in this county claiming you're innocent?" he asked incredulously before highlighting a litany of lies.

"Yes, I lied in my trials to save myself," Magbanua said.

A web of phone records

Sgt. Chris Corbitt of the Tallahassee Police Department testified over two hours about communications between all of the parties involved, from the two killers and Magbanua to Charlie Adelson and members of his family.

In the height of the investigation, Tallahassee Police Sgt. Chris Corbitt pored over hundreds of documents trailing phone calls and text messages that could point to Adelson's involvement.

Each phone call and text provided investigators with specific locations which was key for tracking the hitmen's movements in Tallahassee and comparing it to Markel's last known whereabouts before his untimely death.

Corbitt said Markel went to three places the day he was killed: his house, his sons' preschool and the Premier Gym. Records show the hitmen were likely in all three locations at the same time Markel was, he said.

"We did have evidence that he was being followed at least at the last location," Corbitt said.

Phone records also showed that Adelson had a "significant amount" of communication with Garcia, Rivera and Magbanua. He was in contact with Magbanua 17 times while they were in Tallahassee. Nobody else from the Adelson family communicated with three now-convicted killers except for one 37 second call from Garcia to Harvey Adelson.

Assistant State Attorney Sarah Kathryn Dugan asked Corbitt about the defense’s theory – that Magbanua and the killers were extorting Charlie Adelson and that he had nothing to do with the murder. Adelson’s lawyer Rashbaum gave that explanation for the first time during opening statements last week.

“In all the messages … are there any where they discuss Charlie Adelson being blackmailed or extorted by violent people wanting to hurt his family?” Dugan asked.

“None that I found,” Corbitt said.

Tim Jansen's take: High-stakes decisions for prosecutors and defense attorneys

High profile murder cases sometimes force the prosecution and defense to make high stakes decisions during the trial. Because trials are fluid, parties sometimes alter or change their initial trial plans based on events that happen during the trial. Such an important decision has come about in the Charlie Adelson trial.

The state of Florida called to the stand Katherine Magbanua. The entire courtroom was abuzz with anticipation. Others were somewhat puzzled by her testifying for the State.

This was a high stakes play by Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman. Magbanua had been tried twice and she testified on her own behalf and was later convicted of first-degree murder in the second trial. She was later sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison.

Magbanua is the definition of a “high baggage” witness. This means the defense would have fertile ground to impeach her even if she could give truthful testimony. More troubling, is that she was now a convicted murder of Professor Dan Markel.

The question for the prosecution is whether the testimony she could offer is worth the brutal cross-examination she will endure? The state decided their case would be stronger for them against Charlie Adelson. This decision may be second guessed, but ultimately the jury will decide if the decision was beneficial to the state or helpful to the defense.

Cross examination is a very important skill by litigators. It's a skill that can be honed by years of experience, including trial and error by lawyers in real trials. Careful preparation and targeted questions can be very effective in cross examining a witness.

An experienced lawyer can lead a witness to the promised land with careful precise questions. Contrarily, an ill-prepared litigant who asks open ended and compound questions can quickly lose control of the witness, and the witness could blurt of damaging responses. You never want to get surprised by the witness. Too often litigants set themselves up for failure. Smart witnesses will twist and squirm to not directly answer the damaging questions.

In criminal cases, prosecutors become very good at direct examination and introducing evidence. Prosecutors introduce evidence to support the charges. As such, prosecutors become very skillful in direct examination of witnesses. In a majority of cases the defense doesn't introduce any evidence.

As such, prosecutors don't get a lot of experience in cross examination, unless the defendant testified. On the other hand, defense lawyers often rely on cross examining witnesses rather than introducing evidence. Thus, defense lawyers gain valuable experience in cross examination and are less proficient in direct examination. Highly skilled litigants are capable of both handling direct examination and cross examination.

In their high stakes move, Magbanua was able to offer new evidence in the murder of Professor Markel.

She acknowledged her prior perjury and decision to fight these charges that she now readily admits she was a participant. She identified Charlie Adelson as being the person that hired the killer, identified the target, gave information of the target, and gave her the money to pay the hitmen and herself when the job was done.

She also admitted that she never worked at the Adelson clinic. She admitted she was being paid by Charlie and the Adelson family.

Coincidentally, she authenticated the transcript of the Dolce Vita recordings. Magbanua also confirmed the code language utilized by her and Charlie on the recorded calls. The prosecution ultimately got Magbanua to undermine the defense's "extortion theory." She claimed she didn't even know the name of Dan Markel.

Thus, it's highly unlikely she had someone killed since she didn't know his name. Furthermore, she testified that Charlie Adelson performed a "mission impossible" moment when he handed her a sealed, untouched envelope to give to killers.

If believed by the jury, Magbanua scorched the defense's theory of the case. Moreover, much of her testimony aligns with the evidence introduced by the state. The state believed her testimony was worth the pending severe cross examination to follow.

On cross examination the defense had the chance to seriously damage the credibility of Magbanua. The attack was instant and repeated often as to her credibility.

The defense attacked her character as well as her prior perjured testimony in her previous trials. Rashbaum wasted no time attacking her credibility at two proffer sessions with the FBI and state prosecutors. His cross examination eventually led to open ended questions that allowed Magbanua to give damaging responses.

Magbanua blurted out another family member of Charlie Adelson was willing to pay for her lawyer. Rather than a surgical strike, Rashbaum asked open ended questions which allowed Magbanua to dance, and or not otherwise answer the question.

In addition, Rashbaum tried to get her to admit certain facts that would have benefitted his client. On each occasion, Magbanua denied the assertions. At times, the questioning became confusing and duplicative.

The cross examination was not tightly controlled by the lawyer. This witness which had so much impeachment material appeared to frustrate Rashbaum and he moved on to new subjects rather than focusing and isolating her alleged false testimony. For some reason, he lost his concentration and missed several opportunities.

Rashbaum has demonstrated that he can use a scalpel in questioning state witnesses. In his cross examination of fraud investigator Mary Hull, he was very effective and enhanced his case and credibility with the jury. With Mary Hull he used a sharp scalpel and received very good results that impeached the testimony of Magbanua.

Can Rashbaum continue with a methodical approach in his future cross examination? This approach could make a big difference in the following days of the trial. The final question to be resolved is whether Charlie Adelson will take the stand. That will be Rashbaum's high-stake decision.

Chronicling the case:

• Pre-trial: What we learned from jury selection

• Walkthrough of witnesses: Those making the case for, against Charlie Adelson

• Case primer: Everything to know about the murder-for-hire case

• Day One opening statements: Defense says ex-girlfriend was murder 'mastermind'

• Day One testimony: Wendi Adelson says she was surprised to learn Charlie knew Dan Markel's murderer all along

• Day Two testimony: Charlie Adelson murder trial sees twists, turns as his sister and a hit man testify

GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE: 

The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Charlie Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on Tallahassee.com and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict.

Contact Jeff Burlew@jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180

Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on Twitter @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Dan Markel murder: Magbanua says killing was Charlie Adelson's idea