Piecing together the Charlie Adelson 'puzzle': How the state and defense closed their case

▶UPDATE: Charlie Adelson trial: Jury returns guilty verdict in 2014 murder-for-hire killing of Dan Markel

The prosecution and defense swapped closing arguments Monday in the murder trial of Charlie Adelson, the South Florida dentist accused of masterminding the 2014 murder-for-hire killing of Florida State law professor Dan Markel.

At about 1:45 p.m., the case went to the jury.

During closings, Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman tried to paint a damning portrait of Adelson, whom she described as both the “black sheep” of his family and a “mama’s boy,” who took it upon himself to end a nasty custody battle between his sister, Wendi Adelson, and Markel over their two sons.

But she also said he was “smart” and clever enough to “wall himself off” from other participants in the muder plot, with the exception of his ex-girlfriend, Katie Magbanua, his link to the two convicted murderers who pulled off the hit.

More: Charlie Adelson trial LIVEBLOG: State, defense make closing arguments in Dan Markel murder

Dan Markel murder-for-hire conspiracy: Everything you need to know about the case and what happened

Adelson, 47, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the July 18, 2014, fatal shooting of Markel inside his Trescott Drive garage. Prosecutors allege he conspired with Magbanua along with his sister and their parents, Donna and Harvey Adelson, the three of whom have never been charged.

Over roughly 110 minutes, Cappleman blasted Adelson’s account of what happened, which he gave to jurors himself last week when he took the stand in his own defense. Adelson told jurors that he was not involved in the murder and that he and his family were victims of double extortion, once by the killers and a second time by an undercover FBI agent posing as a blackmailer.

She questioned why the two killers, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, a Latin Kings gang leader, would have come to Tallahassee to kill Markel before coming back to South Florida and shaking him down for $138,000 in his life savings plus $3,000 a month that he gave to Katie Magbanua, the woman he was dating at the time and the mother of Garcia’s two children.

“Their jigsaw puzzle theory is just a pile of pieces that don’t fit together,” Cappleman said. “Each explanation is carefully designed to explain one piece of the evidence. But how many different explanations can you string together before it’s no longer reasonable?”

Cappleman reiterated that Adelson was never a victim of extortion and that after believing he’d gotten away with murder, he came up with a new plan to cover his tracks.

“He’s a criminal,” Cappleman said. “He’s wealthy. He’s smart. And he’s successful. But he’s a wealthy, smart successful murderer.”

Adelson’s lawyer, Dan Rashbaum of Miami, told jurors that the state had the “heavy burden” of proving the crime and that the defense didn’t have to prove his innocence.

“As you go through the trial, you were told that you needed to evaluate the evidence through a lens of innocence, a presumption of innocence,” Rashbaum said. “Now I think we did prove his innocence in this trial. But that isn’t the standard.”

He tried to use Cappleman’s own questions during Adelson’s appearance on the stand against her. Her first question to him, Rashbaum noted, was whether the simplest explanation was often the right one. But he said Occam’s razor was “the exact opposite” of how the criminal justice system works.

“What you see in this trial is a mountain of reasonable doubt that arises from the evidence itself, from the conflict in the evidence and from the lack of evidence,” Rashbaum said.

Cappleman said it wasn’t reasonable for jurors to believe that Adelson would be extorted by his girlfriend the night of the murder — he claims she told him he had 48 hours to pay or he’d be killed — only to text her about the beach the next day and say in subsequent texts how much he loved her.

“I have no real way of knowing if all this stuff sounds ridiculous to you, if it sounds reasonable to you or y’all heard so much stuff that you’re totally confused and don’t remember what the evidence in the case showed,” said Cappleman. “They only need to get one of you confused enough to derail this whole thing.”

Rashbaum said Adelson wasn’t concerned enough about his sister’s divorce and her fight with Markel over the kids to have him killed. He noted that a judge in post-divorce proceedings denied Wendi Adelson’s request to relocate from Tallahassee to Miami happened a full year before the murder.

He acknowledged emails from Donna Adelson with “crazy ideas” about how to settle the matter, from offering Markel $1 million — something the defense says the killers got wind of before extorting Charlie Adelson — to dressing their kids in Hitler youth outfits.

“Pushing each other’s buttons? Yes,” Rashbaum said. “A far cry from murder.”

Cappleman pointed to incriminating wire taps of Charlie Adelson talking with his family and at other times Magbanua. She noted that during a secretly recorded meeting with Magbanua at the Dolce Vita restaurant, Charlie Adelson said they would be at the airport already if the police had any evidence.

She said that during the meetup, Adelson told Magbanua that to prove a crime, police would have to put someone at the scene of the crime, not just in a car, which she said was a reference to the Toyota Prius the killers used.

But Cappleman told jurors that is not the law. Earlier, Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett instructed jurors that if the defendant helps someone commit a crime, he is a principle and “must be treated as if he had done all the things the other person or persons did.”

She said Adelson thought they’d never be charged.

“Because they didn’t go to Tallahassee,” she said. “They didn’t shoot anyone, and they didn’t do anything wrong, and therefore they can’t be held accountable. But that is not the law as the judge has instructed you.”

Rashbaum also said that had the Adelsons wanted Markel dead, they would have ordered the hit on July 5, 2014, when they were all at Charlie Adelson’s 70^th birthday party in Miami.

“Wouldn’t that have been a better alibi?” Rashbaum asked. “They didn’t do that because they’re not behind the murder. They didn’t know it was going to happen. They had nothing to do with it. It’s a puzzle piece that doesn’t make any sense. It’s reasonable doubt.”

He told jurors that the prosecution was “grasping at straws.”

“Use your common sense,” he said.

Chronicling the Charlie Adelson trial:

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

• Day 1 testimony: Wendi Adelson says she was surprised to learn Charlie knew Dan Markel's murderer all along

• Day 2: Charlie Adelson murder trial sees twists, turns as his sister and a hit man testify

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

• Day 4: Enter the FBI: Surveillance, wiretaps and phone records dominate Day 4 of Adelson trial

• Day 5: Charlie Adelson announces he will take the stand amid bombshell wire taps

• Day 6: 'My life depends on it': Charlie Adelson testifies prosecutors 'wrong' about Markel murder

• Day 7:' Extortion layaway' and the grilling of Charlie Adelson in Dan Markel murder-for-hire

GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE and VERDICT WATCH

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. The Democrat will keep the livestream rolling as the jury deliberates.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Charlie Adelson trial: State, defense make final case in closings