'I will testify': Charlie Adelson to take the stand; state rests with bombshell wire taps

The murder trial of Fort Lauderdale dentist Charlie Adelson ended on a cliffhanger Wednesday afternoon with the defendant announcing that he planned to take the stand to defend himself.

“I will testify,” Adelson said.

Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett asked Adelson, who’s charged in the 2014 plot to kill law professor Dan Markel, whether he had adequate time to discuss his decision with counsel and how it would fit into his theory of defense. Adelson — whose lawyer earlier told jurors he was a victim of extortion by the killers — said that he did.

Follow along for the latest here: Charlie Adelson murder trial: Watch live as he testifies about Dan Markel murder

“Do you understand in testifying, you will be cross-examined by one of the prosecutors?” Everett asked with jurors out of the courtroom. “Do you also understand as well that your credibility will be placed before the jury as it relates to the testimony that will come out?”

“Yes, your honor,” Adelson replied.

Prosecutors and the defense huddled at sidebar before Everett brought the jury back in and told them the trial would break for the night. He did not tell them that Adelson will testify.

The high-stakes move by Adelson came on the fifth day of testimony in his murder trial at the Leon County Courthouse. Charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation, he faces life in prison if convicted.

Earlier, Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman spent hours going through dozens of wire taps — with suspects talking alternately in blunt and guarded language — as FBI Special Agent Pat Sanford returned to the stand. Cappleman announced afterward that the state would rest its case.

Markel was shot twice in the head July 18, 2014, after dropping his kids off at daycare, going to the gym and pulling into his Trescott Drive garage. The two men who pulled off the hit, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, along with Adelson’s ex-girlfriend, Katie Magbanua, who was Adelson’s link to the killers, have all been convicted in the murder.

Prosecutors have long alleged that Adelson, whose sister Wendi divorced Markel in 2012, and his family wanted him out of the way so she could move with their two kids back to Miami. Wendi Adelson and her parents, Donna and Harvey Adelson, are all considered unindicted co-conspirators in the murder-for-hire plot.

'I'm on edge': FBI 'bump' sparks flurry of phone calls between suspects

With jurors listening via headphones, Cappleman played recording after recording of Charlie Adelson’s phone calls with his mom and with Magbanua — along with calls the defendant and his mom each made to an undercover FBI agent portraying a blackmailer.

The calls started in the hours and days after an undercover FBI operation on April 19, 2016, known as the “bump” that investigators hoped would get the Adelsons and the killers talking on recorded lines.

During the operation, the FBI agent, posing as a Latin Kings gang member who knew everything about the murder from Rivera, approached Donna Adelson after she walked outside her Miami condo building. He handed her a newspaper article about Markel’s shooting with $5,000 written on it along with a number to call.

The “bump” led to a meeting the following day between Charlie Adelson and Magbanua, his girlfriend at the time of the murder and Garcia’s common law wife, at the Dolce Vita restaurant in Miami. Their conversation, secretly recorded by the FBI with comments by Adelson that he would go “Nazi” on anyone who hurt his family, was played earlier in court Tuesday.

In one call made just minutes after the Dolce Vita meeting, Charlie Adelson, who was trying to figure out whether the man was a blackmailer or cop, tried to reassure his mom.

“I truly would not worry about anything,” he said.

Donna Adelson, who called the blackmailer’s materials “paperwork” in an earlier call with her son, said she just wanted her husband to have a good day at his dental office.

“I’d like for him to have a good night’s sleep,” she said, later adding, “If your theory is correct, then it will be — you know, we don’t know that.”

“The whole thing is weird,” Charlie Adelson remarked.

At the same time, Magbanua was talking with Garcia about the blackmailer. In one call, she mentioned that the cost of their two kids for school was $65.70, the same last four digits of the undercover agent’s phone. Garcia yelled at her and said he would “take care of the f------ problem.”

“I’m on edge,” Magbanua told him.

'Dad said we've got to protect Wendi'

None of the suspects called the agent at first, prompting the FBI to mail a “bump” letter to Donna and Harvey Adelson’s residence. The letter referenced the blackmailer’s demand, that he pay $5,000 to help Rivera, a fellow Latin Kings gang member. Rivera, who testified earlier that he drove the get-away car after Garcia shot Markel, was known as “Tato.”

FBI Agent Sanford, who helped conceive the “bump,” operation, read the letter aloud for jurors.

“My phone is not ringing so you don’t care about Tato and what he did for you. He knows he is f----- and soon so will you.”

A few days after that, the agent called the Adelson Institute, the family's dental practice in Tamarac, and asked to speak with Donna Adelson. He told the receptionist that “she knows what I’m talking about” and that it involved “important paperwork.”

Later, Charlie Adelson called Magbanua, telling her to “find out who the f--- it is.” She said she called but it wasn’t a working number. Finally, Adelson called the number himself.

“Someone has been calling my family,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out who this is.”

The agent mentioned that “Tato” had not been taken care of and that he had spent time behind bars with him in Broward County.

“This isn’t going away my friend,” the agent told him. “Because let me tell you, I was at Broward with Tato, and he told me the whole story.”

In a later call, Charlie Adelson wondered aloud with his mom what the man wanted and said he’d be shocked if it were money. He and his mom mentioned on several calls the possibility of going to the police — though they never did.

“That’s what my original feeling was — to go to the police,” Donna Adelson said. “But dad said we’ve got to protect Wendi. She will be devastated.”

FBI agent tells Donna Adelson: 'I know everything'

Turning up the heat, the FBI agent texted Donna Adelson at 2 a.m.one night saying he wanted the money or he’d turn them all in for a $100,000 reward offered in the Markel case.

On May 6, 2016, Donna Adelson called the undercover number, telling the agent that she didn’t call him back after he first handed her the “paperwork” because she didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“Then you mailed me a threatening letter,” Donna Adelson said. “Then you sent a text message to my phone that I’m not taking you seriously. I am taking you seriously."

The agent told her that all he wanted was the $5,000 and if not, he’d get the $100,000 himself. He said he wanted “his brother” to get paid.

“He told me everything,” the agent said. “I know everything. I know who’s involved.”

Donna Adelson, who was recording the call herself, insisted that “it wasn’t me.”

“You have got the wrong person,” she said. “I just think instead of me you should get the money from the police. Because I know it wasn’t me, and I just can’t take this level of stress.”

In a later call, she told Charlie Adelson she’d talked to “the patient” for eight minutes.

“Were they nice?” he asked.

“Not really,” she said.

Charlie Adelson called Magbanua not long after, apparently elated. He referred to the “cutest pot-bellied pig,” which Agent Sanford testified meant he Adelson believed the man was a cop, not a blackmailer.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Adelson said.

Charlie Adelson's lawyer takes aim at Magbanua's credibility: 'She lied'

During cross-examination of Sanford, Adelson’s lawyer, Dan Rashbaum, worked to undermine the credibility of Magbanua, who testified earlier that the murder was Charlie Adelson’s idea.

Rashbaum noted how many times Magbanua lied to Charlie Adelson on the calls played by the state.

“Katie lies to Charlie when she told him that she would call the undercover?” Rashbaum asked. “She lied to Charlie when she told him that she called the undercover and there was no answer. She lied ... when she told him that the undercover number was a non-working number, right?”

“Correct,” Sanford replied.

Rashbaum also asked about her decision to cooperate after her conviction and life sentence last year. He also questioned Sanford about meetings he had with her.

“You didn’t believe her?” Rashbaum asked.

"I didn’t believe ...” he replied before he was cut off by a state objection.

Rashbaum asked, with Sanford agreeing, whether Charlie Adelson's way of calming down his mom was telling her he thought the police were behind the “bump.”

“That was one way, yes,” Sanford said.

“So let me get this straight,” Rashbaum said. "Two people who have just done a murder prefer the “bump” to be a policeman rather than another co-conspirator or another bad guy?”

“Correct,” Sanford said.

Rashbaum also played a snippet of a conversation from one of Charlie and Donna Adelson's phone calls in which the defendant mentioned Markel's two sons.

"They had a dad," he said. "It's a tragedy what happened."

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

Tim Jansen's take: Coded language, common sense and the flaws in the 'double extortion' defense

Tim Jansen, partner in Jansen & Davis, P.A., is a prominent criminal defense attorney in Tallahassee and former assistant U.S. attorney who worked major white collar crime cases as senior fraud prosecutor. He has represented numerous high-profile clients for years and is offering daily analysis on the Charlie Adelson trial to readers of the Tallahassee Democrat.

"Dolce Vita, wiretaps, FBI bumps, text messages and FBI Agent Pat Sanford finalized the state’s evidence in the case State of Florida v. Charlie Adelson. After all the evidence introduced in the case, it’s the defendant’s words and actions that provide the most damning evidence against him.

FBI agent Sanford led the day for the prosecution and relayed information regarding investigatory techniques, wiretap recordings, multiple bump maneuvers, and captured recordings in two separate restaurants. The state offered very limited evidence from the Dolce Vita restaurant recording in which the defendant gave a hypothetical of renting a car. Agent Sanford testified that a rental car was done in this case by Magbanua for Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia prior to the murder of Professor Markel. In another part of the recording, there was talk of a blackmailer. Otherwise, the much-anticipated Dolce Vita recording between Magbanua and Adelson after the FBI bump was mostly ignored.

The state introduced a video showing undercover FBI Agent Jimenez confront Donna Adelson and hand her a note demanding $5,000.00 because their friend is not being taken care of like Katie and Sigfredo. Donna places the note in her purse and continued on her way to get her grandchildren. Afterwards, Donna contacts Charlie and speaks in coded language about the encounter. Several calls are made between Donna and Charlie. At all-times during the conversations were suspiciously in coded language. Charlie then contacted Magbanua and talked in coded language about the FBI bump and the extortion letter.

At this point, Agent Sanford walked the jury through voluminous recorded calls between Donna Adelson, Charlie Adelson, Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia. The pattern of calls were consistent with the train alignment described by Prosecutor Dugan in the state's Opening Statement and all went one direction. This pattern was also similar to the pattern of calls after the murder of Professor Markel. Besides the patterns of the calls, the most troubling for the defense was the nature and content of the calls.

The defense claims a 'double extortion' defense theory. This theory is that Magbanua and Garcia independently committed the murder and then blackmailed the Adelson family, including her ex-boyfriend, Charlie Adelson. However, on all calls Magbanua and Charlie Adelson spoke in coded language.

A victim of extortion would not speak in agreed coded language with the blackmailer. On the contrary, it is customary for co-conspirators to speak in coded language. The secret language and secret meetings between Charlie, Donna, Magbanua and Garcia all fit the scenario of conspirators evading detection from law enforcement. In addition, Charlie offers to lend money to Magbanua and tells her to be careful. Hardly, the language one would use to someone that had been extorting him and his family.

Charlie Adelson speaks in confident tones throughout his conversations with his mother and Magbanua. At one point he states about the FBI extortion letter: 'I know how these things are done.' The FBI then sent a letter to Donna Adelson's home. The letter includes language 'that you don't care...' Charlie then claimed it must be a girl because that what girls say when you break up with them. This comment will not sit well with females on the jury.

Charlie then calls Magbanua and says do whatever and talk to whoever, but this needs to be 'nipped in the bud.' Magbanua then called Garcia to discuss resolving the problem. This sequence of calls regarding the FBI extortion is consistent with the prosecution's theory that happened with the planning and execution of the murder of Professor Markel.

Another weakness in the defense's "double extortion" theory is that one must believe Garcia and Magbanua planned, orchestrated and complete the murder on their own without financing from Adelson. Throughout the recorded calls it's apparent that Garcia and Magbanua had limited funds to raise their kids. Let alone money to finance and hire hit men to complete a murder almost 500 miles north of Miami. Furthermore, it's clear that Garcia is a hot head that blows up at a single instance. He was unable to remember the phone number of the FBI extortion agent from the letter. It defies common sense that Garcia and Magbanua could pull off this murder without money and coordination from person's smarter than them. There is no credible evidence that Magbanua and Garcia could commit the murder and then successfully extort the Adelson family.

On later calls, Charlie is concerned for Magbanua's well-being. He offers her money to take a vacation, smoke pot, drink and fish to get away from this mess. Another time he offers to sell her his boat. If she was extorting him wouldn't he have given her his boat? These recorded conversations undercut his theory that he was extorted by Magbanua and Garcia on June 18 after they independently killed his ex-brother in-law. The recordings clearly prove a friendly and caring relationship between Charlie and Magbanua.

Now, the defense has announced Charlie Adelson will take the stand in his own defense. It's apparent he will testify he was extorted by Magbanua and Garcia. Will the jury believe his words on the stand, or will they base their verdict on his coded statements on the FBI recordings?"

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 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

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Charlie Adelson to take stand in Dan Markel murder trial