FL - FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Murdered by Hitmen *3 guilty* #15

[cottonweaver]

I’ve always believed Wendi told Donna everything about her life, and Donna knew Dan was going out of town the next day. Especially since he was going to visit his new girlfriend. I think that’s something she would’ve told her mother. Donna wouldn’t even have needed to ask Wendi Dan’s schedule, she could have just passed that info on to Charlie. I believe she was that involved in Wendi’s life. From the tone of her emails, she sounds very strongly identified with Wendi. When she’s suggesting arguments Wendi should make in favor of the relocation, she uses the first person, “My parents’ finances have suffered.” It was Donna’s Motion for Relocation, in reality. Wendi may have been more willing to accept that it would be denied and she could try again later. The urgency for this crime was all Donna.

Yes I'm sure everybody on WS would believe that but we have to remember when asked whether she'd conveyed that to anybody, Wendi testified in this trial
' Absolutely not!' ( link below)

( Basically my post was just about what the Defence can prove right now and I didn't want to have to trawl through Prawfs' blog myself, but Judy from AALegal Focus has already got there & done it. I trust Georgia will put the specific blog pages on screen and cover this over the next few days. Visuals matter for juries)

anyway ' Absolutely not!' is at 8:29:57

As an aside, Wendi's pre-emptive skills falter in the same segment - on the July 5th Harvey's 70th birthday. W's lack of memory contrasted with detailed recollections ( paella) culminating in Wendi's reply to the question on Harvey's birthday gift. Wendi forgets to react appropriately for a couple of secs.
( Well done Georgia, skilful)

 

[cottonweaver]

I know this is a serious matter but I can't help snickering about the notion that the LK Empire would entertain offering a Miami dentist a payment plan.

Georgia has to use that - we need as many of those 'LOL/ Pfffft!' scoffing moments as we can get - just in case there's a wild card juror in there.
( No juror, even a hold-out type, wants to think they're dumb, even Mr Dubin knows that)

 

[cottonweaver]

Eventually, I think the jury is going to be asking themselves the same question.

But this family is definitely 'off' -- just imagine the close siblings of CA and WA and the brother doesn't attend his brother-in-laws service in Tallahassee to support his sister! How exactly does he explain his absence -- a tanning appointment? [sarcasm]. MOO

But he was keen to support his sister during her University commencement. ( Hope Georgia uses that contrast, imo there is no diary conflict you could justify for non-attendance at funeral - your nephews! Your parents claim to be in fear for their lives but you still don't show? )

Re University commencement - Sorry I don't have the link but I think it might have been in an email that was already presented at this trial ( During Rushbaum's presentation on Wendi's forward planning)

An old reference just for WS purposes, Wendy wrote:
'The novel I had just written about my clients’ stories had just been chosen as the common read for all first-year students at FSU. In August I was supposed to be the commencement speaker...'

Quote from a summary from the old, notorious writing class podcast Ex-Wife Whose Family Police Tied to Professor's Murder Tells 'My Side' of Story

( PS Last week Wendi claimed to barely recall the novel she wrote, but the podcast proves she was proud of it & it represented public acclaim & career milestone for her. I wish she'd been presented with her own words earlier in the week)

 

[amicuscurie]

@amicuscure, you think the jury consultants, who knew this crackpot defense, are good enough at their jobs to find a group of jurors who could be easily confused or duped by this theory?

OJ did. You never know with juries.

 

[Missyrocks5]

Exactly and the whole phone call to Charlie was unnecessary.

Georgia should use Wendi's own words from Isom's interview, she has already been told by the TV repairman the TV is unfixable, yet she calls Charlie to see if she should buy a new one or fix it. Watch at 1:08.

WA: "he came out to fix it but then told me what was wrong with it was not fixable, and so I called Charlie to find out if I should buy a new one or should I fix this one"

She pauses a while after she says that. She knew she said the wrong thing.

A dorm TV to boot

Agree! Her head tilt and eyes get wider the more she lies. And i think she said he was there for 45 minutes. I dont't even understand why he was there so long. You see a cracked screen, he'd say i don't repair screens. But they used that as a reason for all the calls between all of them that morning. To discuss a probably $250 tv when they were wealthy. But yes, the state needs to spoon feed this to the jury. Don't leave anything to them to infer.

 

[cottonweaver]

I guess the defense is going to pound the fact that LR was high up in the Latin Kings organization and will say that CA was afraid that if he went to the cops about the extortion -- even after the arrests and sentencing -- the Latin Kings would come after him for snitching on their brother/leader. Just a thought....JMO.

Agree
Even if Rushbaum hammers home the genuine threat that Charlie ( & family) felt from Luis's gang - as well as affiliates of non-gang Sigfriedo, how will Charlie/Rashb argue this threat disappeared on conviction of the three?
How can he credibly argue the reasons he stopped paying once they're all inside?

The bump wiretaps prove that he ( & family) believed that Luis had agents on the outside were a real danger.

Plus another consistency, if the Defence wants to make this about the Latin Kings/Luis threat, why is he paying off Sig (& KM )who aren't in the LKs?

None of this defence argument makes sense

 

[Tapeartree]

Well, the family has no interest in their grandchildren by RA, either (RA himself said this in the Tally podcast).

I have sympathy for RA. I experienced the same thing with my own mother. She absolutely hated my husband and, subsequently hated my children ( her grandchildren). My children are adults and refer to her as "your mother", but that was her choice. It's a difficult situation, and I hope RA's wife has parents around that can fill that void for his children

 

[Tapeartree]

Agree! Her head tilt and eyes get wider the more she lies. And i think she said he was there for 45 minutes. I dont't even understand why he was there so long. You see a cracked screen, he'd say i don't repair screens. But they used that as a reason for all the calls between all of them that morning. To discuss a probably $250 tv when they were wealthy. But yes, the state needs to spoon feed this to the jury. Don't leave anything to them to infer.

Yes, the head tilts and eyes bug out. She will tend to open her mouth a little bit when the questions get a bit too touchy. I believe she is needing more oxygen as she is getting really scared. I wonder how she has ever been able to hold down employment over the years; DA doesn't realize how much this family plot ruined her entire family.

 

[cottonweaver]

In the My Dead Body Podcast: Tally episode 6, RA and his wife were saying that WA’s wedding was like DA’s wedding. And that WA’s divorce was pretty much DA’s divorce.

Can't distinguish what I've forgotten vs what I never knew.
Anyway.... so Harvey was Donna's second husband?

 

[cottonweaver]

I recall the letter by SG (nice penmanship) to KM. I believe it was written less than 48 hours after he was found guilty, and the KM verdict was hung jury.
In the letter, SG affirms KM was the best thing to ever enter his life and vows to support her -- etc.
I still believe SG killing Dan was KM's test for him to prove his love to her. Sick, sick, KM and CA deserved each other. MOO

Plus fact that he's a cokehead drunk who spends money like water.

( See Luis Rivera proffer interview where Luis mentions this many times - Sig blowing all his pay-off money within days and the night after the hit he's staying over at Shrimp's and Katie can't even get hold of him. Even LR had to sack him at one stage when SF was employed - too drunk to work.)
Plus Luis comments on how SG ran-through the $5000 expenses for first trip in June & $2000 forJuly trip

Link to full Luis proffer interview FL - FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Murdered by Hitmen *3 guilty* #15

 

[amicuscurie]

Can't distinguish what I've forgotten vs what I never knew.
Anyway.... so Harvey was Donna's second husband?

No. Just that Donna took Wendi’s divorce personally.

 

[cottonweaver]

No. Just that Donna took Wendi’s divorce personally.

Ah ok thanks. It was ambiguous. Plus, long time since I've listened to that podcast.

Anyway this meddling by DA suited Wendi just fine.
Just like it suited Wendi to have her mother do more parenting and child care than she was willing to do herself.
With these kinds of relationships & 'enmeshed families' it's often hard to define who's manipulating who at any given time

It's taken many years for Wendi to perfect her 'mesmerising' Bambi persona to manipulate & get people to do what she wants

 

[Weki]

Ah ok thanks. It was ambiguous. Plus, long time since I've listened to that podcast.

Anyway this meddling by DA suited Wendi just fine.
Just like it suited Wendi to have her mother do more parenting and child care than she was willing to do herself.
With these kinds of relationships & 'enmeshed families' it's often hard to define who's manipulating who at any given time

BBM - the bolded is such a good point!! There are no boundaries between these people. You don’t know where Donna ends and Wendi begins.

 

[cottonweaver]

BBM - the bolded is such a good point!! There are no boundaries between these people. You don’t know where Donna ends and Wendi begins.

Hopefully, day will come when we'll be able to see Donna testify in her own trial & then be able to judge who is the best manipulator of the two of them.

Wendi is staggeringly good at reading people & switching tactics - can see it in the last clip where she's answering Georgia's questions. Paella mentioned. Immediately Wendi realises there's jeopardy.

Or the Isom interview - as soon as the Trescott shortcut excuse doesn't work on him, she switches like a flash to ' therapeutic' driving as the reason.
paella pause clip at this timestamp FL - FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Murdered by Hitmen *3 guilty* #15

 

[serifina]

I went to a lecture by Casey Anthony’s attorney. It made his career. He seemed completely shocked that he won with that defense. If Rashbaum can do this, it will make his career as well.

Rashbaum is NOT getting a win with this ridiculous lie. And his career will go no where.

 

[amicuscurie]

OMG- the defense is using the fact that Katie kept Charlie insulated from the killers to support the extortion theory. They are arguing that Luis was only told by Sigfredo that it was a murder for hire. He can’t know for certain that it was. Unbelievable! This man is in the stand testifying that he and an accomplice murdered a man, and got money for it. And the defense is claiming his understanding that this was a murder for hire is incorrect. Seriously. Does anybody think the jury will buy this? They need Katie to testify. The defense must be counting on the fact that she won’t or that she is not credible. Katie really screwed this whole thing by not flipping earlier. As Georgia said “Don’t let the way they thought they’d get away with this be the way they get away with this.”

 

[clearskies1]

Got to say, Rashbaum is doing a good job on cross.

 

[amicuscurie]

You don’t get paid for a murder for hire before you do the job!!! Luis doesn’t know what this guy is asking. It’s hurting the state‘s case.

 

[clearskies1]

Charlie looks even worse today. Paler. Dark circles under his eyes.

 

[Weki]

The state calls Katherine Magbanua!!!!!! Whoa!!!!