Prosecutors accuse Adelson of plotting and funding the killing to help his sister Wendi Adelson elude a contentious custody battle amid her brutal divorce with victim Dan Markel.
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11/2/23
LIVE BLOG - A.M.: Charlie Adelson testifies before packed courtroom
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Charlie Adelson is defending himself on the stand Thursday morning in his murder trial.
He’s
accused of planning and paying for the murder of Dan Markel, his sister’s ex-husband. The two were going through a tense custody battle and divorce, and the state accused Adelson of plotting his former brother-in-law’s killing to help his sister escape the perils of legal proceedings with him.
It is not entirely unprecedented for the defendant to take the stand in his own defense. Three others have been charged and imprisoned in connection to the 2014 homicide, including Adelson’s ex-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua.
She took the stand in her initial trial in 2019, and her retrial last year, to defend herself, too. After eight hours of deliberation last year, she was ultimately found guilty.
The gallery in room 3G of the Leon County Courthouse is packed this cool November morning. It’s loud and energetic on breaks. The air is tingly, you can feel everyone sitting on the edge of their seats.
The
jury has heard from Magbanua and another convicted co-conspirator Luis Rivera in this trial. Additionally, Charlie’s sister, Wendi Adelson, divorce lawyers, undercover FBI operatives and Markel’s former neighbor has testified.
Now,
Adelson is speaking for himself.
The defense said their direct questioning will be extensive.
“I anticipate this could go all day... it’s going a little quicker than i anticipated, to be honest with you,” Rashbaum said. “It’ll go a while. It may leak into tomorrow.”
You can watch those witnesses and the rest of testimony in the South Florida periodontist’s trial here:
12 p.m.: Jury released for break, defense’s questioning of Adelson could “leak into tomorrow”
The jury was released for lunch. Everett asked the defense how much longer they will question their client.
The lawyer said he will go over “a lot” of calls the FBI recorded and may also submit one or two more as evidence.
“I anticipate this could go all day... it’s going a little quicker than i anticipated, to be honest with you,” Rashbaum said. “It’ll go a while. It may leak into tomorrow.”
11:30 a.m.: “Let’s get back to Wendi”
Adelson testified that his sister was “a mess” after the murder.
The pair went to a restaurant for dinner. They sat at the bar first and then at the table, where Wendi “got sick,” he testified.
“Were you drinking and celebrating the death of professor Dan Markel?” he asked.
Adelson denied the allegation.
Shortly after that, Adelson said he broke up with Magbanua.
“I saw her one time in August to pay her $3,000,” he said.
When they met, he gave Magbanua the money in cash. He said she had a request. He alleged Magbanua told him she wasn’t receiving any of the extortion money and she needed help.
Adelson she said she needed to get health insurance for her kids and asked him to write her a check so she can cash it.
“I said ‘I’ll do it for you, no problem, I wanted to keep her happy,’” Adelson testified.
The defense asked him if told Magbanua it would be a bad idea to give her checks because it would create a “paper trail” for the murder they’d just committed.
“No, we didn’t just do a murder, I just got extorted.”
Charlie Adelson
did you make any special requests for your mom for how the checks would be made
i said write me a bundle of checks at a time
I told my mom, I wanted to tell somebody so if I get killed, they’d know where to look... don’t talk about it anywhere... please don’t tell dad, don’t tell wendi... I told her the night of the 18th I got extorted for a quarter of a million dollars
for the next 20 months he gave her $2000 check and a stack of money... i thought she was cashing the checks and giving the cash to her friend
we’ve heard about a whole host of gifts...
“I didn’t think Katie was part of the extortion at all because she was constantly broke.”
Charlie Adelson
He said the pair were friends because at the time he was confident that Magbanua was not extorting him.
Then, the pair talked about some recorded calls the prosecution played. The FBI tapped Adelson’s calls.
In one call, he and his mother discuss his sister “winning the lottery.” The defendant said they were referring to Wendi’s boyfriend at the time, Dave. Adelson said Dave was good with the kids and good for his sister.
“The kid was farting on his head and he laughed, it didn’t bother him,” he said.
“Do you love your nephews?” Rashbaum asked.
“Of course,” Adelson said.
“Would you ever take their father away from them?” he asked.
“No never,” Adelson said.
11 a.m.: What was Charlie doing the week of the murder?
“We have Sigfredo Garcia trying or thinking about killing you in march before the first attempt and now we have his threatening you and trying to run you off the road just seven days before (the murder),” Rashbaum said.
Then they went through Adelson’s actions the night of the July 16, 2014. He worked late, got dinner with a colleague and called Magbanua late that night when he got home, he said.
“Katie was questioning where I was and who I was with and saying it’s suspicious... she thought i was cheating on her,” Adelson testified.
He said it was tense.
“Yeah, I worked hard all day, I didn’t do anything wrong... she wasn’t happy,” he testified.
On the call, the couple made plans to get lunch the next day, the July 17. They got in an argument because she was adamant about having dinner on the July 18.
Adelson alleged Magbanua was unusually adamant that they have dinner in Miami, despite him telling her that would be such a long drive because he was working in Jupiter.
“I told her, ‘You’re acting like a ,’” he said.
Then he put cash on the table of the restaurant and left, saying he didn’t have time and needed to go to work, he testified.
Later that night, the couple “smoothed things over,” Adelson testified.
The defense moved onto July 18.
He said he talked to Wendi that morning. She relayed to him the TV was getting repaired that day.
“I thought she told me Lincoln had thrown something at it, broke the screen,” he said.
“The reason I called her was I was in a fight with Katie,” he said.
He said Wendi gave him “sisterly advice” while they spoke on his approximately one-hour commute.
He said the pair had a series of exchanges that morning because the call kept dropping while he drove through varying service areas.
Adelson had dinner plans with Katie the night of the 18th, he testified, but they hadn’t decided where they were going to eat. He wanted it to be “casual.”
He was busy that afternoon and early evening in surgeries, he testified. But he missed some calls from his mom and then received a text telling him to call her back because it was serious, so he stepped aside to check in.
“She told met that Wendi had just called her and that Dan had been shot an that it was serious,” he said.
They were going to Tallahassee, Donna Adelson told him.
“I was shocked,” Adelson testified.
He asked if he was OK, if the boys were OK, if Wendi was OK. His mother said she didn’t know the details but that it was serious and Wendi was with the police, Charlie said.
Then they discussed some texts where his mother said “outside your house” and 20 minutes later he texted back “10 minutes.”
“Did you see your parents that evening?” Rashbaum asked.
“No, not at all,” he said.
Charlie testified that it meant that they were passing his house. He said he’d told them to stop by his house while passing on the way to Wendi if he was home, but he wasn’t home and didn’t arrive until 40 minutes after they drove by, he said.
The defendant said his house was a “football field” length away from an exit to the turnpike, which the prosecution doesn’t dispute.
After playing “phone tag” that night, Magbanua came over to his home, Adelson said. She showed up and was more upset than him, he testified.
He said she told him: “‘Listen, this is all my fault. I had no idea anything was going to happen, this is all my fault’... She said, ‘My friend killed Dan and he wants to be paid a third of a million dollars.’”
He was upset.
“I stood up and I started cursing,” he said.
He recounted asking his then-girlfriend: “‘Who did this, who’s your friend who did this,’ and she said I’m not going to say.’”
He said he walked into his bedroom, sat down onto the edge of my bed and Magbanua followed him.
“She started telling me ‘I’m so sorry, and I’m like Katie, I’m not going to be a part of this, and she was like ‘Look if you don’t pay them in 48 hours they’re going to kill you,’ and I was like ‘Katie I feel like I’m being extorted.’”
Charlie Adelson during his testimony
Adelson testified that she said “They’ll come after you, come after the family. Charlie you don’t have a choice, just pay the money.”
He testified he told Magbanua he didn’t have that in cash, and then took her to his safe to show him. He alleged Magbanua suggested he pay $3,000 a month instead.
Adelson testified he had no idea she was part of the extortion, as his attorneys are alleging.
Katie then went outside to call “her friend,” Adelson said, then returned.
“She came into the house and she was being the good guy... and she was going to make sure that nobody was going to pay me a visit,” he said. “I was shaking and I took a bar of Xanax.”
Adelson said Magbnua apologized.
“She was so sorry she ran her mouth too much about everything, about the million-dollar offer,” he said.
The next morning, he was instructed by Magbanua not to tell anyone about what happened and to act like it never happened, the defendant said.
So, Adelson testified, he pretended.
He texted Magbanua that he went to the gym, but he really stayed home. He thought about going to the police, but he thought the alleged extorters would kill him.
Under his council’s questioning, he testified that after all this happened, he began sleeping with a gun by his bed.
After 11 days, he paid for security cameras to be installed at his home and office, Adelson testified.
The defense showed a check labeled as “camera” as evidence of the purchase.
“I was worried about my safety, I fully expected these people to come back and try to kill me,” Adelson said.
10:42 a.m.: Defense tells the judge he is “taking away” Adelson’s chance to establish state of mind
The defense vehemently disagreed with the judge’s decision to sustain an objection to evidence from the prosecution.
Rashbaum said the judge is “taking away” an opportunity for his defendant to establish his state of mind.
He said the judge for the sake of the record that he allowed the state to exhibit similar evidence that was just denied. He referenced state graphics that showed arrows between alleged co-conspirators making phone calls.
Here’s what it sounds like he’s referring to:
The judge disagreed, saying it was not the same thing, and that those evidences from the state helped to establish motive.
Then, the jury returned and Rashbaum resumed questioning Adelson.
They’ve talked about a time that Sigfredo Garcia, the father of Magbanua’s children, watched Adelson have a dinner and allegedly considered killing him.
Then Rashbaum went through a time the defendant was driving with Magbanua while towing a jet ski and almost got in a wreck with Garcia, often referred to as “T” or “Tuto.”
“This blue car was flying out of nowhere,” he said. They almost got into an accident.
Magbanua began yelling “That’s T that’s T that’s T,” according to Adelson.
“This guy gets out of the car, he comes over, he’s screaming every kind of four-letter word
“‘That guy is f*cking nuts,’” Adelson recalled telling Magbanua.
She responded that her ex had “calmed down” and “the old Tito” would have broken Adelson’s window, pulled him out of the car and beat him in the middle of the street.
9:37 a.m.: “OK, let’s talk a little bit about Katherine Magbanua”
“OK, let’s talk a little bit about Katherine Magbnua,” Rashbaum said.
He asked when they met.
“I met Katie in the summer of 2013, she worked at the front desk of a dental office I worked at... SoFi Dental,” Adelson said.
Charlie said he was at that office every three weeks. He asked Magbanua out, he said.
He testified that he didn’t know much about her ex.
“The only thing I knew was that she had been with somebody for about 10 years and now she was single,” he said.
He said he and Magbanua’s lifestyle was compatible.
“We both had very little time,” he said.
“Did you ask her just two weeks later if she could find someone to kill Dan Markel?” Rashbaum asked.
“No absolutely not,” he said.
He denied going to a Halloween party with her or asking her if she knew someone who could kill Markel.
As time went on she wanted to be more serious, Charlie said. He said they were exclusive and he considered Magbanua his girlfriend, but he never saw himself marrying her.
“We talked every day... I’d call her when I was in the car driving to work, we’d text throughout the day,” and then they’d be speak at night, too, he said.
They’d see each other once or twice a week, Charlie said.
“Did you have any relationship with her children?”
“No I met her children on one occasion, maybe twice,” he said.
“Did Katherine Magbanua ever work for your dad or for you at the Adelson Institute?” Rashbaum asked.
“No, never,” he said.
The defense presented their first piece of evidence.
Defense presents evidence, texts between Charlie Adelson and Katherine Magbanua from November 2013.(WCTV)
“I have no idea who her ex is that knows me, so I’m saying, ‘Do I know him?’” Adelson testified.
In February, there was an incident with Katie and her ex, he said. He said Magbanua came to his house.
“She was crying, she was all upset,” he said. “She could tell I was upset that someone had roughed her up. She said don’t do anything, he’ll kill you..”
But he said it didn’t make him want to break up.
“It’s a part of her life that I wasn’t going to hold against her,” Adelson said.
The defense exhibits texts from Jan. 19, 2014. The defense objected to them as hearsay, but the judge overruled.
In the texts, Magabnua asks Charlie if he’s talking to other girls, and he said no, the defendant said.
“And again in this message she’s telling you that she wants more, right,” the defense asked.
He said yes. He explained his response.
“I ask her if you’re thinking about getting back with her ex... I said you’re the coolest and most fun girl and I’m always happy when you’re around... I was trying to say I like you... And I don’t want to rush things,” Adelson testified.
Then the defense showed texts between the pair from March 2014.
Defense shows texts between Magbanua and Adelson from March 2014.(WCTV)
The court broke for a break until 10:30.
Observers in the gallery rushed out for a bathroom break. It’s so busy, some are going down to the second floor of the courthouse to find a clean bathroom with open stalls.
No one wants to be late to return from the break. If you’re late, you’re locked out.
Markel’s parents, Ruth and Phil Markel, and his sister are in attendance watching their ex son-in-law testify. They politely asked a tall media member in the front row to move so they could have a clear view of the defendant.
It’s obvious this testimony is crucial to Markel’s family.
The Markels live in Canada but have flown back to Florida repeatedly to be in the room for testimony in their son’s murder case.
9:26 a.m.: The $1 million offer and the “cheaper than a hitman” TV joke
“As I sit here today, I know the offer never happened,” he testified.
But at the time he didn’t realize that. He testified that he spoke to many about that they had extended an offer to Markel.
“I didn’t realize how much I talk until I listened to all those tapes, but evidently I do... but I like to talk,” he said.
One of the people he told was his ex, Magbanua.
“We tried everything we could, we even offered Danny a million dollars to move back to South Florida, and it didn’t work,” he said he told her.
“How did she respond?” Rashbaum asked.
“She was like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of money, do you have to take out a loan for that?’ And I said ‘no I got cash,’” he said.
He never financially helped Wendi with her divorce, Charlie said, but he did give her a gift.
“Do you recall giving her a TV... How did that come about?” Rashbaum asked.
Adelson said he asked his parents what to get her, and they suggested a TV.
“Yes... Well, when she was moving out of the marital home... she started from scratch, she only took her belongings... Go to Best Buy and buy I really nice TV set, and I’ll buy it,” he said.
He then spoke on the infamous “TV was cheaper than a hitman” joke.
“The stupidest thing I ever said in my life... I said it as a complete joke and it was stupid,” Adelson said.
Charlie Adelson on the “TV was cheaper than a hitman” joke
Charlie Adelson testifies on his own behalf in his trial for the murder of Dan Markel on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. (WCTV)
“Just to be clear - did you ever look into hiring a hitman?” Rashbaum asked.
“No, never,” he said.
The defense took a moment to pause after Adelson’s denial.
The defendant explained why he talked about Wendi’s divorce issues often. Adelson said he talks a lot.
“I guess it’s more interesting than talking about teeth,” he said.
Adelson said that during the divorce, the frequency of his communication with Wendi was unchanged. He said his understanding was that she didn’t seem too upset about the motion to relocate being denied.
“I think she understood that that’s what her life was going to be,” he said. “She loves her job up here, she was excited about things, she was dating people, she was embarking upon her life up here.”
8:45 a.m.: Charlie to speak for himself
Charlie Adelson was sworn in and addressed Circuit Judge Stephen Everett Thursday morning. He told him he will testify today.
He was seated on the witness stand at about 8:54 a.m,
“Did you cause the death of professor Dan Markel?” defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum asked.
“Absolutely no,” Adelson said.
“Did you hire anyone to kill him?” the defense asked.
“No,” he responded.
“How do you feel right now?” the attorney asked.
“I’m really nervous,” Adelson said
“Why are you nervous?” Rashbaum asked.
“My life is on the line,” the defendant said.
Then, they went into his background. Adelson testified he has an older brother and younger sister.
“How close were you with your siblings growing up?” Rashbaum asked.
“My brother, I wasn’t real close with,” he said. “My sister, I wasn’t real close with either probably until high school... and then I got closer to her as the years went on.”
His mother worked as a substitute teacher growing up and his dad was a general dentist, he said. After her children were adults, his mother Donna began working for his dad’s dental practice.
He didn’t do well in school until college, he testified. Adelson attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando, he said. Then he studied to become a periodontist.
After his studies, he began working at lots of different offices because he didn’t have the money to start his own practice, Adelson said.
At the time of Markel’s murder, the defendant testified that he was busy, working at “between 30 and 35 offices.”
His mother worked as a substitute teacher growing up and his dad was a general dentist, he said.
Now, we’re going to the Adelson Institute for Implants and Aesthetic Dentistry, his family’s business.
“Erika Johnson, Clariza (Lebredo) was my dad’s assistant since 1979 until he retired,” the defendant said.
“And your mom controlled the checkbook?”
“Yes she did...”
“Who did all the billing for the practice?”
“My mom and Erika.”
“Did there come a time when you brought the practice from your dad?”
“Yeah, my dad was going to sell the practice... I didn’t like the idea of being sold, so I bought it from my dad in... 2012,” he said.
At 2014, Adelson owned the practice. But in 2016, at the time of the wire taps, it was no longer his, the defendant testified.
He’d sold it back to his dad, Harvey.
“Do you like to collect cash?” Rashbaum asked.
“I always have, yes,” Adelson said.
“Why?”
“It probably goes back to when I was a kid, I got a dollar a week allowance... I always liked to look at it.”
What were your best years financially?
“13, 14 and 15.”
He described his lifestyle at the time of the murder.
“Work came first, I worked my whole life to get where I was,” he said.
Adelson said he had no kids then and was single. But not anymore.
“Yeah, I’ve got one son,” he said.
“How old?” the defense asked.
“Five,” he said.
Adelson testified that he is close with his parents. He spoke with his mom daily.
“How involved was your mom in your life?” Rashbaum asked.
“Business wise, very involved,” he said. “Personal life, I mean I would tell them things... but I mean it was my life, I did what I wanted.”
He said it was different for Wendi.
“I think she was more involved. I think my sister involved my mom way more. And it just depended on the issue,” he said.
Then they talked about Wendi.
“I’d call my sister about every 10 days or so... she was real busy and not so good with the phone... I would call her, she would take a day or two to call me back,” he said.
Before Wendi married Markel, he would only see her on holidays, Charlie testified.
“I thought he was a nice guy, he kinda seemed like all my sister’s boyfriends she had in the past, I never had much in common with him,” Charlie said.
“After they got married, what was your relationship like with Professor Markel?”
He would see him at the house with his sister, text him on birthdays. Charlie said he would visit their home two to three times a year.
“I’d only been to Tallahassee- I was there twice, I believe when her children were born, and once when I was working in Alabama... I passed through Tallahassee and spent the night there,” he said.
After the divorce, his relationship with his sister was similar.
“It may have been a little less... I called her and more times than not she wouldn’t pick up the phone,” he said.
He talked about learning of his sister’s marital struggles.
“He seemed like he’d lost his eye for her and she seemed like she’d lost her eye for him, she wasn’t happy.”
Charlie Adelson on his sister's marital issues
Wendi never told him she was scared or that Markel wasn’t a good dad, he said.
“No, no, he was very attentive to his sons,” he testified.
He testified about how he heard updates about Wendi’s divorce.
“I would say probably 20% came from Wendi and 80% came from my mom,” he said.
He testified that the divorce was intense.
“They were fighting over bicycles and all kinds of nonsense,” Charlie Adelson said.
He said he remembered when Wendi filed to try to relocate.
“Primarily it was because she had no family in Tallahassee... and she had a better more secure job for her career in South Florida,” he said. “I thought it would be great, I hadn’t lived in the same town as her since 1995... it wasn’t real important to the point where I thought about it all the time.”
But it was more major for his parents, he said.
“To them it was very important, they wanted her to come back. She had no family in Tallahassee,” the defendant said.
“I think he was against it, he wanted her to stay in Tallahassee with him,” he said.
In some messages where the family discussed converting Wendi and Markel’s kids to Christianity - they were Jewish - Charlie testified he expressed support for the idea.
“My sister was trying to be real nice to Danny for a while and it got her nowhere... so basically he was being a jerk to you, be a jerk back, maybe it would stop... I thought maybe it would push his buttons, so I thought, ‘why not, give it a shot,’” he said.
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