The South Florida periodontist faces extensive questioning as he seeks to defend himself from allegations that he plotted and paid for the murder of his former brother-in-law.
www.wctv.tv
LIVE BLOG: Charlie Adelson’s testimony wraps, closing arguments set for Monday
Charlie Adelson has taken the stand for a second day
Adelson’s testimony continued Friday with more focus on key pieces of evidence that have been presented to the jury. The state also gets it’s first chance at cross examination.
11:45: Jurors leave the courtroom
After lunch, the attorneys will discuss jury instructions. Neither parties have requested any additional instructions for jurors other than what’s already written.
11:44: Defense rests
Rashbaum says the defense rests. Cappleman says the state doesn’t plan to have a rebuttal argument.
Judge Everett says he’s going to release jurors and have them return Monday.
“We will see you Monday morning for closing arguments,” Everett says.
11:41: Questioning resumes
Charlie says he’s only just now telling people what really happened because if he doesn’t, he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison for something he didn’t do.
Rashbaum says he’s done with his redirect questioning. Attorneys are speaking with the judge now.
11:39:
Attorneys are having a sidebar discussion.
11:32: Court resumes
Jurors return to the courtroom. Rashbaum begins the redirect examination of Charlie.
Rashbaum says within 12 hours of Magbanua telling Charlie to lose her number, Charlie is offering her help with her car. Charlie says that’s because he needed Magbanua’s help to protect him.
Charlie reiterates that in 2014, he didn’t believe Magbanua was extorting him. It wasn’t until 2019, during Magbanua’s trial, Charlie says, that he realized Magbanua was behind the extortion.
“Their theory is wrong about your sister.”
“Correct.”
“Just like it’s wrong about you.”
“100%”
“Every month when I paid, I felt like they weren’t going to kill me, because if they killed me, they wouldn’t get the money next month,” Charlie says.
11:09: Taking a break
Cappleman has finished her redirect examination of Charlie. Court is taking a 10 minute break and will reconvene at 11:20.
11:07: A sense of relief
“Do your nephews deserve to know the whole truth about who killed their father?”
“Yeah, now they do.”
Cappleman asks if Charlie feels bad that he didn’t tell Markel’s parents that he knew about what happened to their son. Charlie says he feels a sense of relief that he’s finally able to tell everyone what happened.
11:05:
“Do you think you can talk your way out of this?”
“Who are they gonna believe, right? An oral surgeon or a gangster.”
“You’re untouchable, right?””No, I’m not part of this murder.
Charlie says he’s gone to the police in reference to something with his child’s mother. In 2018, he reported an aggravated assault where a car almost hit him.
11:01:
“If you don’t pay the extortionist, you could get killed,” Charlie says.
On the Dolce Vita tape, Charlie expresses his concern to Magbanua that if they pay, the extortionist might keep coming back for more.
Charlie says he was relieved when he came to the conclusion that the person from the bump was law enforcement. Six months later, Magbanua was arrested. After that, Charlie starts to exhibit “extreme behavior changes.” Cappleman asks what his explanation for that is.
“Because I thought I’d be falsely arrested.”
Charlie says he encouraged Magbanua to reconcile with Garcia.
10:58:
Charlie says Cappleman is putting words in his mouth.
10:55:
Cappleman reads him a portion of a transcript of a conversation between Charlie and Magbanua.
“I think you’re reading it wrong,” Charlie says.
When Dan Markel’s murder was taking too long to happen, didn’t you tell Katherine Magbanua you would find someone else to do it?
No, I never said that.
10:52:
Cappleman plays a portion of the Dolce Vita recording.
10:45: “Coincidences happen.”
“There’s a couple of coincidences in this case,” Charlie says. “Coincidences happen.”
Cappleman asks Charlie about his statement on the Dolce Vita recording where he says “If they had any evidence, we’d have already gone to the airport.”
“Does an innocent person say ‘If they had any evidence?’” Cappleman asks. “Isn’t it true, doctor, that they weren’t going to have any evidence because you were careful?””I was sure they weren’t going to have evidence to show I did something I didn’t do.”
On the Dolce Vita tape, Cappleman asks, “Why are you thinking through the possibility of the blackmailer going to the cops if the blackmailer doesn’t have any dirt on you to take to the cops?”
10:41:
Cappleman points out that no one from his family has been killed yet. Charlie says he’s concerned. “But not concerned enough to remain silent when it’s your own bottom on the line, right?”
Cappleman questions why he told Donna about the extortion, and why he didn’t just tell her that he was helping out Magbanua, to avoid stressing Donna out.
Charlie says on the wire taps, he and his mom were talking carefully.
“Isn’t carefully the same thing as code?” Cappleman asks.
10:38:
If Garcia hated you, why would Garcia drive to Tallahassee twice to kill someone you hated?” Cappleman said.
Cappleman asks Charlie whether extortion or blackmail typically involves the extorter having some kind of dirt on the person they’re extorting.
Charlie did not testify in either Sigfredo Garcia or Katherine Magbanua’s trial.
“You were okay with the possibility of them getting away with killing Dan Markel?”
“I thought the truth was gonna come out in 2019.”
“How, if the witness who knows something doesn’t come forward?”
Cappleman asks whether Charlie is now concerned that because he talked about the extortion in court, that his family might be in danger. He says yes.
“These are highly connected people. Luis Rivera, the head of the Latin Kings in custody means absolutely nothing. If you think he can’t send somebody on the outside, you’re wrong.”
10:33:
“Can we agree the timing of these texts is consistent with being sent the day after the killers got home from their failed murder trip?”
“Why didn’t you go to Dan’s funeral?””In Canada?”
Cappleman says there were services in Canada and Tallahassee.
“I knew what had happened to him and there’s no way I could have shown up,” Charlie says.
“I wasn’t close to him, but either way I felt horrible about what happened.”
“Do you regret that Dan Markel suffered for 14 hours before he died?”
“I feel horrible.”
“He was supposed to die quickly, instantly, right?”
Cappleman asks Charlie whether the police work in this case was thorough. Cappleman asks whether he thought he had done everything right and could get away with this murder. Charlie says he had no part in the murder.
Charlie denies that his parents came to his house the night of the money, and denied that money given to Magbanua was damp.
10:23:
Cappleman asks whether Magbanua ever actually did cleaning for the Adelson Institute, like Charlie said on the wire taps. He says no, she wasn’t doing any cleaning.
“She was doing some type of cleanup for you.”
“No,” Charlie says.
Charlie denies paying for Magbanua to get a breast augmentation.
The day of the breast augmentation, Magbanua asked Charlie “Can I just put it on the credit card?” Cappleman asks if this was referring to the breast augmentation.
“I did not pay for her boob job.”
Cappleman asks Charlie about conversations with Magbanua where Charlie told Magbanua he had gotten Garcia a birthday gift.
“Can we agree in general that it’s important to maintain positive feelings between co-conspirators?”
“I’m not a co-conspirator with her.”
“If a co-conspirator develops a motive to harm another one, that could be bad, right?””Say it again?”
Cappleman rephrases the question.
“I was never part of a murder.”
Cappleman asks whether gifts that he provided to Magbanua, her mom and Garcia were payments for the murder. Charlie denies getting gifts for Garica, saying Garcia “wanted to kill me.”
In one text, Magbanua tells Charlie “Next time don’t be such a dick to someone who has done something for you.”
“Are these gifts what it took to secure her silence for so long?””Absolutely not.”
Harvey’s 70th birthday happened between the first two murder attempts.
Cappleman asks Charlie why Donna asked him to erase a text she sent. He says it was probably because she didn’t want Harvey to see that text, which Charlie says relates to Harvey’s birthday present.
Charlie texted Donna at one point that he’s still working on dad’s birthday present, and Donna texts him back saying she knows he’ll come through for her.
10:17: Money matters
Cappleman asks about Wendi’s financial benefits after Markel’s death. “She got $2.7 million in benefits for her children plus $4,800 a month for the boys?”
“No,” Charlie says. He says that money doesn’t go to Wendi -- it’s intended for the boys.
Cappleman asks if Charlie had trouble sleeping after the murder. Charlie says yes, after he was extorted he did have trouble sleeping.
Cappleman asks if Magbanua actually asked Charlie to put her on the payroll back in June, before the murder and before the alleged extortion. Charlie says she might have but that he never did it. That request was made between the two murder attempts. Charlie says he believes that request was just to say she worked at the Adelson Institute, but not to actually give her any money.
10:10: A dinner conversation
“Did you say something to her about the death of Dan Markel right before she vomited?”
“No.”
Charlie denies bragging to Jeffrey Lacassee about his connection to the “Cuban criminal element.”
Cappleman asks Charlie whether him telling his mom that he’s already gone above and beyond for Wendi was a reference to him killing Dan Markel on his behalf. He denies this.
Cappleman asks if Charlie recalls whose idea the $1 million offer was. Charlie says it was his parents’ idea. Charlie says it was worth it because it was going to give Wendi a good opportunity and allow her to be close to family.
Cappleman says financially, Charlie came up ahead compared to if he had coughed up $333,000 for a third of Wendi’s relocation. In reality, he only paid $138,000 plus 48,000 plus 17,000.
10:09: A cross question
“Are you mad that Wendi hasn’t been charged and you have?”
“No.”
10:07: Who knew what?
“It’s like she couldn’t help herself.”
“She didn’t know a murder was going to take place.”
“She exposed you all to some degree by those actions, didn’t she?”
Cappleman asks Charlie about Wendi’s conversation with law enforcement after the murder.
“They asked who would want him dead, and she said your name. Aren’t you mad about that?”
10:00: ‘Am I going to get killed, am I going to get arrested?’
Charlie says he didn’t know that during the divorce, Dan threatened Wendi with federal kidnapping charges.
“He was making lots of threats,” Charlie says.
“Isn’t your mom notorious for always getting worked up about everything?”
“She does worry, especially when Latin King members are extorting her for money.”
“Wasn’t this divorce a big deal in your family?” ”It didn’t affect my life, I can tell you that.”
“Why did Wendi testify that she was getting along well with Dan Markel prior to his death? Can we agree that’s not true?”
“Is it part of your defense to minimize how nasty and contentious this divorce was?”
“My defense is to tell the truth.”
“Isn’t it true that you don’t feel Wendi appreciates everything you and Donna do for her?” ”I wake up wondering ‘Am I going to get killed, am I going to get arrested?’ She knows none of it … I had somewhat of an innate anger.”
“Could you trust Wendi with a secret that could ruin your life?” ”It’s not a secret. It’s something that would get me killed. So I didn’t want to tell anyone.”
“It’s not a coincidence she went to the crime scene.”
“She never went to the crime scene.”
9:55: Phone call played
Cappleman is playing a call between Charlie and Donna. Charlie tells Donna that if Wendi wants to be tight-lipped about her life, Donna doesn’t need to press her for information, because he can find out everything from ___
Cappleman asks about Charlie’s statement yesterday that Magbanua had come to him at one point and told him that Garcia had ripped a necklace off her neck. Charlie had said Garcia “roughed her up.”
Cappleman says that put her antenna up because that exact phrase is what Magbanua used in her proffer when she said that Charlie asked her if he knew anyone who could “rough someone up.”
“Isn’t that the same term you used when you first approached Katherine Magbanua?”
“That conversation never took place.”
“Did you ever hear Donna Adelson refer to Dan Markel as stupid?”
“No.”
Cappleman asks if Charlie was laughing when she was on the stand and read all the names that Donna used to refer to Dan Markel.
“I laughed when you said the word in court.”
9:47: Family relationships
On his relationship with Markel:
“We never had a beer together.”
“We just didn’t have that much in common, but he was always nice to me,” Charlie says.
“Did you host a celebration dinner after his murder?” “Absolutely not.”
Cappleman points out that after Markel’s murder, Charlie’s parents spent a lot of time with Wendi’s kids.
“Does your mom have a favorite child?”
“I don’t think she likes my older brother.”
“Is Wendi the favorite?”
“I like to think it’s a tie.”
Cappleman asks Charlie whether Donna was pretty worried about Wendi’s marital problems, and Charlie says no.
Did your mother hate Dan Markel?
No … she only disliked him when he was being mean to my sister.
When your mom is worried about Wendi, does she come to you for solutions?
No, I don’t think worried is the right word to describe it.
Charlie said if Wendi had bought a house in Tallahassee, that would have been the second worst decision of her life.
The first worst decision was “when she agreed to marry Dan,” Charlie says.
Were you a spy when it came to Wendi? Did you get information from Wendi and relay it to Donna?
At times.
Charlie says Bre (not sure on spelling) is the mother of his child. At the time they were dating, Charlie was 39 and Bre was 24.
9:45: “It was a lot of money.”
“You have to explain away those texts, don’t you doctor?”
“Most people don’t send kissy faces to people that are extorting money out of them.”
Charlie in total paid Magbanua 48,000 in cash, 17,000 in checks and 138,000 the night of the extortion.
“It was a lot of money to me, yeah. I work hard,” Charlie says.
“The extortion never went up and Katie was always broke and that’s what led me to think that she was not a part of this, because she could have easily jacked up the payments.”
Cappleman points out that Magbanua could have been taking half the $3,000 a month and still have been broke, living in Miami with kids.
9:30: “I want to talk about the cameras.”
Cappleman asks whether cameras were ever installed at the place where Wendi was living. Charlie says no, but her building was very secure.
Charlie says he had already been planning to install new cameras before the murder. He has text messages with the camera guy dating back to January 2014.
“Did you hire a private investigator to help you with this problem you were having?””With the extortion … no I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Did you hire a bodyguard?”
“No, I carried a gun on me.”
“Do you recall a statement you made on the Dolce Vita recording that said you were gonna start carrying a gun?”
Charlie says he hadn’t carried a gun in a while because it was uncomfortable. He says he carried a gun for about 4-6 months after the murder and then stopped.
Charlie says he never came up with the remaining money of the full $1 million that the extortionists demanded. He just continued paying the $3,000 a month.
“Weren’t you afraid that if you broke up with her she would sic the Latin Kings on you?”
Charlie says no, and that he had every intention of continuing to pay every month.
Charlie says he continued to pay Magbanua and buy her things to “keep her happy” even after he broke up with her. Cappleman asks why he had no problem potentially angering her by breaking up with her.
“DId you continue to hook up with her after the break up?””There was one occasion.”
Charlie received a text from Magbanua saying she didn’t want anything from him and telling him to erase her number.
“Why is she telling you to erase her number and leave her alone?”
“Because I broke up with her.”
Later, their relationship seems to have improved based on their text messages. Charlie told Magbanua he’s lucky to have her in his life.
“Thank you again for everything you’re doing for my mommy,” Magbanua texted Charlie.
Charlie says he doesn’t remember what he did for her mom.
In a later text, Charlie told Magbanua he loved her.
“I cared a lot about Katie,” Charlie says.
Charlie says initially after the extortion, Charlie was cold toward Magbanua and limited contact with her, but over time, as he became more certain she wasn’t involved, they became closer.
Cappleman asks Charlie why he would continue to speak with Magbanua when he suspected that the father of her children, Garcia, was the one extorting him.
“You were a playboy. You had a zillion girlfriends.”
“That is actually not even true.”
“She’s the person that’s taking money from you physically.”
“I looked at it as she’s the one protecting me.”
“You didn’t offer to testify in her trial. you let her get convicted and get life in prison, didn’t you?
“I thought the truth was gonna come out.”
“But not by you.”
Charlie denies offering to pay for Magbanua’s attorney fees.
9:09: Cross examination begins
“Have you ever heard that the simplest explanation is always the most likely?” Cappleman asks Charlie. “Was your explanation … the simplest explanation?”
“It was the truth,” Charlie says.
“Who extorted you?” Cappleman asks.
“As I sit here today, I believe it was Katheine Magbanua and I believe Sigfredo Garcia,” Charlie replies.
“Did anybody put a gun to your head?”
“I was told I would be killed in 48 hours if I didn’t pay up.”
Cappleman points out that when Magbanua came to his home asking for money, she wasn’t armed. She points out that Magbanua stayed the night at Charlie’s house and didn’t leave with the $138,000 until the next morning.
“I cleaned out all the money in my safe and handed it to her.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I was being extorted for a third of a million dollars.”
Cappleman points out that he had conversations for days about the bump, whether to pay the money, who might be extorting him, but when Magbanua came to him, he gave her the money immediately without asking many questions.
“Is that the way it’s done? Do extortionists send a girlfriend of their victim to collect their extortion money? Is that the way it’s done?” Cappleman asks.
“This woman, this extortionist, was going to do you a solid by negotiating for you to get on a payment plan,” Cappleman said. “Did she put you on a payment plan?”
“Yes. She said since I didn’t have the money, she asked me if I could pay $3,000 a month.”
“You didn’t want to talk to the guy yourself?”
“No, I didn’t think of that.”
“You didn’t report this to Wendi, even though according to you her life was in danger, correct?” Cappleman asks.
The day after the alleged extortion, Charlie says he didn’t leave his house.
When addressing Charlie, Cappleman refers to him as “doctor.”
Cappleman points out that his text messages with Magbanua don’t look like messages between an extortionist and their victim. Charlie says he wanted to show Magbanua he was trying to pretend the extortion never happened, because she told him to never talk about it.
Charlie says the only time he mentions the extortion that could have been captured on tape is with his dad at the dinner at Matsuri that was recorded by undercover FBI agents. Charlie says he whispered it to his dad, but that wasn’t picked up by the recording
“That was intentional at the time,” Cappleman says. “But it sucks for your defense, right?”
Cappleman says after the murder, since Wendi is going with her parents to South Florida, she’s moving much closer to the killers.
“There’s a reason to fear for her safety,” Cappleman says. “You let her move from Tallahassee to Miami where you knew the killers were located.”
When Wendi first moved to South Florida, Charlie says she moved in with their parents.
9:00: “I’m relieved that it’s the police”
On their phone calls, Donna references “patients” and “dental models.” Charlie says he had lectured his mom on being very careful when she talked.
“She went overboard on some things,” Charlie says.
After hearing the recording of Donna and the undercover agent’s call, Charlie says he felt relieved, believing the person was police and not a gang member.
“I felt so much better,” he says. “I wasn’t happy that the police thought we did a murder, but I was very happy to know that it wasn’t the Latin Kings extorting my family again.”
“I’m relieved that it’s the police,” Charlie says. “Nobody’s gonna get killed.”
Charlie tells Rashbaum he found out Sigfredo Garcia had been arrested
Charlie says Sigfredo Garcia had been arrested his attorney advised him not to talk to Magbanua or anybody else about the murder case.
Charlie says even after Magbanua was arrested, he still believed she was innocent.
It wasn’t until her trial in 2019, when she testified that she never knew who Dan Markel was, Charlie found out Magbanua was cheating on him with Garcia. Charlie saw her bank account and saw “this girl was not broke, and I was getting played.”
“Did all the pieces then start to come together for you?””Yeah.
After the bump and after the arrests, Charlie says his personality changed.
“The police thought I was part of a murder.”
“They didn’t have any idea what really went on, and I couldn’t say anything.”
“Did you have anything to do with the murder of Professor Markel?”
“Absolutely not.”
8:50: “I would have been killed.”
Court is back in session. Defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum continues with his direct examination of Charlie Adelson. He is continuing to review wiretap phone calls.
Charlie is speaking about a text message Donna received from the undercover agent posing as a Latin King gang member.
“I’m very afraid of Sigfredo Garcia,” Charlie tells Rashbaum.
Charlie asked Donna to call the man and record the conversation so he could hear him again.
When Rashbaum asks why Charlie called Donna from a landline, Charlie says, “I wasn’t trying to hide anything. I just wanted to have good cell service.”
On the phone call between Donna and the undercover agent, Donna tells him if he has information, to go to the police and collect the reward.
“Why didn’t you go to the police and collect your reward?” Rashbaum asks.
“I would have been killed,” Charlie replies.
To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook and X (Twitter).
@Niner
floridapolitics.com
