FL - FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Murdered by Hitmen *4 Guilty* #24

[amicuscurie]

Sigfredo has nothing to offer. I also doubt he had anything to offer prior to the first conviction unless he was willing to take Katie down with him and he clearly wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice. Sigfredo only knew whatever BS story Katie fed him. I seriously doubt, and I’d say with 99% certainty, he had any direct communication with anyone beyond the point of demarcation – Katie was the clear demarcation point between Charlie & the hitman. Even if you believe Katie’s story about the sealed envelope that Charlie gave her to be passed onto the hitman, he sill had no direct communication beyond the buffer. As far as Luis, he had no issues taking Katie down but his information was limited to what Sigfredo told him and had no information beyond the demarcation point. I believe the majority of Luis story is accurate but his initial proffer was close to two years after the murder and I wonder if his story is a combination of what he remembers and what he ‘learned’ after the fact.

Again, the letters I’ve seen from Sig’s attorney do not, in my opinion, support your contention that he would have had to take Katie down with him, though that may be what he believed. To me, they seem to me to indicate that the state was willing to work out a deal with both of them, if he confessed to being the shooter. Of course, as the shooter, he would in my opinion have gotten more time, but he might have been able to secure a better sentence for himself, and even if he had to implicate Katie, he might have been able to help secure a deal for her (which may have been complete immunity) to save herself and their children. Why neither of them cooperated remains a mystery to me.

 

[Knitpicker]

I'm not sure I would agree that LaCasse hated Markel. Disliked and felt he was arrogant? Sure. But hate is a visceral emotion and nothing that LaCasse said in that first interview made me think that he had really strong feelings about DM, except in how it impacted his relationship with Wendi.

But either way, based on LaCasse's whole demeanor, do you really think he's the sort of man who would shoot someone in the head over jealousy issues? Of course I don't know what he's like in real life, but just from what we've seen in interviews and on the stand, he doesn't strike me as that sort of guy. We often see murderous boyfriends on Websleuths and they generally have a certain attitude and background. To me, LaCasse comes across like a guy who rarely raises his voice and has probably has never been in a fight in his adult life.

So, I have to wonder what made Jane think of him straight-off? She immediately mentions him as soon as "who could have done this" comes up. What gives?

I never said he would shoot him. And yes hate is a strong word. So would despised be better? Not everyone that hates another kills them.

 

[Knitpicker]

I'm not sure I would agree that LaCasse hated Markel. Disliked and felt he was arrogant? Sure. But hate is a visceral emotion and nothing that LaCasse said in that first interview made me think that he had really strong feelings about DM, except in how it impacted his relationship with Wendi.

But either way, based on LaCasse's whole demeanor, do you really think he's the sort of man who would shoot someone in the head over jealousy issues? Of course I don't know what he's like in real life, but just from what we've seen in interviews and on the stand, he doesn't strike me as that sort of guy. We often see murderous boyfriends on Websleuths and they generally have a certain attitude and background. To me, LaCasse comes across like a guy who rarely raises his voice and has probably has never been in a fight in his adult life.

So, I have to wonder what made Jane think of him straight-off? She immediately mentions him as soon as "who could have done this" comes up. What gives?

I think he said he wanted to “kick his butt”. That involves strong feelings, right?

 

[ch_13]

I think he said he wanted to “kick his butt”. That involves strong feelings, right?

I don't recall that but it's been a while since I listened to the tapes.

If he said that, then I would agree with you about him having stronger feelings than what I recall.

I still don't think LaCasse is a tough guy. Maybe he was just posturing in front of the cop a bit, trying to act macho.

I never said he would shoot him. And yes hate is a strong word. So would despised be better? Not everyone that hates another kills them.

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that you thought JL was the shooter. Just that it was the name that immediately leapt out to Jane.

 

[Knitpicker]

I don't recall that but it's been a while since I listened to the tapes.

If he said that, then I would agree with you about him having stronger feelings than what I recall.

I still don't think LaCasse is a tough guy. Maybe he was just posturing in front of the cop a bit, trying to act macho.

Almost positive he said that. He could be posturing, or telling the truth. I tend to go with believing what someone says.

 

[Knitpicker]

The audio isn't great but it can be discerned.
The screenshots of the emails between SY & WA are interesting, in my opinion. Always good to get some new material.

Some on the Defense side may continue to argue that this is worthless information but we already knew that the Prosecutor at the SAOffice felt there was sufficient merit to add it to the discovery and witness list ( Those discovery & witness links were posted on WS a few weeks ago) James from Mentour Lawyer briefly mentions Alex Morris' response.


As Georgia is wont to say ' Stay Tuned! '

He made it for members only, like the one yesterday. You have to be up in the middle of the night to get it lol.

 

[Going Rogue]

Of course the ex-boyfriend would be a suspect. But it's not that so much as the way that Jane immediately jumps to him as soon as talk turns to "who did this." She say something along the lines of "Jeff would be my vote".

My question is what led Jane to believe that Jeff could be capable and willing to shoot Dan Markel. Why was Jeff her "vote"?

Maybe it's simply that as the ex-boyfriend he's a likely candidate. Or maybe someone had been feeding her stories about Jeff that painted him to be the sort of person who would shoot someone because of jealousy issues.

I'm not sure about the '"Jeff would be my vote" comment, but I do recall she made it clear that she didn’t think Jeff was capable of the murder. She even said something to the effect of that she views him as a ‘decent’ guy and she said be more inclined to suspect ‘someone like you’ - not sure who she was directing the ‘you’ to, I don’t recall who speaking to at the time (victim’s advocate?)

The ex is just logical choice – IMO, it had nothing to do with her believing it was Jeff.

 

[Going Rogue]

Again, the letters I’ve seen from Sig’s attorney do not, in my opinion, support your contention that he would have had to take Katie down with him, though that may be what he believed. To me, they seem to me to indicate that the state was willing to work out a deal with both of them, if he confessed to being the shooter. Of course, as the shooter, he would in my opinion have gotten more time, but he might have been able to secure a better sentence for himself, and even if he had to implicate Katie, he might have been able to help secure a deal for her (which may have been complete immunity) to save herself and their children. Why neither of them cooperated remains a mystery to me.

Then I’m not sure. If it was made clear to him that PRIOR to their first trial that if he cooperated, Katie had her full immunity deal OR some very favorable deal, then I understand your point. I still do not think he knew much of anything about who was financing the hit

 

[Knitpicker]

Found a video by “guilty words” channel on Donnas emails to Wendi and her commentary should be used as part of the opening argument. It should be sent to Sarah and Georgia imo. I think one of the best commentaries I have watched on this case. Just appeared on my recommended videos.

 

[ch_13]

Almost positive he said that. He could be posturing, or telling the truth. I tend to go with believing what someone says.

Ok, I went back and listened to JL's first interview, albeit at double speed. I couldn't find any reference to wanting to kick Dan's butt. It could be in one of the later interviews.

But I did think it's interesting to listen to how JL talks about the Adelsons and their hate for Dan at 13:20.

And again at 33:55.

Later, he also talks about his own dislike for Dan, so you can contrast it with the absolute hate of the Adelson family. I'd like to hear the "kick someone's butt" quote in context because IMO he doesn't come across as someone who was really that angry but I'll agree to disagree.

 

[Knitpicker]

Ok, I went back and listened to JL's first interview, albeit at double speed. I couldn't find any reference to wanting to kick Dan's butt. It could be in one of the later interviews.

But I did think it's interesting to listen to how JL talks about the Adelsons and their hate for Dan at 13:20.

And again at 33:55.

Later, he also talks about his own dislike for Dan, so you can contrast it with the absolute hate of the Adelson family. I'd like to hear the "kick someone's butt" quote in context because IMO he doesn't come across as someone who was really that angry but I'll agree to disagree.

He said it and ill find it.

 

[Going Rogue]

Ok, I went back and listened to JL's first interview, albeit at double speed. I couldn't find any reference to wanting to kick Dan's butt. It could be in one of the later interviews.

But I did think it's interesting to listen to how JL talks about the Adelsons and their hate for Dan at 13:20.

And again at 33:55.

Later, he also talks about his own dislike for Dan, so you can contrast it with the absolute hate of the Adelson family. I'd like to hear the "kick someone's butt" quote in context because IMO he doesn't come across as someone who was really that angry but I'll agree to disagree.

He definitely said it in the first interview - I'm paraphrasing - he said: I’m surprised you didn’t reach out to me sooner, I must have said 100 times I’d like to kick his *advertiser censored*. It believe it was in the beginning of the interview. I hate to always have a slightly different view than most but, IMO, Jeff started ‘liking’ and ‘respecting’ Dan after he realized everything he was saying was going on the public record. It’s also human nature not to talk bad of the deceased. I’m sure Jeff regrets some of the things he said in the first interview and probably tried to make up for it in the second interview by talking up Dan as a great father – which was totally true, I believe Dan was a loving father. I’m not saying Wendi didn’t paint Dan as an evil manipulative person to Jeff and to those in her circle of friends, but in Jeff’s initial interview he spoke about his personal interactions with Dan and was clearly not a fan. That’s not my opinion, that’s clearly expressed by Jeff in the first police interview. If people want to believe that the opinion Jeff expressed of Dan in that first interview is singularly based on stories Wendi told him, you need to listen to it again - let’s not rewrite history.

 

[ch_13]

If people want to believe that the opinion Jeff expressed of Dan in that first interview is singularly based on stories Wendi told him, you need to listen to it again - let’s not rewrite history.

I never said this or anything like it.

If I missed that quote, so be it. As I said I was listening on double-speed. I'm not going to listen to the whole thing again but if someone could provide a timestamp I would appreciate it.

 

[Going Rogue]

I never said this or anything like it.

If I missed that quote, so be it. As I said I was listening on double-speed. I'm not going to listen to the whole thing again but if someone could provide a timestamp I would appreciate it.

Right, sorry, I wasn’t saying you personally said that. My comments are more of a summary of the views I commonly see expressed by the ‘community’.

 

[Ferpo]

Luis was smart. Sigfredo was not. Katie was not. The question is…why?

LR was staring down death row if he didn't cooperate. But you're right, he was smart enough to see the gathered evidence in front of him and knew he was nabbed.

KM said she didn't want to confess because that could put SG "the father of her children" on death row.

SG may have had similar thoughts as KM, or they may have made a pact. SG had also been in and out of jail a lot already and he was used to eventually being set free. He perhaps could not understand the difference between small-time and big-time incarceration.

In respect to the victims, I don't believe the State would ever give any kind of deal to the trigger man. Ruth Markel has to leave the courtroom during each trial when the autopsy photos are shown, and bullet angles to the skull are discussed. In this perspective, SG would gain nothing if he talked.

 

[Knitpicker]

LR was staring down death row if he didn't cooperate. But you're right, he was smart enough to see the gathered evidence in front of him and knew he was nabbed.

KM said she didn't want to confess because that could put SG "the father of her children" on death row.

SG may have had similar thoughts as KM, or they may have made a pact. SG had also been in and out of jail a lot already and he was used to eventually being set free. He perhaps could not understand the difference between small-time and big-time incarceration.

In respect to the victims, I don't believe the State would ever give any kind of deal to the trigger man. Ruth Markel has to leave the courtroom during each trial when the autopsy photos are shown, and bullet angles to the skull are discussed. In this perspective, SG would gain nothing if he talked.

The death penalty in my understanding was never for SG bc DM wouldn't have wanted it not believing in it, right?

 

[Knitpicker]

Ok, I went back and listened to JL's first interview, albeit at double speed. I couldn't find any reference to wanting to kick Dan's butt. It could be in one of the later interviews.

But I did think it's interesting to listen to how JL talks about the Adelsons and their hate for Dan at 13:20.

And again at 33:55.

Later, he also talks about his own dislike for Dan, so you can contrast it with the absolute hate of the Adelson family. I'd like to hear the "kick someone's butt" quote in context because IMO he doesn't come across as someone who was really that angry but I'll agree to disagree.

OK There was some video cut from the first interview. Right after he asks if this will be on the record, and says there some things he wants to say…it cuts and then he is asked about where he lives.
I went through it all, and I really thought it was in the first interview.
Only think I can think of is that for whatever reason, Mentour cut it out.
If you want to email him you can cask him about that specifically.

 

[Going Rogue]

OK There was some video cut from the first interview. Right after he asks if this will be on the record, and says there some things he wants to say…it cuts and then he is asked about where he lives.
I went through it all, and I really thought it was in the first interview.
Only think I can think of is that for whatever reason, Mentour cut it out.
If you want to email him you can cask him about that specifically.

It was definitely in the beginning of the first interview, and I bet ML did cut it out. He posted more than one version of Jeff's interview – the initial one (at least 3 years ago) was the totally raw and uncut version. I believe at someone's request ML took it down for edits. He removed that one and didn’t re post for a long time because he needed to edit out some ‘personal’ info. I even think the second one was removed and went through another waive of edits.

 

[Ferpo]

The death penalty in my understanding was never for SG bc DM wouldn't have wanted it not believing in it, right?

When SG was convicted of first-degree murder on October 10,2019, the death penalty was still in-play for a sentence. SG would have had three years in jail to think about that.

Five days later, the jury opted not to give SG the death penalty after 40 minutes of deliberation. It does make you wonder if DM's anti-death penalty stance was mentioned in instructions to the jury.

SG's attorney offers a reason for SG's silence:

(source: Talllahassee Democrat, October 16, 2019)

 

[Knitpicker]

When SG was convicted of first-degree murder on October 10,2019, the death penalty was still in-play for a sentence. SG would have had three years in jail to think about that.

Five days later, the jury opted not to give SG the death penalty after 40 minutes of deliberation. It does make you wonder if DM's anti-death penalty stance was mentioned in instructions to the jury.

SG's attorney offers a reason for SG's silence:

(source: Talllahassee Democrat, October 16, 2019)

I do think the state took into consideration Dans position as per Ruth.