GUILTY FL - Dan Markel, 41, FSU Law Professor, Tallahassee, 18 July 2014 - #6 *arrests*

[Niner]

Wasn't it delayed by the prosecution because they were finally able to unlock KM's phone and they needed time to study the contents?

Yes, that is the reason - they found "new" stuff on her phone.

 

[mommeof2]

Just heard this about this case and suspected WA from the jump. That family has some serious issues and I hope she gets questioned and arrested for her part in it. I fully believe she's guilty. I hope that the Markel's can finally be reuinted with the gradchilren, again I'm just learning details about this case but what's the reasoning the DA hasn't let the grandbabies see their other grandparents?

 

[kooshx]

Just heard this about this case and suspected WA from the jump. That family has some serious issues and I hope she gets questioned and arrested for her part in it. I fully believe she's guilty. I hope that the Markel's can finally be reuinted with the gradchilren, again I'm just learning details about this case but what's the reasoning the DA hasn't let the grandbabies see their other grandparents?

I assume by DA, you mean the District Attorney (DA sometimes refers to Donna Adelson, Wendi's mother). The DA doesn't determine visitation rights. With Wendi being the only living parent, she has full custody of the children. Florida, like most states, doesn't have much by way of "grandparents' rights", so Wendi pretty much has sole discretion regarding who is able to have contact with the children.

At present, she's not considered a suspect or even named as an unindicted co-conspirator (unlike other members of her family). Unless, that changes, the state isn't going to interfere with her custody of the children.

 

[mommeof2]

Thanks for answering, that's disappointing to hear that she's not a suspect. Interesting case non the less.

 

[ilovewings]

Thanks for answering, that's disappointing to hear that she's not a suspect. Interesting case non the less.

I admit to being very surprised she is not a suspect

 

[lucylulu]

I remember this case from a dateline or 20/20 episode. I recall the LE interview with the ex-wife and she wasn't believable to me.

Now, I will go back and read from the beginning.

Moo

 

[Niner]

I admit to being very surprised she is not a suspect

In my notes I have ALL the Adelsons as POIs. I would not have put that there if LE had not said it....

 

[MLaps]

In my notes I have ALL the Adelsons as POIs. I would not have put that there if LE had not said it....

Between listening to Over My Dead Body and the Dateline episode...my opinion is that the brother & mother were definitely involved. I believe Wendi knew something but not that he was going to be murdered.

 

[mommeof2]

I blame Wendi for the way she went about the divorce, she seems like such a cry baby to me. I'm glad her older brother doesn't buy the family's bs.

 

[FreddyG]

Very interesting, but deeply disturbing emails sent from DA to WA. Wendi was a grown woman, with two children, not to mention a law degree. Why did DA want her so desperately to move back to south Florida? DA sounds much more unhinged than I had ever imagined.

Not contesting the characterization of DA as "unhinged," but the desire to move back to S FL was shared by WA as well, more so than her parents. WA passionately hated Tallahassee, which is clear from her disparaging comments about it in her public posts as well as the thinly veiled autobiographical stuff from her book. She was constantly applying to the court to let her move back there, but these requests were consistently denied.

The family was negatively obsessive about this IMO. They regarded WA as their golden child, and heaped praise on her to an extreme degree. By contrast, Dan's treating her as a second-class member of their marriage (he was the tenure-track law professor while she was a mere clinical professor, the trailing spouse) relegated her to a status that enraged her family.

Then for her to be stuck in Tallahassee due to Dan's also being there, even after the nuclear meltdown of a divorce, was a bitter pill for WA. She couldn't get out of Dan's orbit and she had to live in a city she hated. Hence the growing enmity for her and the rest of the Adelsons that culminated in (IMO) hiring a contract killer.

This is all pathological of course--Tally is not that far from Miami and WA was a grown woman capable of living on her own. But it is a lesson about not allowing yourself to be consumed by hatred, as the Adelsons did for Dan. It can make you do evil things, and it may end up destroying you as much as the object of your hate.

 

[kay74]

Years back, I had a friend who lived in Colorado with her two children. Ironically her family was wealthy and live in South Florida. She was ordered by the court to stay in Colorado because that's where her ex husband and father of her children lived so she did and accepted it. Noone in her family would have even entered the thought of killing her ex husband which is insane! It just shows how abnormal and sick and evil the Markel situation is. How CA could even go this bad is beyond me. I believe it was him alone who orchestrated this but I could be wrong. MOO

 

[kay74]

My Colorado friend also visited her folks in Florida many times and they did the same with her. You want a divorce then go by the consequences.

 

[MuddyTires]

I keep losing track. Just when is this trial going to start now???

Seemingly never.

 

[TTF14]

I have blue eyes and both of my parents have brown.

 

[Niner]

@TTF14 - trial was supposed to start on 6/3, but got delayed. No trial date is set - both have a status hearing tomorrow, 6/18.

 

[jbc]

But it is a lesson about not allowing yourself to be consumed by hatred, as the Adelsons did for Dan. It can make you do evil things, and it may end up destroying you as much as the object of your hate.

That is an insightful and beautiful post, FreddyG.

Guiding words: "Always remember, others may hate you, but those that hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself." (R. Nixon, Farewell Speech, August 1974).

Most often, people don't understand this until it's too late.

 

[FreddyG]

@TTF14 - trial was supposed to start on 6/3, but got delayed. No trial date is set - both have a status hearing tomorrow, 6/18.

I have some hope that this status hearing may be more eventful. It will be the first since the state has had a full opportunity to review the contents of KM's cell phone. I'd be surprised if there weren't something in there that helped their case, and/or made the defense reassess the chances of winning theirs. I wonder if the contents of that phone might contain the smoking gun that would finally convince the state's attorney they have enough probable cause to indict CA (or even DA). I am no crim law expert, but I think this could arise in the status conference in a number of ways. For one, the parties could tell the court they've reached a plea agreement. Or the state could ask for a modification of proceedings in light of their decision to indict new defendants.

 

[SeesSeas]

New docket entry today:
https://cvweb.clerk.leon.fl.us/public/online_services/search_courts/search_by_name.asp
37 2016 CF 003036 A - STATE OF FLORIDA vs MAGBANUA, KATHERINE D
6/17/2019 MOTN ‹‹-Req MOTION MOTION FOR RECOMMENDATION TO LEON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE FOR DEFENDANT TO HAVE ACCESS TO MP3 PLAYER TO REVIEW DISCOVERY

 

[Niner]

Wednesday, June 18th:
*Status Hearing for both (@ 10:30am ET) - FL – Daniel Eric Markel (41) (July 18, 2014, Tallahassee) - *Sigfredo Garcia (34) arrested & charged (5/25/16) with 1st degree murder, conspiracy & solicitation of murder. Plead not guilty. Held without bond. DP case.
Murder for Hire hit man. They split a $100K payoff for murder.
*Katherine Magbanua (32) (Garcia's wife) arrested (Oct. 2016) & charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy & solicitation of murder were brought together into one case on Tuesday (3/20/18). Plead not guilty. Held without bond.
KM has rejected several offers of immunity for her testimony.
Trial was to start 6/3/19, but has been delayed.
Court hearings from 6/21/18 thru 4/30/19 reference post #165 here:
FL - Dan Markel, 41, FSU Law Professor, Tallahassee, 18 July 2014 - #6 *arrests*
5/1/19: Magbanua files Motion non-party motion for protective order. Motion hearing for trial continuance on 5/7 for Garcia only.
5/7/19 Update: Judge has denied the absurd request from the defense to delay the trial due to the impending birth of one of the attorney's baby in July. Magbanua's attorney filed a request for a delay on Tuesday morning citing recent health concerns & what she says is difficulty in scheduling depositions & getting evidence from the State. The Judge acknowledged the motion, but will make a ruling in writing soon. Judge says trial should last 3 weeks. Next motions hearing on 5/21 for both. 5/10/19: Judge again denies continuance of trial.
5/21/19 Update: Defense again asks for a continuance of trial-denied. 5/23/19: New evidence led Leon Circuit Judge James Hankinson to push back the trial yet again-continuance granted. Prosecutors announced Thursday they’ve unlocked the cell phone of one of Markel’s alleged murderers. Law enforcement began analyzing Katherine Magbanua’s cell phone after a search warrant was approved last week. 5/23/19: A continuance was granted today & June 3 trial is off. Status conference set for June 18.
5/30/19: Appeals judges will hear arguments Wednesday on whether to let stand a protective order allowing Wendi Adelson to skirt a deposition subpoena by the attorneys of a woman accused of killing her ex-husband. The oral argument is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday
5/30 at the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. Adelson's brief in the appeal states that she "intends to cooperate fully and testify at trial"; her testimony at trial cannot be used against her later (except for a potential perjury prosecution), per a FL statute.
6/3/19: Wendi Adelson does not have to have deposition to defense.
6/10/19: Leon Circuit Judge James C. Hankinson reverses course, taking into account a DCA opinion last week, reconsidering a motion that kept Markel's ex wife Wendi Adelson from being deposed by the defense. So Adelson will be subject to a defense subpoena prior to trial where she'll have to answer questions from Magbanua's attorneys. Defense attorneys wanted to depose Adelson, but Circuit Judge James Hankinson had granted a protective order to stop it. Defense attorneys then filed an appeal, asking the First District Court of Appeals to weigh in.
6/17/19 Update: Motion for Recommendation to Leon County Sheriff's office for defendant to have access to MP3 player to review discovery.
Accomplice:
*Luis Rivera (33) charged with 1st degree murder. Took a plea deal (Oct. 2016) & plead guilty to 2nd degree murder. Will testify against Garcia & Magbanua. Will receive 19-year sentence to run concurrently with his 12 year Federal time, which he is already serving.
POIs: Wendi Adelson (ex-wife of Markel), her bro Charlie, mom Donna Sue Adelson (68) & father Harvey Adelson. Investigators have not charged anyone in the Adelson family in connection with Markel’s death, but say Adelson’s mother and brother – Donna and Charlie Adelson – paid $100,000 to have Markel killed following the couple’s contentious divorce so their two young sons could move to South Florida.


Now I can shorten this up a bit....

 

[kooshx]

Justice in September? (New date is 9/23/19)

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