It may just be based on Katie testifying.
I don’t think they will have Katie testify. They will try to rely on her prior testimony. I hope they do put Garcia on the stand. However, based on what we have seen so far I am still not convinced they will try that gambit.
Yeah, its not entirely clear. One reason Im leaning towards Garcia testifying is the other part of Kawass opening, where she mentions that Garcia had been stalking/following around Katie and Charlie when they went on dates without Katie's knowledge (Garcia previously alleged this as well). She then said that Charles was very aware (from Katie) of Sigfredo Garcia being a deadbeat and not being able to get his life together.
And then Kawass said:
"On May 15th, Sigredo sat outside the restaurant and watched them while they (Charlie and Katie) at dinner. Kate then left to go home cause she has kids to take care of. And Charles leaves south beach to now drive up to his Fort Lauderdale home in his burgundy Lexus.
This is when Sigfredo Garcia confronted Charles about Katie. And for Charles...an opportunity had now fallen directly into his lap. "You want her back...Katie? No problem. I will give you $100,000 in cash and I will leave her alone if you do this for me." God only knows what Charles Adelson said to Sigfredo Garcia about Dan Markel. He probably even said to him to him "you can get someone else to do this for me". The deal was hatched in that moment.
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Its a very creative argument (lie) which seems almost entirely based on Rivera's prior testimony about Garcia losing his mind about Katie dating the dentist, following them around and then confronting both of them in traffic outside a restaurant. Now, Katie can't corroborate this story at all. The only people who can are Garcia and Charlie Adelson. Thats why I'm guessing that Garcia will testify.
Of course, like any lie...it wont be able to stand up to any scrutiny or common sense. If you are confronting someone about screwing your common law wife, what are the chances that you are going to walk out of there with a deal to murder a complete stranger who lives 8 hours away? That not usually how those confrontations go down. And then most importantly.....there are zero calls/texts between Adelson and Garcia and the only flow of information is Charlie Adelson>Katie>Garcia.
If Garcia
is testifying, it seems like the defense is going to make the trial a credibility contest between Rivera and Garcia. But they still won't be able to explain the phone records that have Katie quarterbacking the whole thing, the money drop, Katie getting a no-show job at the Adelson institute and then Adelson and Katie strategizing how to deal with the extortion ruse. All the coded language. Seems like a tough hill to climb.
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Kawass then admitted that the source of some of Katie's cash deposits into the bank following the murder were actually from Sigfredo Garcia - but she didn't know it was the proceeds of the Markel homicide. This is a brand new defense theory and suggests that Katie likely will not be testifying as she told the court in her last trial that she got all that money from tips working in nightclubs. She never said she got money from Garcia. Kawass then said Katie also had several cash jobs. In any case, the defense admitting to their client depositing murder proceeds money is an......interesting defense.
This is setting up for a very interesting trial.
