for Thursday, May 19th Day 2:
Jada E. Williams
@JadaEWilliams
We're back from break. Luis Rivera is now testifying. This could go into the morning. He's the one who took a plea deal in exchange for information. So arguably the most important witness in this trial for the state. A witness the defense says lacks credibility.
Luis "Tato" Rivera has been convicted of 10 felonies. He's in federal prison on two concurrent sentences: a federal RICO and for the murder. He got 19 years for his cooperation, or as he just called it "snitch".
"It's nothing sweet about feds, it's all the same." The state getting Rivera to talk about prison conditions. In the defense's opening, they mentioned Rivera is in a better prison because it's federal, not state. If he were only in prison for Markel's murder, he would be in state
Rivera says he's no longer a member of the Latin Kings gang because of his cooperation with the state. He says people have tried to kill him in prison because of cooperation. He says this murder has nothing to do with the Latin Kings. but "the rules is the rules"
Rivera says Sigfredo Garcia hired him to kill Dan Markel. He says Sigfredo's "wife" Katherine gave Garcia the job and the money. He called her the mastermind. He didn't know Dan Markel, he just knew he was getting paid.
Rivera said he doesn't know "The Dentist" and never personally met him. He just knew it was Katherine's boyfriend. He never knew of contact between Garcia and Charlie Adelson.
Rivera says Sigfredo knew Magbanua was seeing a dentist, but didn't know his name. He said Garcia never mentioned the dentist was behind the murder. Only that Wendi Adelson was paying for the murder to help her get her kids back.
Rivera says all contact with the hitmen was done by KM. He said Garcia didn't like Charlie because he was dating KM. Rivera says he was paid more than $30k for the murder and KM is the person who paid him.
Rivera said halfway through the trip to Tallahassee, he thought the job he was paid to do was a robbery. He said he bought a gun off the street specifically to kill Markel with. "It was a murder to get two kids back to the lady."
"I sit there and wait for him to drop the kids off. Then I followed him to the gym."- Rivera describes waiting on Markel. "When he gets to the house, when he made it into the garage, I pulled right in behind him."
Rivera says KM told SG don't do anything stupid. LR says KM was the only person SG called during the fatal trip to Tallahassee. The phones were turned off while in Tallahassee. Rivera says there were two guns with them on the second trip.
We're back from break. Luis Rivera is now testifying. This could go into the morning. He's the one who took a plea deal in exchange for information. So arguably the most important witness in this trial for the state. A witness the defense says lacks credibility.
Rivera was willing to be the shooter, but "it just worked out" that he didn't pull the trigger. He says KM gave Garcia a piece of paper with a picture of Dan Markel and an address for Markel's house. He says he never saw SG talk to anyone other than him and KM.
"Garcia jumped out, went around the car to the driver's side and shot him. No words exchanged." Rivera says he saw Markel try to put his hands up as Garcia shot twice. They sped away immediately without checking to see if Markel was killed.
"The day before, I was scoping the house and she was walking on the sidewalk with two kids a couple of houses down. She looked at the car and got on the phone right away to make a phone call." Garcia told Rivera that was Wendi Adelson.
He says Garcia accidentally shot through the floor of the Prius and ruined the gas line. They had to fix the car while in Tallahassee. A drug dealer they bought drugs from helped Garcia get the car fixed.
Rivera says he took a picture and posted it to Instagram. Garcia got a phone call from KM and told Rivera "Take that picture down, that's too much evidence." They wanted to avoid having proof of them in Tallahassee.
Rivera says the first time they get on the phone is at least an hour after the murder while they're headed home. Garcia calls Magbanua. "He shuts up when she talks." Rivera said, claiming he heard her. "It's done. She said I know. He said where's the money at?"
He says SG had $5,000 or so in his pocket for both trips. LR says the money came from "The Lady" and from KM. He said they had some left over after that trip.
Rivera says the money was stapled. "I've never seen money stapled. It was a lot of hundreds all stapled." He says there were thousand dollar stacks. SG got $40k, LR got $35k plus an extra $2k, KM got the rest according to LR. He says he and Garcia bought motorcycles.
The state finishes its questioning. A quick break before we move into cross-examination
Jada E. Williams
@JadaEWilliams
Cross-Examination of Luis Rivera happening now. Chris DeCoste asking about all the ways he was involved in the murder; buying the gun, the bullets, renting the car, driving the car, etc.
DeCoste is bringing up a federal charge Rivera accepted but said "You can't ever beat the feds, man. You can't ever go to trial against the feds." Hinting at Rivera lying just to avoid a trial.
Now they're discussing the Latin Kings. "I just want to know what this got to do with the case?"
Rivera says he was a top level member of the Latin Kings from 16 up until he was charged (roughly 15 years later). Keeping that title involves constantly committing and overseeing crimes. Rivera continues to ask what it has to do with *this* trial.
DeCoste is hinting that to avoid death penalty or life in jail, he cooperated with the feds. "You had to advance their theory to get time off."
"Everything I said was the truth."- Rivera's response to DeCoste alleging he agreed to whatever the government said to get out of life or the death penalty.
DeCoste asks about an earlier statement saying federal prison is better. "They're not better. But where I am right now is better. I wasn't safe before. They were trying to kill me." says he's never actually been in state prison but he hears federal prison is better.
"We talked about what you get. Now let's talk about what you had to give." goes on to talk about his conditions to testify truthfully. Goes into Rivera saying he saw Wendi Adelson at Markel's house.
DeCoste moves to Rivera's mental health. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia at about 10 years old. Rivera says he was self medicating with alcohol and cocaine and molly back in 2014. Says the prison isn't currently giving him any medications.
One of Rivera's earlier interviews with police is playing. DeCoste is focusing on Rivera's timeline when he found out the job was a murder. In that video, he says the conversation happened in the house before they ever rented a car. Today, he testified he found out on the road.
link:
https://twitter.com/JadaEWilliams
