GUILTY FL - Dan Markel, 41, FSU Law Professor, Tallahassee, 18 July 2014 *arrests* #12

[AlferdPacker]

I'm 100% convinced she's guilty of conspiracy. At the least. And I think we've only seen a fraction of evidence against her too. To me, the X factor is who is going to turn on who in this evil triad. My vote is that DA and WA will throw CA under the bus, thinking his life is basically over anyway and they can still "get on with their lives". I don't think DA stands a chance of avoiding incarceration, unless CA falls on his sword for her--yet I think we might see a wild card with him serving up WA for leniency.

Are there cases where the scenario you're describing has occurred?

 

[TrialLurking]

I’m still not sure whether, knowing what I do now, I could convict Wendi if first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. What I find most convincing is that if she had no involvement, any normal person would have disowned their obviously guilty family by now.

Question for the crowd: Are you convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Wendi is guilt?

After the past two trials, I would say only "conspiracy".

 

[friendlyobserver]

In her personal podcast, which I've already "revised" for accuracy -- Wendi called Harvey her "brain-cancer-surviving father" ... FALSE. He had a benign acoustic neuroma. At no point did his family think he had cancer, and certainly if he DID, she'd have known. Why lie about that?

i mean the biggest lie is "i miss my life in tallahasee..." also - i am skeptical she was going to be the commencement speaker? who would give her that? anyone has details?

 

[TrialLurking]

i mean the biggest lie is "i miss my life in tallahasee..." also - i am skeptical she was going to be the commencement speaker? who would give her that? anyone has details?

About five years ago, I came across her book at a thrift store. Curiosity got the best of me, and I purchased it. ( I have been following this case since the beginning). The book parallels the life of an unfulfilled wife working in immigration. She calls the town she lives in "Hiawassee Springs", but makes it seem unbearable from my impression. Her unhappiness comes through in the writing.

I have lived in Ft Lauderdale and Tallahassee both. They are completely different worlds and paces of life. I do not believe she misses any aspect of her life in Tallahassee. Yet, she wants people to believe otherwise.

Forgot to add: I don't believe she was to be a commencement speaker, and my point of the post is that she continually seems to say untruths through her testimony. Who can believe her.

 

[missunshine]

i mean the biggest lie is "i miss my life in tallahasee..." also - i am skeptical she was going to be the commencement speaker? who would give her that? anyone has details?

Where in the world was it said she was going to be a commencement speaker?

 

[AlferdPacker]

Where in the world was it said she was going to be a commencement speaker?

FSU. Her book was also assigned to every Freshman in 2014 as required reading.

 

[Laura930]

DBM

What does DBM mean?

 

[HanniBJeter]

Another Wendi question…supposedly she didn’t remember to bring up Jeffrey LaCasse in her police interview until her friend came in and reminded her. This was after HOURS of talking to the investigator and victim advocate. Did she really forget or was this part of her diabolical plan? How did she not remember to tell them she was dating a guy that was having jealousy issues? This whole case is infuriating and heartbreaking for the Markel family. I hope all the Adelsons end up paying for this horrific crime. I can’t imagine their lives have been all that great since this all happened. Also, Wendi mentions (and so does her friend) that ”Danny” was difficult to get along with. Has anyone else close to Danny ever said he was a difficult person to get along with? BTW, I hate how Wendi continues to refer to him as Danny throughout the entire police interview and during her testimony.

 

[TrialLurking]

What does DBM mean?

Deleted by me

 

[Laura930]

Deleted by me

Thank you very much!

 

[friendlyobserver]

Another Wendi question…supposedly she didn’t remember to bring up Jeffrey LaCasse in her police interview until her friend came in and reminded her. This was after HOURS of talking to the investigator and victim advocate. Did she really forget or was this part of her diabolical plan? How did she not remember to tell them she was dating a guy that was having jealousy issues? This whole case is infuriating and heartbreaking for the Markel family. I hope all the Adelsons end up paying for this horrific crime. I can’t imagine their lives have been all that great since this all happened. Also, Wendi mentions (and so does her friend) that ”Danny” was difficult to get along with. Has anyone else close to Danny ever said he was a difficult person to get along with? BTW, I hate how Wendi continues to refer to him as Danny throughout the entire police interview and during her testimony.

Dan was not difficult to get along with; he still tried to reconcile after her crazy disappearance from their house with the kids. he was sweet, funny, very social, he did think highly of his intellect, rightfully so, and called you out if you were saying idiotic things, but not difficult to get along with. he cooked meals for his law students at his house, which hardly any law professor does. he organized dinners and get togethers with colleagues and friends, he kept in touch with people more than almost anyone else i knew.

 

[TrialLurking]

Dan was not difficult to get along with; he still tried to reconcile after her crazy disappearance from their house with the kids. he was sweet, funny, very social, he did think highly of his intellect, rightfully so, and called you out if you were saying idiotic things, but not difficult to get along with. he cooked meals for his law students at his house, which hardly any law professor does. he organized dinners and get togethers with colleagues and friends, he kept in touch with people more than almost anyone else i knew.

Thank you for sharing this insight. We hear so much about all the players in this horrible crime, and the victim's character isn't mentioned so much. I remember hearing in court how he tried to reconcile the marriage. I don't believe her when she said that she had asked for a divorce before; his actions indicate he was blindsided. It seems I read somewhere she was pretending to plan a birthday party for DM (per his friends) knowing she was filing for divorce. I may have heard that on a podcast. I will try to go back and find where.

 

[ghibercz]

Another Wendi question…supposedly she didn’t remember to bring up Jeffrey LaCasse in her police interview until her friend came in and reminded her. This was after HOURS of talking to the investigator and victim advocate. Did she really forget or was this part of her diabolical plan? How did she not remember to tell them she was dating a guy that was having jealousy issues? This whole case is infuriating and heartbreaking for the Markel family. I hope all the Adelsons end up paying for this horrific crime. I can’t imagine their lives have been all that great since this all happened. Also, Wendi mentions (and so does her friend) that ”Danny” was difficult to get along with. Has anyone else close to Danny ever said he was a difficult person to get along with? BTW, I hate how Wendi continues to refer to him as Danny throughout the entire police interview and during her testimony.

what did her friend say again, something like, "would he be lunatic enough to do this?" ... as in, Wendi had already primed her friend group to think of him that way. Quite a set-up job. "Oh him? I hadn't thought about him...." It's grossly and utterly laughable.

 

[vislaw]

I do find it very interesting how drastically the social media postings have diminished for both Tara Kawass and Christopher DeCoste. For quite some time they've used social media to establish narratives that paint themselves as defenders of the oppressed who are wrongfully persecuted by both prosecutors/law enforcement and the media. This strategy has resulted in a lot of buzz that has generated a lot of discussion on various subreddit forums and elsewhere. It was pretty clear this approach was to both garner support and influence public opinion regarding their clients, but also to serve as a marketing tool to generate new clients. <modsnip - rumor>

This rather abrupt hiatus in their online presence makes me wonder whether they are actively trying to cut some sort of deal and don't want to antagonize the prosecutors.

 

[katiecoolady]

Are there cases where the scenario you're describing has occurred?

Do you mean where family members have thrown each other under the bus? If so, even this case where Rivera was as close to a brother to Garcia as a brother could be--and he tossed both he and Katie under the bus for his deal. Not sure if I'm answering your question, but to me, it's how terrified Charlie is of spending his life in prison and his limited options and how convincing his defense attorney is of getting an acquittal (which is a very low probability the way most are viewing it with just the evidence we've seen--I mean to me it was unprecedented for BOTH sides of a murder trial to be in an agreement of a perpetrator as we've seen in these trials).

 

[katiecoolady]

what did her friend say again, something like, "would he be lunatic enough to do this?" ... as in, Wendi had already primed her friend group to think of him that way. Quite a set-up job. "Oh him? I hadn't thought about him...." It's grossly and utterly laughable.

It's really disturbing when she says something like "maybe that break I took made him crazy" which sounds, to me, like her entirely premeditated scheme.

 

[katiecoolady]

I do find it very interesting how drastically the social media postings have diminished for both Tara Kawass and Christopher DeCoste. For quite some time they've used social media to establish narratives that paint themselves as defenders of the oppressed who are wrongfully persecuted by both prosecutors/law enforcement and the media. This strategy has resulted in a lot of buzz that has generated a lot of discussion on various subreddit forums and elsewhere. It was pretty clear this approach was to both garner support and influence public opinion regarding their clients, but also to serve as a marketing tool to generate new clients. <modsnip - rumor>

This rather abrupt hiatus in their online presence makes me wonder whether they are actively trying to cut some sort of deal and don't want to antagonize the prosecutors.

Kawass in particular, reminds me of David Rudolph from the Michael Peterson trial. It's like they get so caught up in the "glamour" of a high profile trial that some perspective is lost and reckless decisions get made (which I saw in her social media postings of bravado, dropping f bombs, caustic personal comments). Rudolph, in my opinion, was so taken with becoming the "next Mark Geragos" that he not only allowed, but encouraged his client on trial for murder to talk to media, but INVITED a film crew to follow them around through the entire strategizing and trial itself. And made a terrible decision to take the jury to the crime scene, overlooking that his client had been living there, enjoying meals just feet away from a boarded up blood spattered stairwell. Things like that. Didn't see it as much with DeCoste (and especially his interview post-verdict, which seemed to be an attempt at normalcy), but Kawass seemed especially shook at the conviction, which came as no surprise to most of us. The surprise was her confidence that Katie would get off. I still wonder how much all of that bravado influenced Katie to not take a deal. The big question, why? Guess we'll find out if she tries at sentencing.

 

[katiecoolady]

Has any definitive ever been discovered about who paid for Katie's defense? Surely Kawass and DeCoste didn't do that trial pro-bono. Or was it the cash she had leftover from her bottle service tips that wasn't used for the breast implant(s)?

 

[Deleted member 302228]

Do you mean where family members have thrown each other under the bus? If so, even this case where Rivera was as close to a brother to Garcia as a brother could be--and he tossed both he and Katie under the bus for his deal. Not sure if I'm answering your question, but to me, it's how terrified Charlie is of spending his life in prison and his limited options and how convincing his defense attorney is of getting an acquittal (which is a very low probability the way most are viewing it with just the evidence we've seen--I mean to me it was unprecedented for BOTH sides of a murder trial to be in an agreement of a perpetrator as we've seen in these trials).

No, I meant the part where a suspect "falls on their sword" to generate leniency for another party, but the prosecutor has evidence the other party committed a first degree murder.

 

[vislaw]

Has any definitive ever been discovered about who paid for Katie's defense? Surely Kawass and DeCoste didn't do that trial pro-bono. Or was it the cash she had leftover from her bottle service tips that wasn't used for the breast implant(s)?

This remains a great mystery. The fact that they petitioned the court earlier this year to declare Katie indigent suggests the money spigot was being turned off. That declaration only applied to actual costs and not attorney fees. That may mean that their fees were already paid in advance or were guaranteed for trial (an approach many prominent defense attorneys use).

Nobody has come forth with any new information since the court considered the issue in 2017. DeCoste flatly stated that the fees were being paid by the immediate family and the judge heard evidence in camera that convinced him that the fees were being paid by a third party not connected to the Adelsons. Many have pointed out that the judge's ruling does not necessarily mean that funds are not being funneled to the Magbanua family through unidentified sources, but until we learn anything more we can't really do anything except speculate.