Law&Crime Sidebar - Charlie Adelson's Deadly Plot to Murder His Sister's Ex-Husband — The Full Story

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

FSU law professor Dan Markel was gunned down in his driveway in 2014. Prosecutors accused multiple people of plotting to murder Markel, including his ex-brother-in-law Charlie Adelson. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber takes a deep dive into Adelson’s trial and its verdict – nearly a decade after the shooting.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LawAndCrimeHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Did you have any contact with the thugs that were getting your money for two years? No. Did anybody put a gun to your head? I was told that I would be killed in 48 hours if I didn't pay up. say that, but my question is, did anyone put a gun to your head? Did you ask me, did anyone pull a gun on me? That's what I asked.

No, nobody pulled the firearm. It has been a fascinating trial for Charlie Adelson, the man accused of orchestrating the plot to murder FSU law professor Dan Markell, from a shocking opening statement to tense cross-examination, to secret recordings, to the defendant on the stand, we do a full trial recap of the major moments. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. There was a trial that we were covering, huge deal, very high profile.

In fact, for me personally, I have been following this saga for years. And now, with the end of this trial, I wonder, is this the end of everything? Maybe, maybe not. We'll get to that. I'm talking about the criminal trial of Charlie Edelson. So we are going to do a full trial recap. in case you missed anything from it, showing you some of the major moments from beginning to end. But before I even do that, I got to explain the backstory to you because it is very

complicated, but stay with me. So back on July 18, 2014, Florida State University law professor Dan Markell was shot to death in the garage of his Tallahassee home. It turns out that the shooting was carried out by two men, known gang member Luis Rivera and his associate Siegfredo Garcia. They had driven from Miami to Tallahasse. You can even see surveillance footage of them in a rented car and following Markell as he was doing his errands before he was killed. Come to find out that these men were hired and paid to kill Dan Markell. You see, according to Rivera, the mother of Garcia's children, a woman named Catherine Magmanoa, set up the murder, or she was acting as the middle person in the murder.

Now, why would this random woman want Dan Markell dead? Well, she was dating Charlie Adelson, Dan Markel's former brother-in-law. Charlie was a periodontist at the family dentistry practice. You see, Dan had been married to Charlie's sister, Wendy Adelson. And Dan and Wendy, they divorced. They were in the middle of this bitter custody dispute over their children. To give you an idea of how tense this was between Dan and the Adelson family, Dan at one point petitioned the court to prevent Wendy's mother, Donna Adelson,

from being allowed to be with his children unsupervised. He believed that Donna was ad-mouthing him to them. So investigators believe that Charlie was the one that orchestrated the killing, facilitating the payment of $100,000 to be shared by Magbanoa, Garcia, and Rivera. In fact, Magbanawa was depositing these large sums, these large checks from the Adelson dentistry practice into her account. And these were checks that were signed by Donna Adelson. And the evidence of Charlie's involvement is very interesting.

There was a comment that he allegedly made to Wendy when she and Dan broke up, where he said to her, buying a TV was cheaper than hiring a hitman. There were recorded phone calls and conversations between Charlie and McBanwa that were very suspicious. I mean, one of the biggest pieces of evidence was this secret recording from a Miami restaurant. Now, I'll give you a backstory on that. At one point, in order to get everybody talking, the FBI did a kind of sting operation. They had an undercover officer go up to Donna Adelson, Charlie and Wendy's mother, on the street,

pretending to be an associate of Rivera. this happened after Dan's killing and handed her a news article about Markell's killing and written on it was $5,000 and a phone number, making it look like a threat or blackmail. So the FBI agent said to Donna, we want to make sure that you take care of what he's going through, like you're taking care of Katie and Tuto. Tuto was a nickname for Garcia. Now, again, the hope was that they would do this. This would stir the pot and Charlie and Meg Banoa and Donna.

They would all start talking and slip up. Well, right after that happens, Charlie and Magbanawa meet at this restaurant, Dulce Vita, the conversations recorded by police, and Charlie says things like, quote, if they had evidence, we would have already gone to the airport, seemingly thinking this could be the police behind the bump incident. And he also seems to suggest we either pay off the blackmailer or kill him. So Adelson's arrested on April 21st, 2022. He's charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation of murder. that took years for him to finally be arrested after so much suspicion on the Adelson family's

involvement. In fact, Wendy has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in the plot to kill her ex-husband Dan Markell. But yeah, Charlie's arrested. Luis Rivera, he ends up pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He receives a 19-year prison sentence. It runs concurrently with another sentence he has. He testifies against Garcia and Magdanoa. Anne Adelson, as you'll see in a moment, Siegfredo Garcia, whom Rivera claims was the actual shooter. He was convicted of first-degree murder of Markell, sentenced to life in prison. Magbanawa. She had a trial that ended in a mistrial. She goes to trial a second time. She is convicted across the board of murder, conspiracy, solicitation. She's sentenced to life in prison. With all that in mind, now we have the

trial of Charlie Adelson. Let's start off with the opening statements. First up, Georgia Kaplanman, prosecutor, and she talks about some of the points of evidence that I mentioned, particularly the comments made by Charlie Adelson. After Markle was killed on July 18, 2014. Law enforcement interviewed Wendy Adelson. And Wendy Adelson acknowledged that her family had a motive to kill Dan Markell or to want him dead. She admitted that her brother, the defendant, had even said that he looked into hiring a hitman to kill Dan Markell as a divorce present to her. But he did decided to buy her TV instead because it was cheaper. So, as they're examining the phone records

in this case, and the phone calls always went from Donna Adelson to the defendant, then from the defendant to Catherine Magnawan, then from Catherine Magbanouan to Sigfredo Garcia, and back the other way. Charlie Adelson never calls Sigfrido Garcia, or vice versa. So, if this is a murder for hire, as law enforcement suspects, could it be that the defendant was wisely insulating himself from the actual shooters by having Catherine Magbanwa act as a middleman between them? The evidence will show that Catherine Magbanwa went to the defendant's home, the night of the murder, where he paid her in cash, and the next day, Catherine McBanelaw paid

Garcia and Rivera their cuts of the money. When discussing the possibility of whether this is actually some gangster trying to blackmail his family for money, the defendant is worried that this guy is not going to go away, that he's going to keep coming back for more and more money. And the defendant offers a solution to have this blackmailer killed. And he says he's willing to pay, whatever it takes. The defendant tells her that, this is the defendant talking to Catherine Arbanawa, this guy, meaning the blackmailer, is effing with him and his wife. And you'd better kill him or he's going to be a big problem because he knows who you are.

And the defendant then says, if he can't handle this, I'll have somebody else to do it. The defendant says, so help me, God, if they fuck with my family, it's going to be Nazi because this will be done. I mean, Katie, I don't care what I spend. Okay, so the prosecution laying out for the jury what to expect in this case, how the pieces will tie to Charlie Adelson as the mastermind behind this murder for hire plot. We want to thank Morgan and Morgan, the largest injury law firm in America, for sponsoring this video.

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them if you win. So it's no wonder over 3 million people call them every year. So if you're injured, you can submit a claim at www.4thepeople.com backslash law and crime or by dialing pound law. That's pound 529 on your phone. Well, now the defense in their opening statement, I will say, shocked me. I think it shocked a lot of people because they came up with a theory that I don't recall them ever laying out before that the reason there is this payment of money, the reason you have Adelson saying all this weird stuff on tape to his mom and Magbanua is because he is actually the victim in this case. He is the victim of an extortion plot. Let's hear Adelson's attorney, Daniel Roshbaum, lay it out. What you're going to learn is that in the spring

of 2014, it became apparent to Katie that her dreams of financial security with Charlie we're not going to work out. You will learn that Katie heard the hitman joke. You will learn that she heard the million dollar offer and she got some ideas in her head. She says that a friend of hers had shot Professor Markell. She tells him over and over

that she had nothing to do with it. But these people, she was talking to, too much. And her friend and these people learn about the problems that his family was having with Professor Markell. As you can imagine, Charlie is, his life has just forever been altered. He asks, who are these people? She won't tell him. You will learn that Charlie Edelson was told if he didn't pay within the next 48 hours, he or one of his family members would be next. You will learn that Katie repeatedly she had,

that she had nothing to do with it and acted distraught. You will hear how she said that she would help him. You will learn about the initial payment. It wasn't $100,000. It was more than $100,000. He took out everything he had in his state. If you're going to learn about that, the state doesn't know it.

So in other words, Charlie's not behind the plot to kill Dan, but he was wrapped up in this by the real killers. And even though he didn't know it at the time, he would come to realize that his girlfriend, Magbanel, was the mastermind of the extortion plot. Okay, now we heard a lot of interesting evidence during this trial, like the initial 911 phone call from Markell's neighbor,

testimony from the medical examiner to see what the cause of death was, what the manner of death was, how he was shot in the head and phase. We heard from an FBI special agent going through the evidence, tying the co-conspirators together, including that Agbanoa was receiving money from the Adelson Institute, but there was no evidence she was ever employed there, very suspicious. But one of the main highlights of the trial, arguably some of the most important evidence in

the case was the secret recordings from law enforcement. So, for example, the jury was played this video of the infamous bumpsting operation. Remember where an undercover officer goes up to Donald Edelson on the street? Let's watch. Excuse me, Mrs. Adelson? Hey, going to give you this. I don't want to give you scared. Those don't be scared.

Listen, so I'll let you know that you know that your family has been taking care of Haiti and her friend, Bucal, for quite some of the time after your problem of North had to be solved. And I want to let you know that my brother, he's incarcerated. He helped your family with this problem you guys had up north. And we want to make sure that he's going through some rough times. We want to make sure that you take care of what he's going through, the way you're taking care of Katie and two dogs. Well, this will explain it.

Thank you. And the idea was, well, this is a way to get people talking, and hopefully they slip up. Here's the secret recording of the conversation between Donna and her son, defendant Charlie Adelson after this happened. Is the person is a person like threatening you or anything?

You know, you never know how to interpret these things. So that's not worried. And that's, um, let's meet tomorrow. I think that's better. I think that's listening to tomorrow the afternoon.

All right. Let me ask you this. Do you want to take a picture of the letter and send me what's all on 10 years? Yeah. Not really. I'm going to do that. So it wasn't.

It wasn't a government or the military or somebody was just some random person. Yeah. That's crazy. Look, there's a reason that people believe Donna's a part of it, even though she hasn't been charged. Does she know what this is all about? Why is she being so secretive and careful? I mean, at one point, there is a recorded conversation between Donna Edelson and this undercover agent where he is trying to get her to admit the family's involvement in Dan Markell's death.

He's asking for money. I don't know your friend who is in jail. I don't know what he looks like. I've never met him. I'm sorry your friend's in jail, but I don't know what that has to do with me. You know exactly what it has to do with. I don't know who Tosco is.

You don't understand. We know you don't know who Tato is, but you know who Tady is, and you know the contacts Tady has, and she has, listen to me, let's stop fucking around. The bottom line is you know, you know who the fuck Kate is. Look, I don't... I'm no more in the midst of...

No, I'm not fucking around with it. Here's what you need to do. You need to go and... Don't tell me what to do. It isn't me. You have got the wrong person. If you want the money, you should get it from the police. They can give you a whole lot more than you're asking me some money for someone.

I just... I can't do this. Yeah, Donna's role in this or non-role in this is fascinating. We could talk about it forever. But of course, it is the recorded conversations between Charlie Adelson and Catherine Magbanawa that were particularly important for the jury to hear. Like here they're talking about how after the bump, a letter was sent to the Adelson family. And then someone calls Charlie's dental practice, again, asking to take care of Rivera's family.

This is all law enforcement, Adelson, Magbanua. They didn't know that. But Charlie ends up having a conversation with this undercover agent. And then he reports back to Magbanawa what that conversation was about. He referenced Katie and Tuto. So this is the name again. Yeah. So your name and some other guy in the hand well and I don't know.

Mm-hmm. You know, so we do things we were talking about Tuto, which apparently, who that is. That's two people I don't know. and talking about your family saying your family is being helped out which I don't know other than the hours I give you

to go up from the office on the weekend it's very right but that's I don't help you out you're on the weekend and you sound honestly he didn't sound Latin and you sound like you know there's a little bit in New York accent

to it's tough and he's like okay do my thing do the way thing through the way thing you sound like a cop at fishing that's where he's investigated or someone's playing me

yeah so one argument there is does it look like he's covering his track saying I don't know what this guy's talking about I was just taking care of you Katie nothing to do with murder or anything nefarious right but speaking about Catherine Magbanowah for a moment she testified in Adelson's trial

and what did she say well during her trial, she said that she had no involvement in the murder. She testified to that. She ended up getting convicted. Now, Aidelson's team is blaming her, right? Saying she was trying to extort Edelson. So, let's hear what she had to say now. Did you have a trial in your case? Yes, ma'am. Did you testify? Yes, ma'am. You testified on your own behalf? Yes, ma'am. And when you testified, were you truthful with the jury? No, ma'am. I was not. Well, was your defense when you were tried that I had nothing to do with it was that true no

ma'am it was not were you in the middle yes ma'am I was so why tell the truth now I believe that the truth needed to come out now so that the family can get some type of closure why didn't the truth need to come out last year or the year before or the year before that I was trying to defend myself you were trying to get off. Yes, ma'am. Has anyone promised you and anything, promised you anything for your testimony here today? No, ma'am. Weren't you originally offered immunity for cooperation in this case? Yes, ma'am, I was. But you didn't take us up on that? No, ma'am, I didn't. Because you thought you could get off completely. Yes, ma'am. Who came up with the idea to kill Dan Markell?

Charlie. When did the defendant first bring this idea up to you? My first recollection was around Halloween of 2013. Around Halloween or on actual? On Halloween, yes, ma'am. He got in the car with me, and he asked me a question. What was the question? Do you know anybody that can harm someone? And did you know anybody that could harm someone?

Yes, ma'am, I did. So that's massive. Big 180. I was involved. It was Charlie who started this whole thing. I lied in the past. I'm telling the truth now. Pretty incredible.

Not surprising, if you think about it, because according to her, it was Charlie's fault that she and Siegfrieder are going to spend the rest of their lives in prison. It was his idea. My mind, it looks like if we're going down, he's going down. But here's Adelson's defense team pressing her a bit. Pretty soon after you got arrested, you were offered to cooperate against Charlie Adelson and the other Adelson's and you would get to go home to your kids, right? Yes, sir. If you took the state's deal, then you would have been let out of jail immediately, right? That's what your lawyers told you.

If I took their deal? Yes, sir. But you didn't take the offer? No, I didn't. Well, the deal was to give up Charlie. And you couldn't do that. Because in order to give up Charlie, I had to give up secret of the father of my children, so I couldn't do that. The real reason you didn't cooperate, and you made it clear,

is because Charlie Edelson had absolutely nothing to do with the murder of Professor Markell. Isn't that the case? I didn't call. operate because in order to give up Charlie, I'd have to give up Siegfriedo. Well, let's talk about the testimony in your first trial. You were asked, can you, do you have information that Charlie Edelson was involved in this? Answer, do I have information? I don't have personal information. Do you recall that? No, sir, I do not. You don't recall saying that in your first trial? No, sir, I do not. Would you like to see a transcript of it? Yes, I will.

Does that refresh your recollection? That's what you said? Yes, sir. It does. Do we believe her? Do we not believe it? Which brings me to another major question of credibility, a huge witness, Wendy Adelson, Charlie's sister. So while she has not been criminally charged in connection with her ex-husband, Dan Markell's murder, she is considered by investigators to be an unindicted co-conspirator in the plot. And as you will see, prosecutor Georgia Kaplanman wasted no time in grilling her on her alleged involvement and poking holes in her brother's defense. Were you involved in any way in the plot to kill your ex-husband?

Absolutely not. Did you know what was going to happen, but maybe not know the details? I knew nothing. Is that why you went to the crime scene on the day of the homicide? I did not go to the crime scene on the day of the homicide. Have you ever privately confronted your brother about his role or possible role in the murder? My attorney has advised me not to have conversations with anyone in my family about the case. You suspected your brother could have been a part of this, right?

I suspected lots of people could have been a part of it. But he was one of the people, right? While I was talking with law enforcement for six hours, terrified out of my mind, I offered them every possible idea I could come up with. Right. And one of the possible ideas was that your brother could have murdered your child's father. I didn't really believe that was possible. When did you learn that Catherine Magbanowal was blackmailing your brother for the murder of your ex-husband?

today. Your brother has known who killed your child's father and you didn't know. I did not know. How did the killers in this case know that Dan Markell was planning to leave town the day after the killing? I have no idea. You knew he was planning to leave town the next day, didn't you? I did, yes. Did you convey that information to anyone? Absolutely not. Do you want the culpable parties held accountable for murdering the father of your children? Absolutely. I'm grateful they're already in jail. But not if it's your family. It's not my family. Did your dad get any big gifts for his 70th?

I don't remember. Was the murder of Dan Markelly, your dad's big gift? I mean, that's, of course not. That's a horrible thing to say. Tense. Very, very tense. Now, the big players didn't end there because, as we have seen in other trials, we once again heard from the state's star witness Luis Rivera in this trial. Now, the man who took a deal to testify against his co-conspirators, the man who was there when Markell was murdered.

Who was driving the green Prius on, like, whenever you were following Mr. Markell right before the murder? Me. Tell us what happened when you got to Mr. Markell's driveway. Well, he had turned a block before. We kept going, so we went in front of his house. So when he pulled in, we pulled in right behind. Pulling behind him, what happens next? I see I jumped out and shot.

How many times? Twice. Where was he standing when he fired the shots? Right in front of the driver's side, right in the driver. Did you see what the victim did during this attack? He put his hands up. I know he's testified before, but it is always chilling here, Dan Markell's last moments. and then Rivera ties all the players together.

All right, so do you know why Garcia or how Garcia came to know about this murder or this job? Yes, girl. Who's that? Katie. All right, so am I correct that Katie hired Garcia and Garcia hired you? Yes, ma'am. It was to get the money once the job was done. Katie.

All right, and did she get the money? Yes, ma'am. Do you know where she got the money? the money from. You know where she got the money from. Yeah, the people. Who are the people? The dentist. I called them the dentist at that time. The dentist? Like Wendy and her brother. Have you ever had any kind of contact with any member of the Aedelson family? No, ma'am. During the time that Catherine Magbanel was dating the dentist, were you around her to? during that time?

I mean, I've seen it a few times. During the times that you saw her while she was dating the dentist, did she ever brag to you about the dentist at all? No, ma'am. Did she ever tell you the dentist has a lot of money? No, ma'am. The dentist has a safe full of cash in his home?

No. So do you even know who the dentist is? I mean, do you know who he is here in the courtroom? Never met, no, ma'am. Never matter of my life into today. So you hear prosecutors fighting back against this defense that Charlie Adelson was the victim that he was extorted after the murder of Dan Markell. But that didn't stop Adelson's defense team from questioning Rivera about whether or not it's possible

that this was an extortion plot. That was the motive and you just were kept in the dark because as he admits on the stand, he was lied to about a lot of the details. So clearly a lot has been said about Charlie Adelson, a lot of evidence tying him to the murder plot of Dan Markell, but with this new defense of extortion in the mix, the only person that could really prove that or show that is, of course, Charlie Adelson. He had to take the stand. So it shouldn't have been a surprise when he decided to testify.

Cause the death of Professor Dan Markell? Absolutely no. Did you hire anyone to kill him? No. How do you feel right now? I'm really nervous. Why are you nervous? My whole life depends on it.

So he says he didn't have any part in this. And one of the things that he tried to do was to explain away a lot of his bad comments, like the infamous TV comment that he made to his sister after the breakup between her and Dan, where he said buying a TV was cheaper than hiring a hitman. Not a great comment to make when your former brother-in-law is actually murdered by hitman. But here's his position. Now, do you recall making a joke that buying her a TV was cheaper than hiring a hitman? something to that effect.

Yeah, it was, the moment I say, yeah, tell me what the joke was. What happened was when I gave her the TV set as a divorce present, stupid is the stupidest thing I ever said in my life. And I said, you know, I was going to get you a hit man, but the TV set was a lot cheaper, so I went with the TV set instead.

And I said it as a complete joke, and it was stupid, but I do that a lot. Did you make that joke to others? Yes. Did you make that joke many times throughout 2013 and 2014? I made that joke when she was having problems and she was fighting and she was upset. I recycled the joke. It was stupid.

Did you ever say that joke to Catherine Magbanawa? Yes, I did. So he makes that joke, says it's stupid, wasn't nefarious because he told that joke to a lot of people. Did you catch who else? he said that to. Katie. That's important because what else does he claim he told Catherine Magbanawa? Well, at one point, there was this offer to Dan Markell from the Adelson family to pay a million dollars to him to allow Wendy and the children to relocate to South Florida. Charlie insinuates that maybe he spoke a little too freely with Katie, not just about the problems

his family was having, but about how much money he has because he told Katie about this $1 million offer. She said, well, you're going to have to get a loan, right? He's like, no, I got the cash. I can pay for it. And that, according to him, was his downfall because that laid the ground for his defense. He claims that after he was shocked to find out Dan was murdered, he invites Katie over. And then according to him, she shocks him once more with some news of her own. We sat down on the couch and she started to talk to me. And she said, listen, this is all my fault, but I had no idea anything was going to happen, but this is totally my fault. I spoke in too much detail about your family's personal problems,

about your sister, Dan Markell, and the million dollar offer. What did you say? I'm like, what are you talking about? And she's like, she's like, my friend killed Dan. And he wants to be paid a third of a million dollars. Wow. So Magbanow comes out, right out, says, I know who killed Dan. my fault. You got to pay up, though. Spoke too freely about your money, your family's problems with Dan.

These killers took it upon themselves. They killed Dan. Remember, we never heard this before this trial. So what was his response when Catherine Magbanawa apparently said this to him? How did you react? I was like, what did you just say? And she's like, my friend killed Dan

and he wants you to pay a third of a million dollars. I'm like, who did this? Who did this? Who's your friend that did this? And she's like, I don't want to say, I can't say. And I I said, who wasn't? She just kept saying, I'm not going to tell you. And I was like, was it sick, was it sick freighter? And she's like, no, I'm not telling you.

And I just walked in my bedroom and sat down on the edge of my bed. And I'm like, Katie, I'm not going to be part of the shit. Like, I'm not going to be part of paying for a murder. This is insane. And she's like, look, if you don't pay in 48 hours, they will kill you. And I said, Katie, I feel like I'm completely. getting extorted now how did she respond to that she she got really mad at me she got angry and she's like look i'm not extorting you she's like i got dragged into this the same way you got

dragged into this she's like it's my fault for running my mouth the way i did but i'm not extorting you like i'm trying to help you so she's like you got to she goes what are you going to do you're going to go to the police she goes you go to the police they'll kill you you don't have a choice just just pay the money i said katie i don't have to have it a third of a million in cash, said, come, take a look. And I walked over to my safe. I opened it up. And I'm like, here, take a look. And I took it out in piles and put it on the dresser next us. And I said, go ahead and count. That's not a third of a million. And did she count? Yes, she did. How much money did she count? 138,000. So it wasn't 100,000. It was 138,000.

Correct. So he pays her. They end up working out a payment place. for the future, and then he has her sleep over. The woman who essentially ruined his life, I mean, again, even if he didn't think at the time that she was directly a part of this, according to this story, according to her, she spoke to freely, she messed up, she got him into this mess, and he has her sleep over? Does that make sense? He then goes on to say that he tried to go on acting normal, but here's the kicker. He ends up telling his mom, Donna, about the extortion.

because, according to him, if he should be killed, at least someone knows what's going on and the police will know where to turn. But think about that for a second. It's too dangerous for him to go to the police with this extortion plot, but he ends up telling his mother, putting her life at risk, wrapping her up in all this, does that make sense? Well, prosecutor Georgia Kaplanman didn't really think so, and she grilled Adelson on this. Have you ever heard the saying that the simplest explanation is always the most likely?

Have you heard that? I've heard that theory before, yeah. Was your explanation to the jury over the last, a little over a day, the simplest explanation? It was the truth. Do you, I mean, you have a thorough explanation. Would you agree with that? I told you what happened. And she highlights how his behavior after this really isn't consistent with someone who's innocent and is being extorted,

but rather someone who's a co-conspirator. The text messages that were exchanged between yourself and Catherine McBanelaw on the morning after this exchange of money were inconsistent with your extortion theory. They were inconsistent with how it was feeling. They don't appear to look like you just gave her $138,000 under duress, do they? She told me to the last thing she said, to me before she left the house is can we just pretend like this never even happened so when

i sent her that message i was trying to show her like i'm trying to block i'm trying to forget trying to forget all about it the text messages aren't what they appear to be it's a beautiful day i'm going to the pool i'm going to the beach i'm going to the gym none of that is what it appears to be at something else i absolutely did not go to the gym i was trying to show her that i was you know pretending like nothing ever happened and looking past it and there's nothing on the wall wire, all those hours of you talking, there is nothing on the wire about the extortion,

this layer one of extortion, because she told you not to talk about it, right? She told me to never talk about anything to anyone or her. What's the purpose of keeping Katie happy? Was she going to

sick the Latin Kings on you if you made her unhappy? She was protecting me. I didn't know what would happen. And she was keeping my mind, like when that, the extortion never went up. And I just assumed, I thought that she wasn't part of it and she was protecting me. I was trying to do nice things for her. Did you offer to buy Catherine Magdanawa and her mom a cruise?

Yes, Katie had mentioned to me that she always wanted to be able to take her mom on a cruise. So does this all sound like he was trying to keep his co-conspirators happy so they wouldn't turn on him? or was he just being a nice guy? Did he really think Haiti was protecting him from the extortionists? He was also questioned on what he said in secret recordings between him and Magbanawa. Sounds like you're saying even if they track down the Prius, even if there's DNA or fingerprints in the Prius, meaning like they can link someone to the Prius.

That's not going to be enough evidence to make any arrests in this case. Is that what you're saying? same? No, not at all. What I was saying to Katie is that the information she had just told me in the car about Siegfriedo not being there when the crime was committed. Wouldn't it be good for you? Because you know now that Sigfredo is the extortionist, right? She just told you that in the car? Siegfredo, yeah. Okay. And wouldn't it be good for you if the police investigation into the Prius led to the arrest of the killers slash extortionists? If they arrested the people that killed Dan?

Yeah. I know the extortion would stop. As long as I kept my mouth shut, I'd be safe. Right. So why are you trying to argue to her that the car is not going to lead anywhere and they're not going to be able to do anything with the car? That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that I know that's fairer wasn't the one with kill.

you gave very precise instructions to Catherine my banel on what she was to say when she calls the phone number right yeah do that absolutely and then you say quote you'd better kill him because he's gonna be a big problem and he knows you who you are if he can't do it I'll have someone else do it aren't you telling her that if Garcia can't handle this problem and kill whoever's behind this, you will have someone else do it. You're reading it totally wrong. It's a yes or no question, sir. No, you're wrong. And she also presses him on why he never came forward with this truth, especially if Garcia

and Rivera were arrested. Isn't the danger over? If you originally thought Katie was innocent and was put in a bad position like you were, why didn't you tell the truth when she was arrested? You let it rot in jail. He said, well, he was never asked to come forward, thought the truth would come out. Now, one last thing I'm going to call out in this cross-examination. The glaring question, why would the extortionists or killers do this? Why did Garcia and Rivera, or whoever did it, I guess I should say, why did whoever did it need to kill someone to extort you? You got to ask them.

Why couldn't they just come put a gun to your head and say, give me all the money in your safe? Thank God they didn't. Thank God they didn't. Thank God they didn't. I would have gotten killed. I still don't get how killing Dan Markell advances the ball for them to extort money out of you. Do you? Yeah, I have a theory.

They could extort me for life, and I don't think they knew exactly how much I had in the safe. She knew I had a lot of money in the safe. But this way, I can get extorted for life, and that's what happened. And I was stuck paying $3,000 a month. but you could have gotten extorted for life just by the threat of death by Latin King. Couldn't you, doctor? I mean, this was as real the threat as you get. I mean, these guys aren't messing around.

Well, after the cross wrapped up, both sides rested their cases, and we heard competing closing arguments from the state and the defense. And I will say this. I say this all the time. I'm going to say it again. This is the last time for each side to persuade the jury to their position. Closings are so important. Here's Georgia Kaplan for the prosecution.

What is alleged is that the defendant solicited Catherine Magbanowat to commit the murder. He conspired with Catherine Magbanow to commit the murder with her and that the murder was accomplished with the defendant guilty as a principal because he hired and paid for this heinous work to be done. The statement reveals that the defendant wasn't scared of Catherine Maganouan and her associate. to the contrary, he was boastful. He was bragging about it. He was the big man who was going to solve his little sister's problem, make his mom proud and get away with it because he was thinking of everything. He was untouchable. Because if push ever really came to shove, who are you going to

believe? An oral surgeon or a gang member? So that's a sampling of the prosecution's closing argument. And then we heard Daniel Roshbaum for Charlie Edelson. Payment evidence. Ms. Kaplanman mocked in her cross of Charlie that this was a murder by layaway. Meaning that doesn't make any sense. We agree with her. It doesn't make any sense.

Murders for hire are not done by Layaway. But you know what is done by Layaway? Extortions. By the way, if Charlie's part of a murder, they're telling you how smart he is, does it make any sense that he would create a paper trail of checks from his business to pay for the murder? It makes no sense.

The bottom line is Charlie Edelson was conned. On the night of the 18th, he was scared. He didn't think she was part of it. He thought she was protecting him. After about three hours of deliberations, the jury came back with their verdict. In the circuit court of the second judicial law, Circuit in and for Leon County, Florida, the state of Florida versus Charles Adelson. Case number 2016 CF 3036B verdict. Count one. We, the jury, find as follows as to count one of the

indictment, first degree murder. The defendant is guilty of first degree murder. Convicted across the board, murder, conspiracy, solicitation. I mean, there you have it. Nine years after Markell's murder. The mastermind has been convicted. In terms of sentencing, while his sentencing is set for December 12th, he faces a mandatory of life in prison. Now, what does this mean for the rest of the Adelson clan? Will anyone else be charged? We're going to have to wait and see. There is one more wrinkle, though, with the Adelson case. We have learned that after the verdict, according to the defense, they filed a motion requesting the judge interview the jurors because apparently an alternate juror contacted the defense and said that a group chat might have been started up between

the jurors if that is true. And we don't know what was talked about. But it's problematic if they were talking about the case before deliberations. So the drama does not end in this saga, but we will always cover any update in this case for you. That is all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you got your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this

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