A Florida dentist testified that he was the victim of extortion and not the director of a murder for hire plot that killed his sister’s ex-husband in 2014.
Charles Adelson said he never mentioned the extortion before because no one asked him, The Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors say Adelson hired his former lover Katherine D. Magbanua to kill Florida State University law professor Dan Markel after his sister, Wendi Adelson, lost a bitter custody battle, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Magbanua subsequently hired Sigfredo Garcia, her former lover who is the father of her children, and his friend Luis Rivera to carry out the hit, CrimeOnline reported.
Garcia was convicted of first-degree murder in 2019 and is serving a life sentence. Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 19-year sentence in exchange for testifying against Magbanua and Garcia. Magbanua was convicted in July 2022 and sentenced to life in prison.
Adelson said last week that he knew Magbanua, Garcia, and Rivera were all involved in Markel’s death, but he feared his life was in danger so he didn’t say anything, the AP said.
Markel was shot to death while sitting in his car outside his Tallahassee home. After the slaying, Adelson said Magbanua came to his house and told him her friends had killed the professor and he needed to give her $300,000 within 48 hours or they’d kill him too.
On Friday, prosecutors noted that Adelson gave Magbanua $138,000 and arranged “some kind of layaway plan” for the rest of the money. They spent the night together that night, prosecutor Georgia Cappleman said, and that Adelson put her own the dentistry payroll and gave her expensive gifts.
“Do extortionists send a girlfriend of their victim to collect their extortion money? Is that the way it’s done?” Cappleman asked sarcastically.
Cappleman presented evidence that she and Adelson continued to have a relationship for months after the murder and told her he loved her repeated in texts. Adelson said he thought she was protecting him from her friends.
Adelson testified on Thursday that his family offered Market $1 million to move to South Florida so the couple’s children could be near their mother. He refused. Adelson said he told Magbanua, who told her friends. He said he believed the friends acted on their own and that Magbanua had nothing to do with it.
“For three years she was in the Leon County jail awaiting trial … and you believed she was innocent and you had this whole explanation to assist with exonerating her, right?” Cappleman said.
“I had the truth of what happened, yes,” Adelson said.
“But you didn’t offer the truth of what happened, did you?” Cappleman said.
“Nobody came to me. I thought the truth would come out,” he replied.
Asked how if he felt bad about not letting Markel’s parents know the truth about what happened to their son, Adelson said, “I feel a sense of relief that I was able to tell everyone what finally happened.”
“Yesterday. Almost 10 years later, right?” Cappleman said.
“Yeah,” Adelson said.
Closing arguments are set for Monday.
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[Featured image: Charles Adelson/Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat via AP]
