26th August 2025!
Background of the case: Donna Adelson, 75, is on trial in Tallahassee for her alleged role in orchestrating the 2014 murder-for-hire of her former son-in-law, Dan Markel, a respected law professor at Florida State University. Markel was fatally shot in the head in his Tallahassee garage amid a bitter custody dispute with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson. The prosecution and the defense presented their theory of the case in the trial and a few witnesses took the stand and we shall be going through key parts of their testimony.
Case Info
Judge: Stephen Everett
Prosecutor: ADA Sarah Kathryn Dugan, ADA Georgia Cappleman
Defence Attorneys: Jackie Fulford, Josh Zelman
Todays Witnesses
- Witness #10 – Jeffrey Lacasse – Wendi Adelson’s Ex
- Witness #11 – June Umchinda – Charlie’s ex
- Witness #12 – Ryan Fitzgerald – Friend of Charlie Adelson
- Witness #13 – Mary Hull – Chief inspector general office
- Witness #14 – Clarissa Spoltore – Works at the Adelson Institute
- Witness #15 – Katherine Mac – Charlie Adelson’s ex & co-conspirator.
- Witness #16 – Christopher Corbitt – Supervisor of Technology
Witness #10 – Jeffrey Lacasse – Wendi Adelson’s Ex
Direct Exam
- He testifies to dating Wendi early 2013 and says that the relationship ended July 2014.
- He testifies that the divorce was a constant topic of conversation and the litigation was a constant topic including the relocation order being denied. Says that the custody issues were on Wendi’s mind
- He says he knew Dan Markel briefly due to picking up the kids from swimming etc
- He says that he adopted the Adelson’s narrative about Dan. He says that she hated Tallahassee and wanted the relocation. Broke down crying on a few occasions the word narrative is interesting.
- He testifies that Donna was very involved in Wendi’s life and very involved in the divorce
- He testifies that Charlies did not like Dan and had a overprotective brotherly vibe to him.
- He testifies to meeting Katherine Magbanua with Wendi and Charlie on March 11th 2013. He says that Katherine Magbanua was Charlie’s new girlfriend and that’s how he knew her. He also said that Dan Markel came up during the evening.
- He testifies that the Katherine’s exes were discussed where the ex had a violent criminal history, it wasn’t parking tickets.
- He testifies that Wendi had cancelled their trip around the date of 11th – 17th July 2014 and says that the reason for not going on the trip due to the issues with Danny and says that she was a nervous wreck that night!
- He testifies to being around July 11th to 18th 2014 and says that there was an issue with the TV and had the screen shattered by an object, says that it didnt look like a child had done it.
- He testifies that on April 21st and 4th June 2014 that Wendi was looking intoxicated and acting sort of erratic and she didn’t know why.
- He testifies that the kids talked about him constantly in south florida.
- He testifies that the relocation had fell through, Wendi was not happy with the relocation and says only way to relocate is if something happened to Danny.
- He testifies that Wendi had told him in confidence that Charlie had looked into hiring a hitman to sort out the problem she was having with Dan Markel.
- He says that she had joked a couple of times about getting a TV over the hitman but says that this was not a joke.
- This is so contradictory and successfully tethers the TV joking alibi. [My Thoughts]
- He testifies that the rental car used by the hit men was like the car he had at the time
- This suggest that there was a possibility he was to be framed or used as a decoy for this. [my thoughts]
Cross Exam
- He says that he had no personal knowledge that Donna took the grandma motion
- He says that the broken TV was anoying and the kids were making a fuss.
No redirect exam!
Witness #11 – June Umchinda – Charlie’s ex
Direct Exam
- She testifies to dating Charlie in September 2015 to June 2017
- She testifies that she didn’t know who Dan Markel and that she was advised that his brother in law had been shot.
- She testifies that she saw a bump with someone on 19th April 2016 and says that things changed after this.
- She testified that she learned about what happened to Dan Markel and the arrests from the media and remembered seeing Charlie with the stapled money in 100 dollar bundles.
- She testified that Charlie’s behaviours escalated when Katherine Magbanua was arrested and he would get really red and act like a crazy person.
- She testified that around this time period that she was upset and a mess. Physically drained and not her usual self. She says that she was crying and Charlie said she was crying.
- She testified that Donna had said that it feels like Dan was haunting her from the grave.
Cross Exam
- The defence highlights that she was speculating when she saw the cash and thought of Charlie
No redirect exam.
Witness #12 – Ryan Fitzgerald – Friend of Charlie Adelson
Direct Exam
- He testifies to knowing Charie’s ex Katie Magbanua and says he knows of him having a lot of girlfriends
- He testifies that no one talked about the death of Dan and he thought this was weird
- He testifies that Charlie became upset with him after interactions with this case.
Cross Exam
- He agrees with the defense that Donna was pleasant to be around
- He also agrees that Charlie has a safe of money in his house and it was implied to him that Donna did not like Dan Markel
No redirect exam.
Witness #13 – Mary Hull – Chief inspector general office
Direct Exam
- She testifies to being an auditor and a financial investigator. She investigates financial crimes.
- She testifies to reviewing Siegfredo Garcia, Charlie’s accounts, Katie Mac from 2013-2017 and deposits from the Adelson institute.
- She testifies to the purchases made by Luis Rivera on the 28th July 2014 for a motorcycle, 31 July 2014 for a car and Siegfredo Garcia after the murder. She says that Luis Rivera had a lot of overdrafts and after the murder he left money in the account and he didn’t withdraw the money for months then he started having overdrafts.
- She testifies to Sigfredo Garcia had purchasd a motorcycle on the 26th July 2014, a Monte Carlo on the 22nd August 2014 and a Nissan Maxima 17th September 2014, this was all done after the murder.
- She testifies to both Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera having steady jobs with Luis being more stable and Sigfredo being sporadic.
- This shows it was targeted by Katherine Mac as she knew both Luis and Sigfredo need financial help. [My Thoughts]
- She testifies that on 18th November 2014, 15th May 2015, 9th November 2015, and 10th November 2015, Charlie had helped Katherine Magbanua to repair her cars and helping her out financially.
- She testifies to messages sent between Charlie and Katherine on 19th October 2015 where he purchased tickets for her and her mom to Santo Domingo
- She testifies that Charlie would loan Katherine whatever she wants and got her rides in fancy cars on 20th May 2015.
- She testifies to Katherine Magbanua having breast augmentation surgery where it was paid 4.4k in cash.
- She testifies that Katherine Magbanua received checks from the Adelson Institute from 10th August 2014 to 31st March 2016 when Donna had received the bump. She was working for Sofi Institute before hand. She testifies to Donna signing the cheques.
- She also testifies that after 31st March 2016, three additional cheques were paid to Katherine Magbanua.
- She testifies that Donna stopped writing the cheques after the bump. She also says that 82% of Katherine’s was the deposits from the Adelson institute.
Cross Exam
- Nothing of note
No redirect exam.
Witness #14 – Clarissa Spoltore – Works at the Adelson Institute
Direct Exam
- She testifies to working at the Adelson institute for 40 years and says aroun 2015-2016, she was Harvey’s dental assistant and says that Donna was the office manager and Charlie was the dentist.
- She thought Dr. Adelson was who she thought was the boss.
- She testifies to getting paid by cheques every two weeks.
- She says no, that they wouldn’t get paid four, five or six times in a month.
- She says that Katherine wasn’t part of the team. She says she didn’t know who Katherine was.
Cross Exam
- She says no that Donna Adelson never spoke badly about Dan Markel at the office around 2014 and 2015.
Redirect Exam
- She says no she didn’t know who had access to the voicemail machine.
- She says yes that voicemail would be rerouted on the weekend to Monday.
Witness #15 – Katherine Magbanua – Charlie Adelson’s ex & co conspirator.
Direct Exam
- She testifies to hoping to see her kids one day and says that she lied in the previous trials and the truth would implicate her husband for the death penalty and says no one paid her.
- She testifies to being involved in the death of Dan Markel and says Charlie was the one that hired her.
- She testifies to being with Sigfredo Garcia since she was 18.
- She testifies that the idea to harm someone was back in halloween 2013.
- She testifies that Charlie thought she needed the money and that’s why she was asked. She was told that Dan Markel was the problem.
- She testified that Charlie would consult Donna as the planning had happened to orchestrate everything in regards to the killing. She didn’t know what was said but would always be in communication.
- She testifies she got the money to go to Tallahassee for a job in June 2014. She said that the money was for funds to travel.
- She testifies that she didn’t know she would employed and enquired to Charlie how she would be employed.
- She testifies to meeting Wendi Adelson and says that she never discussed the murder of Dan with Wendi only with Charlie.
- She testifies to receiving a chunk of cash and the codewords she would speak with Charlie regarding the payments.
- She says that she was not doing anything to receive the money
- She says that Sigfredo was arrested when the paychecks had stopped.
- She testifies that Charlie didn’t tell her that the murder was to benefit Donna or Wendi Adelson.
Cross Exam
- She testified to telling Sigfredo about the hit but the didn’t know that he was going to be the one to do it.
- She says that she didn’t know how much she would be earning when she was conspiring to kill Danny.
- She testifies that when she was conversing with Sigfredo and Charlie with relationships etc that Donna is not involved.
Redirect Exam
- The state highlights how Donna was involved in the planning stage of the hit.
Witness #16 – Christopher Corbitt – Supervisor of Technology
Direct Exam
- He testifies to extracting all communications from phones of Charlie Adelson, Wendi Adelson, Katherine Magbanua, Donna Adelson.
- He testifies to the cell tower locations.
- He testifies that based on Dan’s locations he was at home then went to the gym
- He testifies that on the 1st July 2014 Harvey’s phone number receiving a call at 5:15pm for 37 seconds.
- He testifies that the 786 number belongs to Sigfredo Garcia
- He testifies that on the 1st July 2014 Charlie had angrily or had a spat with Katherine and left voicemails on Katherine’s phone.
- A lot of the emails presented are emails we already know from Wendi Adelson, it is being referenced here. And the offer to Dan Markel is written as we, so Donna and Wendi, offer Dan the 1 million.
- Charlie Adelson is also speaking to Donna and Wendi showing his involvement in the divorce on 13th October 31st 2013.
- Communications between Donna and Charlie about the divorce on 15th February 2014 about being stressed and Wendi being stressed.
- On March 4th 2014, there is a set up for a private call and she had asked Charlie to delete certain messages.
Hope you are now caught up with the substance of what happened in court on Day 3.
Thanks for reading xo
Download the timeline of events PDF here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qy-QyT-brlzrrEaDS_FuwRvj0YNkswr2/view?usp=drive_link
Sources:
Trial clips of the full trial is from The Trial Channel, Youtube Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLq-6my_qlf8oMS9eGIfgoqSlfn4Vk6Vn&si=2m4b-tTAa2IwJVU4
