Tallahassee Police Department Public information officer David Northway reveals an image of Sigfredo Garcia, 34, during a press conference in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, May 26, 2016. (Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)
In the hours before and after Dan Markel was shot in the head outside his home in Tallahassee, Florida, two years ago, his former brother-in-law Charlie Adelson called a paramour, Katherine "Katie" Magbanua, at least nine times. While the conversations were not recorded, the phone calls are among several key pieces of evidence cops believe connect Adelson and his lover to the two men they've formally accused of actually killing Markel, according to a recent probable cause affidavit charging Magbanua with orchestrating the Florida State professor's murder.
At the time of his death on July 19, 2014, Markel, a prominent criminal justice scholar, had recently gone through an acrimonious divorce with Wendi Adelson, Charlie's sister and the director of Florida State's Public Interest Law Center. The motive for killing Markel, cops suggest in the affidavit, was that his ex-wife and their children wanted to move back to South Florida despite a family court judge ruling in Markel's favor to keep the kids in Tallahassee.
"I believe and investigators believe that at one point that connects the dots even further."
(Michael Weinstein, a lawyer who represents the broader Adelson family, did not comment, though his secretary referred to an August statement sending their "deepest condolences" to the Markel family and insisting "nothing has turned up that supports this fanciful fiction that the Adelsons were involved.")
Meanwhile, Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer whose past clients include singers Chris Brown, Usher and Michael Jackson, said prosecutors agreeing to a plea deal that allows a murder suspect to go from facing the death penalty to only seven years is unheard of. This suggests to him that Meggs has confidence Rivera is a credible witness.
"I'm surprised they haven't filed charges against the ex-wife's brother," Geragos said. "My guess is they are moving cautiously and sequentially. Obviously, they have a boatload of evidence against the two who were initially arrested."
Markus, Charlie Adelson's attorney, criticized Meggs for cutting an "offensive deal" with Rivera, a man he described as a convicted gangster who would say anything to avoid capital punishment. "The prosecution admittedly didn't have enough evidence so it went out and bought some by giving away the farm to a murderer," Markus said. "That's not a search for the truth. That's a deal with the devil."
Meggs acknowledged Rivera's credibility will be attacked by the lawyers representing the other suspects. "We don't believe Rivera was the triggerman, and yes we did make a deal with him," the prosecutor told me. "Did we like it? Nope. Is it the reality? Yep."
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