About This Archive
Coverage, transcript sources, limitations, and how to cite the record.
What This Is
A searchable, cross-referenced archive of courtroom transcripts from the Dan Markel murder case — four trials held in Leon County Circuit Court, Tallahassee, Florida between 2019 and 2025. The archive contains 119,257 court-reporter transcript lines across 36 trial days, organized into 786 proceedings with indexed people, locations, and evidence. A separate directory covers all 155 sidebar conferences marked in the transcripts.
The four trials cover the joint trial of Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua (September–October 2019, Judge Hankinson), Magbanua's retrial (May 2022, Judge Wheeler), the trial of Charlie Adelson (October–November 2023, Judge Everett), and the trial of Donna Adelson (August–September 2025, Judge Everett). Garcia was convicted of murder and conspiracy but acquitted of solicitation; Magbanua's first trial ended in a mistrial. Magbanua, Charlie Adelson, and Donna Adelson were later convicted on all counts in their respective trials.
Source Material
Transcript text, speaker labels, and reporter page and line numbers come from publicly available court-reporter PDFs.
Where available, transcript passages link to the corresponding moments in courtroom video.
Supporting Material
Summaries, profiles, timelines, and other guides are separate from the transcript. Some are produced with AI assistance and may contain errors or miss important context; use the transcript and cited records for important questions.
Video Sync
Each of the 36 trial days has source video. Where a passage can be aligned, its play control opens the recording at the corresponding moment. The sync toggle follows the transcript as the video plays.
Video timing is approximate. Sidebar discussions and other passages may not be audible or have a video link.
Accuracy and Limitations
- Transcription errors are possible. Stray characters or formatting errors may remain in the text.
- Some passages have no video. Sidebar discussions and other passages may not be audible in the courtroom recording.
This archive is not a certified copy and is not a substitute for the court record.The linked court-reporter PDF controls if the transcript text, timing, or supporting descriptions differ from the source.
This independent archive is not affiliated with any party to the case, the State of Florida, the Leon County Circuit Court, or any law firm. It is published by Court Daemon and built by Trice Digital.
The full statement, including how to request a correction or removal, is in the Terms of Use.
How to Cite
When citing transcript material from this archive, reference both the original court record and this digital archive. Below are suggested citation formats.
For a specific proceeding:
For the archive generally:
Transcript text comes from court reporter transcripts. These are records of the Leon County Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit of Florida.
Contact
Found an error in the transcripts? Use the Report an Issue link in the footer of any page, or email contact@courtdaemon.com.
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