About This Archive
Source material, methodology, limitations, and how to cite.
What This Is
A searchable, cross-referenced archive of courtroom transcripts from the Dan Markel murder case — three trials held in Leon County Circuit Court, Tallahassee, Florida between 2022 and 2025. The archive contains approximately 70,000 lines of testimony across 25 trial days, organized into 443 proceedings with indexed people, locations, and evidence.
The three trials cover the retrial of Katherine Magbanua (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). All three defendants were convicted on all counts.
Source Material
Transcripts are derived from publicly available courtroom video recordings. Audio from these recordings was processed through automated speech recognition, then manually corrected across multiple review passes — fixing speaker attribution, correcting misheard words, resolving overlapping speech, and structuring testimony into discrete proceedings.
The result is substantially more accurate than raw automated output, but it is not an official court transcript and should not be treated as one.
Editorial Content
Beyond the transcripts themselves, this archive includes editorial material: person profiles, location descriptions, evidence catalog entries, proceeding summaries, and day overviews. This content was drafted by AI (Anthropic's Claude) and reviewed by a human editor before publication.
Editorial content is supplementary and interpretive. It may contain errors in interpretation, miss important nuances, or reflect limitations in the underlying models. The transcript text is always the primary source.
Video Sync
Each of the 25 trial days is linked to its source video. Click the play button on any transcript line to open a docked video player cued to that moment. The sync toggle auto-scrolls the transcript to follow playback.
Timestamps are aligned by matching caption data against the transcript text. They are close but not frame-accurate — expect drift of a few seconds, particularly during sections with overlapping speakers or courtroom pauses.
Accuracy and Limitations
- Speaker attribution is imperfect. Courtroom audio quality varies, and some voices are difficult to distinguish. Most errors have been corrected through review, but some may remain.
- Some content may be missing. Portions of testimony can be lost during poor audio, off-microphone speech, or recording gaps.
This is not a legal document, not an official transcript, and not a substitute for the court record. Do not cite this archive as a primary source in legal proceedings without verifying against official Leon County Circuit Court records.
This project is not affiliated with any party to the case, the State of Florida, the Leon County Circuit Court, or any law firm. All content is derived from publicly available courtroom footage.
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 data is derived from public courtroom recordings. Court transcripts are public records of the Leon County Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit of Florida.
Contact
Found an error in the transcripts? Have a question about the data? Use the Report an Issue link in the footer of any page, or email contact@courtdaemon.com.