Corey Hale — Direct/Cross
124 linesJUDGE EVERETT: Everyone can be seated except the witness. Please raise your right hand, Sergeant Hale.
JUDGE EVERETT: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth?
COREY HALE: I do, sir.
JUDGE EVERETT: You may take your seat. Thank you.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Sir, please introduce yourself and spell your name.
COREY HALE: Good afternoon. My name is Corey Hale. I'm a sergeant with the Tallahassee Police Department, and my name is spelled C-O-R-E-Y H-A-L-E.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How long have you been with TPD?
COREY HALE: Close to 23 years now.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did you have some involvement in the investigation regarding the death of Dan Markel?
COREY HALE: I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: As part of the investigation, did you interview a witness by the name of Jeffrey Lacasse?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: To the extent we can remember Mr. Lacasse's testimony from last week, an issue was raised regarding the timeliness of a particular piece of information that he reported to you. Okay. This item relates to the defendant, Charlie Adelson, characterizing a dinner out with his sister, Wendi, after the murder as a celebration dinner. Are you familiar with this item that Mr. Lacasse gave to you?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. Did Mr. Lacasse mention anything about this celebration dinner during your interview with him?
COREY HALE: He did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And when did you tell us, I guess, each time that you met with this witness?
COREY HALE: I met with him pretty early on in the first part of the investigation, and then during that interview it was my job to either include or exclude him as a potential suspect in the case. I'd have to refer to my notes to remember exactly what the date was on that.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I was going to prompt you on it. Does July 21st of 2014 sound correct?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And did Mr. Lacasse come directly to you from somewhere out of town, the airport?
COREY HALE: I believe so, yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, and were you able to include or exclude him as a potential suspect in this case?
COREY HALE: Yes, we were.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And which was it?
COREY HALE: He was excluded as a suspect due to him being in another state at the time.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right, so you were able to look at some documentation to confirm that that's where he was?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am. His cell phone records, as well as his bank records, and we also obtained video footage of him in Tennessee.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And was there a time when Mr. Lacasse reached out to you thinking he might have some more potentially relevant information to provide?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: When was that?
COREY HALE: Uh, that would have been on August 12th.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. August 12th is when he reached out, or August 12th is when he showed up?
COREY HALE: He showed up on the 12th. He reached out on the 11th.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, so on the 12th he comes back into — where, TPD — to talk to you?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, and during that interview on August 12th, is that when he gave you this information about the celebration dinner?
COREY HALE: It is.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did he report to you when he learned of this information about the celebration dinner?
COREY HALE: I want to say it was a week or so prior to him talking to me.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And when was the celebration dinner itself supposedly — when did it supposedly occur?
COREY HALE: I believe it would have been on July 31st.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So he told you about this information within a week of receiving it, or so?
COREY HALE: Yeah.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. So it's incorrect to state that Jeffrey Lacasse waited until March of 2015 to disclose this information to law enforcement?
COREY HALE: That's correct. Correct, that — that's incorrect, yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Clear as mud. Were you able to find any text messages — in the text messages provided to law enforcement in this case — to corroborate that any such dinner between Wendi — or, I guess, including Wendi Adelson — and Charlie Adelson occurred during this time frame that Lacasse had this information about?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I'll show you what I've marked as State's 126. This exhibit. Are these the text messages that we're referencing that talk about this dinner?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right, Judge, I've asked to move into evidence 126.
JUDGE EVERETT: Any objections?
MR. RASHBAUM: No.
JUDGE EVERETT: Evidence 126 is admitted.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Permission to publish.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Were these text messages sent and received?
COREY HALE: July 31st, 2014, and the times are listed beside the text.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And these messages indicate that Wendi and Charlie are going out to dinner, yes?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And also some reference there at 10:57 p.m., the last text message on the bottom right, that Wendi was feeling a little poorly at some point after the dinner.
COREY HALE: It would seem so.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No further questions.
JUDGE EVERETT: Cross-examination.
MR. RASHBAUM: Very briefly. Can we leave that up there?
MR. RASHBAUM: See this text?
MR. RASHBAUM: "Someone has a smile on. That's a pleasure to see."
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: Does that indicate that Wendi Adelson had been pretty upset for a long time and her mom was commenting that she's finally smiling?
COREY HALE: That's the way I understand it, yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: You can take it off.
MR. RASHBAUM: Now, Professor Lacasse told you that, before he and Wendi broke up, he looked through her calendar and phone because he thought she was being unfaithful?
COREY HALE: I believe so, yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: His behavior suggested to you that even before the murder occurred, he knew that he was on his way out as her boyfriend?
COREY HALE: I think that was coming eventually. I don't know if he'd accepted it at that point.
MR. RASHBAUM: He reached out to you fairly frequently, unprompted?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: He complained that Wendi was unfaithful multiple times?
COREY HALE: I believe he did mention that, yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: He was upset that Wendi had broken up with him?
COREY HALE: Yes, he was upset.
MR. RASHBAUM: And when you interviewed him the first time, he didn't even bring up Charlie Adelson's name, right?
COREY HALE: I don't remember specifically if he did it in the first or second interview.
MR. RASHBAUM: He was uncomfortable, he told you, because he was giving a lot of information about Wendi Adelson, and he said to you, "I'm uncomfortable because if she'd have me back, I'd go back to her," right?
COREY HALE: He may or may not have said that. I don't recall specifically. He
MR. RASHBAUM: Was upset that he was labeled a person of interest, right?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he thought that Wendi Adelson was responsible for labeling him a person of interest, right?
COREY HALE: I'm not sure who he thought was responsible.
MR. RASHBAUM: He was also upset because he thought Wendi had referred to him as a stalker, right?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he sent you emails reflecting how upset he was about being labeled a stalker, right?
COREY HALE: Yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: Now, regarding the celebration dinner, if he testified that he didn't tell you until March 2015 because he was too scared to tell you earlier, that would have been inaccurate testimony, right?
COREY HALE: Yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: He told you that he learned about this supposed — we don't deny the dinner — but he said that my client told Wendi, who told him, that it was a celebration dinner, correct?
COREY HALE: That's what he indicated to me.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he told you that he had heard this from Wendi and from friends, right?
COREY HALE: Yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: But he couldn't give you any names of any friends that he had heard this from, right?
COREY HALE: He did not.
MR. RASHBAUM: Did you ask Professor Lacasse why Wendi would tell him that at a time when they were broken up?
COREY HALE: I didn't. I didn't pry into it.
MR. RASHBAUM: Now, did Professor Lacasse ever show you any of the notes that he had taken during the course of his investigation?
COREY HALE: Not that I recall specifically, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: You don't recall him showing you pages and pages of notes?
COREY HALE: He may have.
MR. RASHBAUM: Did you tell him to destroy those notes?
COREY HALE: No, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: During your investigation, you learned that Katie Magbanua was on Facebook, right?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: You learned that she was on Instagram as well, right?
COREY HALE: I'm not sure about that. I know about Facebook. I wrote a search warrant for that.
MR. RASHBAUM: Under the name Katie Cash?
COREY HALE: I don't know. Specifically, I did a Facebook search warrant.
MR. RASHBAUM: And she was on Facebook, right?
COREY HALE: Yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: May I have a moment?
MR. RASHBAUM: No further questions.
JUDGE EVERETT: Redirect examination.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Sgt. Hale you may step down. Will he be recalled by either party?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Have a good day, sir. You are released. Call your next witness.