6.Corey Hale — Direct/Cross
149 linesJUDGE EVERETT: Everyone can be seated. Let's bring them in.
(Jury enters.)
JUDGE EVERETT: Everyone can be seated except the witness.
Please raise your right hand, Sergeant Hale.
whereupon, COREY HALE was called as a witness, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
JUDGE EVERETT: You may take your seat.
COREY HALE: Thank you.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. CAPPLEMAN:
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Sir, please introduce yourself and spell your name.
COREY HALE: Good afternoon. My name is Corey Hale. I'ma 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.
COREY HALE: Okay.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: This item relates to the defendant, Charlie Adelson, characterizing a dinner out with his sister wendy 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 during that interview, it was my job to either include or exclude him as a potential suspect in the case.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And --
COREY HALE: 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: 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: That would have been on August 12th --
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. August --
COREY HALE: -- of 2014.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: -- 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: when did he report to you that 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?
COREY HALE: Or so. 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.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Correct that that's incorrect.
COREY HALE: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. 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 wendy -- or, I guess, including wendy Adelson and Charlie Adelson occurred during this time frame that Lacasse had this information about?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. I'm going to show you what I marked as State's 126. Are you familiar with this exhibit?
COREY HALE: I am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Are these the text messages that we're referencing that talk about this dinner?
COREY HALE: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Judge, I'd ask to move into evidence 126.
JUDGE EVERETT: Any objection?
MR. RASHBAUM: No objection.
JUDGE EVERETT: State's 126 is admitted.
(State's Exhibit No. 126 received in evidence.)
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Permission to publish?
JUDGE EVERETT: You may.
BY MS. CAPPLEMAN:
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And when were these text messages sent and received?
COREY HALE: July 31st, 2014. And the times are listed beside the texts.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And these messages indicate that wendy 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 wendy 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?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Yep.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. RASHBAUM:
MR. RASHBAUM: See this text, someone has a smile on. That's a pleasure to see.
COREY HALE: yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: Does that indicate that wendy 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.
BY MR. RASHBAUM:
MR. RASHBAUM: Now, Professor Lacasse told you that he -- before he and wendy broke up, he looked through her calendar and phone, because he thought she was being unfaithful, right?
COREY HALE: I believe so. Yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: And 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 did -- accepted it at that point.
MR. RASHBAUM: He reached out to you fairly frequently unprompted?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he complained that wendy was unfaithful multiple times?
COREY HALE: I believe he did mention that. Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: He was upset that wendy had broken up with him?
COREY HALE: Yes. He was upset.
MR. RASHBAUM: And when he -- 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 wendy 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.
MR. RASHBAUM: Now, he was upset that he was labeled a person of interest, right?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he thought that wendy 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 that -- because he thought wendy had referred to him as a stalker, right?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he sent you e-mails 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 till 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 turned it into a cele -- he said that my client told wendy, 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 wendy and from friends, right?
COREY HALE: Yes, sir.
MR. RASHBAUM: But he couldn't give you any names of any friends that he heard this from, right?
COREY HALE: He did not.
MR. RASHBAUM: Did you ask Professor Lacasse why wendy 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 Katy Magbanua was on Facebook, right?
COREY HALE: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: You learned that she was on Instagram, as well, right --
COREY HALE: Um --
MR. RASHBAUM: -- under the name --
COREY HALE: -- I'm not sure about that. I know about Facebook. I wrote a search warrant for that.
MR. RASHBAUM: Under the name Katy 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?
JUDGE EVERETT: Go ahead.
(Off-the-record discussion.)
MR. RASHBAUM: No further questions.
JUDGE EVERETT: Redirect examination.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Sergeant 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.
COREY HALE: Thank you, sir.
JUDGE EVERETT: You can be released.
Please call your next witness.