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Dan Markel — Case Archive
evidence evidence audio Magbanua RetrialCharlie AdelsonDonna AdelsonWiretap recordings Following a court-authorized intercept operation targeting Charlie Adelson's and Katherine Magbanua's phones beginning in April 2016, investigators recorded more than 400 calls among the two along with Donna Adelson and others. The prosecution described the calls as using coded language and relied on specific content — including a phrase rendered as "it involves the two of us" — in closing and rebuttal arguments. Magbanua testified on direct examination that she understood the intercepted conversations to concern threats or extortion directed at the Adelson family rather than any murder conspiracy. ← All Evidence
Audio Evidence

Wiretap recordings

Following a court-authorized intercept operation targeting Charlie Adelson's and Katherine Magbanua's phones beginning in April 2016, investigators recorded more than 400 calls among the two along with Donna Adelson and others. The prosecution described the calls as using coded language and relied on specific content — including a phrase rendered as "it involves the two of us" — in closing and rebuttal arguments. Magbanua testified on direct examination that she understood the intercepted conversations to concern threats or extortion directed at the Adelson family rather than any murder conspiracy.

Wiretap recordings including 'it involves the two of us' and code-word callsWiretap recordings — referenced as forthcoming evidence of the conspiracy and Magbanua's roleRecorded wiretap calls between Magbanua and Charlie Adelson (2016)Wiretap recordings (400+ calls)Wiretap recordings — 400-plus intercepted callsWiretap recordings — patient contact callsWiretapped phone calls between Charlie Adelson, Magbanua, and others during undercover operationWiretap recordingsRecorded wire calls from the bump operation (Charlie Adelson and Donna Adelson voices authenticated by Wendi)unspecified wire recordingsWiretap phone calls between defendant, Donna Adelson, and Katherine Magbanua following the undercover bump, using coded languageCourt-authorized wiretap recordings of Charlie Adelson and Katherine Magbanua phone calls (April 2016)State Exhibit (wiretap recordings)Wire call transcriptsWiretap of Charlie Adelson's and Katherine Magbanua's phones — court-authorized intercept; mechanics explained in this proceeding; intercepted calls not yet introduced
Mentioned Magbanua RetrialCharlie AdelsonDonna Adelson
12 mentions

About

The wiretap recordings carry the broadest evidentiary footprint in the archive, appearing in opening statements, direct examinations, closings, and rebuttal closings across all three trials — magbanua-retrial-2022 (eight proceedings), charlie-adelson-2023 (two proceedings), and donna-adelson-2025 (two proceedings). As the prosecution's primary source of recorded post-crime communications among the alleged co-conspirators, the calls anchored the state's conspiracy narrative, while Magbanua's competing interpretation of their meaning constituted a central factual dispute at the 2022 retrial.

Mentions (12)