Magbanua Retrial

The retrial opened with the prosecution framing Magbanua as the link between the Adelson family and the hitmen, while the defense conceded Adelson ordered the murder and Garcia and Rivera executed it, disputing only whether Magbanua had any knowledge of the plan. Lead detective Craig Isom delivered the day's most extensive testimony. On cross, Isom said he did not know when investigative reports were produced or whether Rivera received them, while agreeing that someone with access could add details and accepting counsel's hindsight formulation that the reports supplied a "script"; he also said legitimate Adelson Institute employment could not be conclusively ruled out.

Day 2 centered on three prosecution witnesses whose combined testimony formed the core of the state's motive and conspiracy case. Wendi Adelson testified under immunity about the Adelson family's hostility toward Dan Markel and admitted she told police she suspected someone had acted "on my behalf." Jeffrey Lacasse disclosed that Wendi confided five days before the murder that her brother Charlie had investigated hiring a hitman for an amount he placed between $15,000 and $50,000. Cooperating hitman Luis Rivera then identified Magbanua as the intermediary who arranged the job, described the shooting, and testified that Magbanua responded "I know" when told the murder was done. The day ended with a significant evidentiary dispute over whether Rivera's post-murder testimony about Magbanua qualifies as co-conspirator hearsay.

Defense objects to untimely jail-call discovery as Rivera's cross-examination concludes with repeated impeachments and Sergeant Corbitt walks the jury through cell-site, tower-dump, and wiretap evidence tracing the June and July 2014 Tallahassee trips.

Defense cross-examination drew concessions from cell-site analyst Corbitt that his analysis cannot confirm Rivera and Magbanua ever met on July 19 and that a potential alternative phone-holder was never investigated. Witness Mascaro used Instagram to fix her babysitting night to July 18, placing Magbanua's description of the murder as a "car accident" on the morning of July 19, the day after Markel was shot. Judge Wheeler closed the day by excluding all remaining jail recordings and excluding the Kawass-Garcia calls as attorney work product.

Day 5 moved through six witnesses and multiple evidentiary rulings. Fraud examiner Mary Hull documented a $46,820 cash deposit surge in Magbanua's 2014 accounts — including $17,300 in the six weeks after Dan Markel's murder — while Rivera's banking pattern shifted abruptly after the killing. FBI undercover agent Oscar Jimenez played the April 2016 bump of Donna Adelson for the jury. Surveillance agent Louis Bronstein and audio forensics expert James McElveen introduced the Dolce Vita recording. FBI co-lead Patrick Sanford began his direct, describing a RICO wiretap scrub that found one July 1 Garcia-to-Harvey Adelson call that may have routed to voicemail and no other listed Garcia-to-Adelson contact and walking through five post-bump wiretap calls that placed Charlie Adelson in contact with Magbanua.

FBI Special Agent Patrick Sanford completed his direct examination narrating wiretap calls and Magbanua's post-interview conduct, then faced extended cross-examination focused on the unrecorded Rivera proffer and a recorded exchange about whether information could produce a benefit. The State formally rested after six days of testimony, and a Richardson issue arose over a defense witness whose account appeared to change mid-trial.

After the state rested, Judge Wheeler twice denied defense motions for judgment of acquittal. The defense called Bennett, Dillmore, Isom (recalled), Newlin, and Fitzpatrick, then Katherine Magbanua testified and denied any involvement in Dan Markel's murder before both sides rested and the charge conference set jury instructions and closings for the next morning.

Judge Wheeler read final jury instructions, both sides delivered closing arguments, and the jury returned guilty verdicts on all three counts — first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation — after requesting an exhibit inventory and a playback of the Dolce Vita recording during deliberations.