Defendant
Charlie Adelson
Wendi Adelson's brother and named co-conspirator in the Markel murder-for-hire; testified as sole defense witness in his own trial and was convicted of first-degree murder in November 2023.
1,837 lines · 8 appearances · 152 mentions · 3 trials
About
Charlie Adelson is the person through whom the archive record traces the prosecution's murder-for-hire chain: named co-conspirator in two defendant trials, sole defense witness in his own, and the figure whose November 2023 conviction was a predicate fact in the third trial; the contested recordings of his calls, his multi-day testimony, and the forensic evidence introduced to contest that testimony form the evidentiary spine across all three proceedings.
Trial Record (160)
KM Magbanua Retrial May 18, 2022 – May 27, 2022
Trial Summary
Wendi Adelson's brother and Magbanua's boyfriend at the time of the murder, Charlie Adelson was the prosecution's named co-conspirator and alleged instigator of the murder-for-hire; he did not testify and was under arrest for first-degree murder when the retrial proceeded.
Mentioned (69)
Opening
Opening Statement - Sarah Kathryn Dugan
Day 1 Opening Opening Statement - Tara Kawass
Day 1 Procedural Recess — Crawford Objection Flagged on Adelson Wiretap Calls
Day 1 Direct Craig Isom - Direct
Day 1 Cross Craig Isom - Cross
Day 1 Redirect Craig Isom - Redirect iCloud messages recontextualized: 'put me on the schedule' was about dental work by Charlie (a dentist); 'work in the office' instruction from Charlie suggests Magbanua was coached to misrepresent her arrangement. Wiretap calls involving him and Adelson Institute characterized as staged language.
Day 1 Direct Wendi Adelson - Direct
Day 2 Cross Wendi Adelson - Cross
Day 2 Redirect Wendi Adelson - Redirect Cappleman confirms Wendi received no admission or denial from Charlie about involvement in the murder.
Day 2 Direct Jeffrey Lacasse - Direct
Day 2 Cross Jeffrey Lacasse - Cross
Day 2 Redirect Jeffrey Lacasse - Redirect His post-dinner demeanor and his documented 2013 hitman interest are the central subjects of redirect; his 2014 relationship with Magbanua is the closing narrative link.
Day 2 Procedural Pre-Rivera OJP — exhibit disclosure dispute and co-conspirator hearsay motion Named as the alleged co-conspirator with Magbanua in the charged conspiracy — central to Kawass's argument that no independent evidence of that agreement had been presented
Day 2 Direct Luis Rivera - Direct
Day 2 Procedural Admissibility ruling — co-conspirator statements and murder-for-hire conspiracy timeline
Day 3 Cross Luis Rivera - Cross (Part 2) Identified as the dentist who was Magbanua's employer and romantic interest; Garcia allegedly stalked him and nearly ran over a dinner party he attended with Magbanua
Day 3 Redirect Luis Rivera - Redirect Referred to as 'the dentist'; separately prosecuted; Cappleman uses Rivera's inability to implicate Adelson despite incentive as evidence Rivera testified only to what he personally witnessed.
Day 3 Direct Christopher Corbitt - Direct
Day 3 Direct Christopher Corbitt - Direct (Continued)
Day 3 Cross Christopher Corbitt - Cross Magbanua's boyfriend; iMessages show 'goodbye tour' reference two weeks before murder; pushed Magbanua out of his life in August 2014
Day 4 Cross Christopher Corbitt - Cross (Continued) Discussed substantively as having a documented pattern of redirecting sensitive conversations to encrypted apps during the wiretap period, with no comparable instruction ever given to Magbanua.
Day 4 Redirect Christopher Corbitt - Redirect iCloud messages with Magbanua; communication chain intermediary; goodbye tour; sarcastic response deflecting Magbanua's concern about Garcia calling him
Day 4 Procedural State's Exhibit 133 Played — Recorded Statements on Garcia-Adelson Contact; Lunch Recess Named in recording as the alleged financier behind the murder; whether Garcia knew of his role is the recording's central question
Day 4 Direct Yindra Velazquez Mascaro - Direct Dated Magbanua approximately end of 2013 to January/February 2015; periodontist who came to Sophie Dental as a specialist; gave Magbanua a black Lexus; referred breast augmentation doctor; Mascaro met him twice
Day 4 Cross Yindra Velazquez Mascaro - Cross Discussed as Magbanua's casual rebound relationship, source of Lexus loan, dental connection for plastic surgeon referral, and supportive of Magbanua reconciling with Garcia
Day 4 Redirect Yindra Velazquez Mascaro - Redirect
Day 4 Direct June Umchinda - Direct
Day 4 Cross June Umchinda - Cross Central subject of cross-examination; discussed extensively as deceptive, compartmentalizing, and consciousness-of-guilt behavior around police.
Day 4 Direct Clariza Lebredo - Direct
Day 4 Cross Clariza Lebredo - Cross
Day 4 Direct Erika Johnson - Direct
Day 4 Cross Erika Johnson - Cross
Day 4 Procedural End of Day — Jail Call Admissibility Rulings and Scheduling Recorded calls with Donna Adelson subject to pending Crawford hearing before jury can hear them
Day 4 Procedural Pre-Testimony Motions: Exhibit 100 Ruling and Crawford Challenge to Adelson Wiretaps Speaker in Exhibit 100; characterized as carefully declining to direct Johnson to release records; party to the FBI bump wiretap calls at issue in the Crawford argument
Day 5 Direct Jessica Rodriguez - Direct
Day 5 Cross Jessica Rodriguez - Cross
Day 5 Redirect Jessica Rodriguez - Redirect
Day 5 Direct Mary Hull - Direct
Day 5 Procedural Lunch Recess and Exhibit Preview — FBI Undercover Bump Calls
Day 5 Cross Mary Hull - Cross iCloud messages shown re Lexus purchase discussion; paid for Magbanua's Spirit Airlines flight to Santo Domingo
Day 5 Direct Louis Bronstein - Direct
Day 5 Cross Louis Bronstein - Cross
Day 5 Direct James Keith McElveen - Direct Identified as the male speaker on the Dolce Vita recording; his voice was captured substantially more clearly than Magbanua's due to volume, direction, and speaking frequency; noted to have repeatedly asked 'What was that?' during the conversation
Day 5 Cross James Keith McElveen - Cross Subject of the Dolce Vita surveillance recording; discussed as the more prominent voice captured by the FBI device
Day 5 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 1) First person Donna calls after bump; calls Magbanua as his 'last ex-girlfriend' after Donna call; embellishes bump details to Magbanua; photographed meeting Donna at Monty's; appears on Exhibit 100 disclaiming control of Adelson Institute records
Day 5 Procedural Pre-session ruling: FBI undercover bump calls (Exhibits 128 and 134) admitted over defense hearsay objection
Day 6 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 2)
Day 6 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 3)
Day 6 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 4)
Day 6 Cross Patrick Sanford - Cross iCloud iMessages reviewed by Sanford; Magbanua sent him a 2015 message about working a night job and wanting to quit because it was too taxing
Day 6 Cross Patrick Sanford - Cross (Continued)
Day 6 Redirect Patrick Sanford - Redirect
Day 6 Procedural Defense Motion for Judgment of Acquittal Denied — All Three Counts Proceed to Jury
Day 7 Direct Michael Dillmore - Direct iCloud account processed via warrant; contained phone number 954-581-1747 saved as 'eco-friendly shop,' same number found in Garcia's phone
Day 7 Cross Craig Isom - Cross
Day 7 Procedural Pre-recess colloquy — Fitzpatrick preview, defendant testimony deadline, hearsay objection preview
Day 7 Direct Jason Newlin - Direct (Continued) Wendi Adelson's brother; Newlin confirmed the prosecution's goal was to get Magbanua to cooperate against him.
Day 7 Cross Jason Newlin - Cross Named in Cappleman's hypothetical coaching scenario as one of the suspects Rivera was allegedly told to give up.
Day 7 Direct Ryan Fitzpatrick - Direct
Day 7 Cross Ryan Fitzpatrick - Cross
Day 7 Redirect Ryan Fitzpatrick - Redirect
Day 7 Procedural Scheduling set for Magbanua testimony; defense text-message exhibits admitted Subject of admitted text messages showing relationship with Magbanua, awareness of Garcia's upset, and decision to end relationship with Magbanua ('goodbye tour')
Day 7 Direct Katherine Magbanua - Direct Magbanua's former boyfriend; she described meeting him at Sophie Dental, their relationship, his persistent communication, his role in the Dolce Vita meeting, and her belief that he is guilty of arranging the murder.
Day 7 Procedural Second Motion for Judgment of Acquittal — Denied Raised by Kawass in argument that the paperwork bearing Dan Markel's face may have come directly from Adelson, not from Magbanua, as an alternative explanation the state failed to eliminate.
Day 7 Cross Katherine Magbanua - Cross
Day 7 Redirect Katherine Magbanua - Redirect
Day 7 Closing Closing Argument - Georgia Cappleman
Day 8 Closing Closing Argument - Tara Kawass
Day 8 Rebuttal Rebuttal Closing - Georgia Cappleman Magbanua's boyfriend; recipient of her text 'don't be such a dick to someone that has done something for you'; alleged to have hired the hit on Dan Markel
Day 8 CA Charlie Adelson Oct 26, 2023 – Nov 6, 2023
Trial Summary
Called as the sole defense witness after a formal election-to-testify colloquy, Charlie Adelson delivered multi-day direct examination testimony advancing an extortion defense: that Katherine Magbanua coerced him into paying $138,000 on July 18, 2014, and approximately $3,000 per month thereafter, framing Dan Markel's murder as an act her associate committed without Charlie's knowledge or participation.
Appearances (8)
Direct
Charlie Adelson - Direct (Part 1)
Day 6 Direct Charlie Adelson - Direct (Part 2)
Day 6 Direct Charlie Adelson - Direct (Part 3)
Day 6 Direct Charlie Adelson - Direct (Part 4)
Day 6 Direct Charlie Adelson - Direct (Part 5)
Day 6 Direct Charlie Adelson - Direct (Continued)
Day 7 Cross Charlie Adelson - Cross
Day 7 Redirect Charlie Adelson - Redirect
Day 7 Mentioned (21)
Jury Instruction
Preliminary Jury Instructions — Trial Conduct, Communication Rules, and Defendant's Rights
Day 1 Direct Jeffrey Lacasse - Direct Defendant; discussed substantively — Lacasse recounts his March 2014 hot-tub boast about criminal-element connections, which is the centerpiece of this direct examination
Day 2 Procedural Motion in Limine: Exclusion of Lacasse Proffer on Wendi Adelson's Alleged Hitman Statement — Ruled Out on Fairness Grounds The defendant is named as the subject of Wendi's alleged statement — she allegedly told Lacasse that Charlie had looked into 'all possible options to take care of the Danny Markel problem, including hiring a hitman.' Also discussed in the celebration dinner issue as the one who allegedly used the phrase.
Day 2 Cross Jeffrey Lacasse - Cross
Day 2 Redirect Jeffrey Lacasse - Redirect
Day 2 Direct Ryan Fitzpatrick - Direct
Day 2 Cross Ryan Fitzpatrick - Cross
Day 2 Direct Wendi Adelson - Direct (Recall)
Day 2 Direct Jeffrey Lacasse - Direct (Recall) Alleged by Wendi (via Lacasse) to have investigated hiring a hitman for Dan Markel during the 2013 relocation dispute; alleged to have called a post-murder dinner a celebration dinner
Day 2 Cross Jeffrey Lacasse - Cross
Day 2 Redirect Jeffrey Lacasse - Redirect Subject of the corrected hot-tub statement about criminal connections and the alleged hitman inquiry
Day 2 Redirect Katherine Magbanua - Redirect
Day 3 Direct Clariza Lebredo - Direct
Day 3 Cross Mary Hull - Cross Discussed as the payer of car repairs via credit card, source of the Lexus, and originator of Adelson Institute checks; Rashbaum uses his paper-trail behavior to argue against concealment
Day 3 Redirect Mary Hull - Redirect
Day 3 Cross Oscar Jimenez Jr. - Cross Called the undercover number after the Adelson Institute contact; said he would call back but did not; Rashbaum asserts he called from his own phone, though Jimenez cannot confirm the number
Day 4 Cross Louis Bronstein - Cross
Day 4 Direct James Keith McElveen - Direct
Day 4 Cross James Keith McElveen - Cross
Day 4 Cross Special Agent Undercover #3 (Matsuri) - Cross Discussed as subject of the 2022 arrest sequence; his cooperative conduct at arrest elicited by defense.
Day 4 Procedural End-of-Day Scheduling Housekeeping
Day 6 DA Donna Adelson Aug 22, 2025 – Sep 4, 2025
Trial Summary
Donna Adelson's son and convicted co-conspirator (November 2023), Charlie Adelson appeared throughout this trial as the central figure connecting Donna to the hired killers — named explicitly in both the conspiracy and solicitation charges against her and discussed across nearly every phase of the proceedings.
Mentioned (62)
Opening
Opening Statement - Sarah Kathryn Dugan Defendant's son; convicted co-conspirator November 2023; prosecution alleges Donna tasked him with solving the 'Dan Markel problem' and that he solicited Magbanua to arrange the killing
Day 1 Opening Opening Statement - Jackie L. Fulford
Day 1 Procedural OJP — Contested Admissibility of Composite Email Exhibit 64
Day 1 Direct Craig Isom - Direct (Continued)
Day 1 Cross Craig Isom - Cross
Day 1 Direct Luis Rivera - Direct
Day 1 Direct Jason Newlin - Direct
Day 2 Direct Wendi Adelson - Direct Defendant's son and Wendi's brother. Discussed as a central figure: his close relationship with Donna, his 'hitman joke,' his relationship with Katherine Magbanua, his 18-minute phone call with Wendi on the morning of the murder, and the alleged 'celebratory dinner' held weeks after Markel was killed.
Day 2 Cross Wendi Adelson - Cross
Day 2 Direct Robert Adelson - Direct
Day 2 Direct Jeffrey Lacasse - Direct
Day 3 Cross Jeffrey Lacasse - Cross
Day 3 Direct June Umchinda - Direct
Day 3 Cross June Umchinda - Cross
Day 3 Direct Ryan Fitzpatrick - Direct
Day 3 Cross Ryan Fitzpatrick - Cross
Day 3 Procedural Sidebar — Slide 38 Hearsay Ruling & Hull Late-Disclosure Accommodation
Day 3 Direct Mary Hull - Direct Provided extensive financial support to Magbanua (car repairs, flights, cruise, cash loans, Lexus insurance); managed Adelson Institute 2012–2015; successful periodontist
Day 3 Cross Mary Hull - Cross Text messages about cash discounts for periodontist work cited
Day 3 Redirect Mary Hull - Redirect
Day 3 Direct Clariza Lebredo - Direct
Day 3 Direct Katherine Magbanua - Direct Primary solicitor of the murder; Magbanua's then-boyfriend; named as originator of the hire-a-hitman plot and source of all payments
Day 3 Cross Katherine Magbanua - Cross
Day 3 Direct Christopher Corbitt - Direct
Day 3 Direct Christopher Corbitt - Direct (Continued)
Day 4 Procedural Adoptive Admission Ruling — Defense Crawford and Foundation Objections Overruled
Day 4 Cross Christopher Corbitt - Cross frequency reports, murder night communications, iCloud records
Day 4 Redirect Christopher Corbitt - Redirect
Day 4 Direct Oscar Jimenez Jr. - Direct called the undercover number in connection with the sting operation
Day 4 Cross Oscar Jimenez Jr. - Cross
Day 4 Direct Louis Bronstein - Direct
Day 4 Direct Brian Kendall - Direct Primary surveillance target at Matsuri restaurant; meeting his father Harvey Adelson when Kendall deployed the covert recording device
Day 4 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 1)
Day 4 Procedural Day 4 Recess — Fulford Preserves Record on Cumulative Testimony
Day 4 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 2) Primary subject of testimony — orchestrates family response to FBI bump, coaches Donna on denial, correctly identifies FBI operation, provides gifts to Magbanua and Garcia, calls undercover using *67
Day 5 Direct Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 3)
Day 6 Direct Drina Bernhardt - Direct Donna Adelson's son; the fabricated script depicted him as a victim of extortion by Magbanua, constructing an alternative narrative designed to undermine the prosecution's theory of family-orchestrated murder-for-hire.
Day 6 Direct Christopher Corbitt - Direct (Recall) Donna's son; his October 2023 trial testimony forms the extortion narrative Corbitt is rebutting; his WhatsApp messages, post-murder texts with Magbanua, and attorney contact instructions are central to the examination
Day 6 Cross Christopher Corbitt - Cross (Recall)
Day 6 Redirect Christopher Corbitt - Redirect (Recall) Author of 'good news in the paper yesterday' text to Donna Adelson; prosecution argues he was celebrating Weinstein's no-further-arrests prediction following Garcia and Rivera's arrests
Day 6 Cross Patrick Sanford - Cross
Day 6 Redirect Patrick Sanford - Redirect
Day 6 Procedural Defense Motion for Judgment of Acquittal on Counts 1 and 3
Day 7 Direct Ann Elizabeth Cunningham - Direct
Day 7 Cross Ann Elizabeth Cunningham - Cross
Day 7 Redirect Ann Elizabeth Cunningham - Redirect
Day 7 Direct Ron Gutterson - Direct
Day 7 Cross Ron Gutterson - Cross
Day 7 Direct Kelsey Guay - Direct Central subject of frequency analysis — CDR records reviewed for Charlie-Donna communication events May–July 2014 and CSLI tower overlap on July 18
Day 7 Cross Kelsey Guay - Cross Primary subject of phone frequency analysis; confirmed as Donna Adelson's most frequent contact for the June–July 2014 window regardless of whether deduplication reduces the count from 80 to 69
Day 7 Redirect Kelsey Guay - Redirect
Day 7 Direct Richard Shagran - Direct Donna's son whose conviction prompted the Vietnam trip; Shagran did not speak to Donna/Harvey on the day of his conviction
Day 7 Procedural Bailey Sequestration Dispute — Proffer and Ruling Bailey read Adamson's prior testimony from Charlie Adelson's trial; also mentioned in the tranche of emails Bailey reviewed
Day 8 Direct Marissel Descalzo - Direct Donna's son; his conviction triggered her suicidal threats; Descalzo and Rashbaum consulted about Baker Acting Donna in response to those threats
Day 8 Cross Marissel Descalzo - Cross
Day 8 Charge Conference Charge Conference — Jury Instruction Settlement Before Closing Arguments Named as co-conspirator in conspiracy and solicitation instructions; prior trial referenced as precedent for giving non-standard intent instruction
Day 8 Procedural Privilege Waiver Colloquy & Testimony Decision — Donna Adelson
Day 8 Jury Instruction Final Jury Instructions Named in Count 2 and Count 3 elements as the alleged co-conspirator/solicitee
Day 9 Closing Closing Argument - Georgia Cappleman Defendant's son; prosecution argues he was Donna's problem-solver who solicited Magbanua on Halloween 2013; his extortion defense is the primary theory Cappleman rebuts
Day 9 Closing Closing Argument - Jackie L. Fulford
Day 9 Rebuttal Rebuttal Closing - Georgia Cappleman Cappleman argues Charlie's extortion story was fabricated post-hoc and that he had signing power on the account but Donna wrote the checks, marking her as the conspiracy's architect
Day 9 Verdict Verdict Co-defendant in related proceedings; referenced by defense counsel Zelman as comparator for sentencing scheduling procedure
Day 9