Dan Markel — Case Archive

Witness · Adelson Institute for Aesthetics

Erika Johnson

Courtroom still of Erika Johnson.

Longtime front-desk employee and assistant at the Adelson Institute who testified for the State in three trials that Katherine Magbanua never worked at the dental practice and who authenticated the intercepted call she placed to Charlie Adelson when law enforcement arrived seeking Magbanua's employment records.

Appeared Garcia–Magbanua Magbanua Retrial Charlie Adelson

Mentioned Donna Adelson

340 lines · 12 appearances · 18 mentions · 4 trials

About

Johnson is a firsthand witness to the everyday operation of the Adelson Institute during the years in question — who was on staff, who wrote the checks, and how people were paid. That makes her testimony a recurring reference point for the disputed question of whether Katherine Magbanua's payments from the practice reflected real employment. She is also the origin point of one of the case's frequently cited recordings: the June 1, 2016 call to Charlie Adelson, whose admissibility was separately litigated and whose contents were argued over by both sides in more than one trial. Anyone tracing either the employment question or that recording across the case will pass through her testimony.

Across Trials

Johnson's account stayed remarkably stable across the three trials in which she testified, but its emphasis and the pressure applied to it shifted. In the 2019 Garcia and Magbanua trial her examination was the longest and most contested: she initially refused to listen to the recording, was excused with the jury out so she could hear it during a break, and then faced separate cross-examinations from two defense teams — one narrowly establishing that Harvey Adelson could have forwarded office calls to his own phone, the other building a remote-work theory that drew from her the concession that she was not sure whether Magbanua had been employed there. By the 2022 Magbanua retrial her testimony was tighter and more thematic, organized around staff composition, advance-check practice, cash discounts, and the intercepted call, with the defense probing the absence of her own payroll records for comparison and a prior statement to the FBI that sat uneasily beside her trial testimony. In the 2023 Charlie Adelson trial her role narrowed further: she corroborated a coworker's staffing account, the State drew attention to Charlie's remark that he would call her back from a landline, and cross developed defense explanations that Charlie did not own the practice, his parents were away, patients were present, and Johnson remained personally fond of him and continued working alongside him until his arrest. The defense closing later dismissed her testimony as carrying no real weight. In the 2025 Donna Adelson trial, Johnson was not called and appears only as a coworker another witness brought forward to speak with officers.

Trial Record (30)

GM Garcia–Magbanua Sep 26, 2019 – Oct 11, 2019

Trial Summary

Adelson Institute front-desk employee who testified for the State on trial day 5 that Katherine Magbanua was known to her only as a patient and as Charlie Adelson's girlfriend, never as an employee, and who authenticated the intercepted call she placed to Charlie Adelson when police came to the office seeking Magbanua's personnel file.

Testimony (6)

Erika Johnson - Direct

Erika Johnson - Cross

Erika Johnson - Cross

Erika Johnson - Redirect

Erika Johnson - Recross

Day 5 Jury Questions

Erika Johnson - Juror Questions

Mentioned (7)

Clariza Lebredo - Direct

Day 5 Jury Questions

Clariza Lebredo - Juror Questions Front desk employee who occasionally checked office voicemails in addition to Lebredo.

Day 5 Procedural

iCloud Evidence, Sequestration, and Wiretap Rulings

Day 5 Procedural

Garcia Traffic Citation Richardson Ruling

Mary Hull - Cross

Patrick Sanford - Redirect

Closing Argument - Georgia Cappleman

KM Magbanua Retrial May 18, 2022 – May 27, 2022

Trial Summary

Called by the State on the fourth day of trial, the Adelson Institute front-desk employee described the practice's small staff and payroll, said she never saw Katherine Magbanua work there, and authenticated the recorded call she placed to Charlie Adelson after investigators asked for employment records.

Testimony (3)

Erika Johnson - Direct

Erika Johnson - Cross

Erika Johnson - Redirect

Mentioned (6)

Clariza Lebredo - Direct

Day 4 Procedural

Pre-Testimony Motions: Exhibit 100 Ruling and Crawford Challenge to Adelson Wiretaps Adelson Institute employee whose failure to turn over employment records — the State contends as a subsequent reaction to Exhibit 100 — is the stated purpose for admitting the call

Day 5 Procedural

Lunch Recess and Exhibit Preview — FBI Undercover Bump Calls

Mary Hull - Redirect

Patrick Sanford - Direct (Part 1)

Patrick Sanford - Cross (Continued)

CA Charlie Adelson Oct 26, 2023 – Nov 6, 2023

Trial Summary

Adelson Institute employee Erika Johnson testified about office staffing and records, Katherine Magbanua's status as a patient rather than an observed employee, and a June 1, 2016 call Johnson placed to Charlie Adelson when officers requested employment records.

Testimony (3)

Erika Johnson - Direct

Erika Johnson - Cross

Erika Johnson - Redirect

Mentioned (4)

Clariza Lebredo - Direct

Day 3 Procedural

Partial Admission of Composite Text Exhibit; Direct Examination Scheduling Rashbaum references her as the subject of a Charlie Adelson dinner, offered to explain CDR calls to Magbanua on the evening of July 16

Charlie Adelson - Direct (Part 5)

Rebuttal Closing - Georgia Cappleman

DA Donna Adelson Aug 22, 2025 – Sep 4, 2025

Trial Summary

Named in testimony as an Adelson Institute employee to whom a witness referred an unidentified inquiry when the witness lacked knowledge of the matter.

Mentioned (1)

Clariza Lebredo - Direct