Law enforcement · Leon County State Attorney's Office

Jason Newlin

SAO investigator; defense witness on the Rivera proffer timeline in Trial 1 and prosecution document custodian for State's Exhibit 60 in Trial 3.

Appeared Magbanua Retrial Donna Adelson

Mentioned Charlie Adelson

540 lines · 8 appearances · 9 mentions · 3 trials

About

Newlin is one of the few individuals whose testimonial record spans both the Magbanua trial's primary credibility dispute — the reliability of Rivera's cooperation — and the documentary predicate for the prosecution's Donna Adelson motive theory, making him a useful cross-reference point for examining how the SAO's investigative record was deployed by each party across trials.

Across Trials

Newlin's role shifted substantially between Trial 1 and Trial 3 in both party alignment and evidentiary function. In Trial 1, the defense placed him on the stand as their sole prosecution-adjacent witness to surface gaps, acknowledge investigative failures, and undercut Rivera's credibility from inside the SAO's own apparatus — his testimony was the defense's instrument, not the prosecution's. In Trial 3, he appeared as a prosecution witness performing a document-authentication function, sponsoring a dense exhibit binder and establishing the attribution pattern for Donna Adelson's email responses. The shift is structural rather than a credibility evolution: in Trial 1 the contested facts were the reliability of the proffer process and the adequacy of the investigation; in Trial 3 the contested fact was the attribution of a single email response on a shared account, a much narrower dispute that left his credibility as a witness largely uncontested. His Trial 2 appearance — a single reference confirming his presence at proffer sessions — adds continuity across the parallel Magbanua proceedings but carries no independent testimonial weight.

Trial Record (17)

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

Trial Summary

Called by the defense as their sole SAO investigator witness, Newlin provided the factual foundation for the defense's central credibility challenge to cooperating codefendant Luis Rivera, covering the proffer timeline, investigative gaps, and the unrecorded September 30, 2016 session in which Rivera first named Magbanua.

Appearances (4)

Direct

Jason Newlin - Direct

Day 7 Direct

Jason Newlin - Direct (Continued)

Day 7 Cross

Jason Newlin - Cross

Day 7 Redirect

Jason Newlin - Redirect

Day 7

Mentioned (6)

Cross

Craig Isom - Cross

Day 1 Cross

Christopher Corbitt - Cross SAO investigator; Corbitt aware his results may have been documented in Newland reports

Day 4 Cross

Patrick Sanford - Cross SAO investigator who accompanied Sanford to Club Fate during the pandemic-era investigation; defense implies he may have had leads on Vega that were not shared with FBI

Day 6 Procedural

Defense case opening logistics and ruling on Rodriguez impeachment recording

Day 7 Direct

Craig Isom - Direct (Recalled by Defense)

Day 7 Closing

Closing Argument - Tara Kawass

Day 8

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

Trial Summary

Referenced once as an investigator present at both proffer sessions in this trial's record.

Mentioned (1)

Cross

Katherine Magbanua - Cross Present at both proffer sessions

Day 3

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

Trial Summary

Served as the prosecution's document custodian and investigative witness for State's Exhibit 60, a curated binder of Donna Adelson's divorce-era emails paired with corresponding litigation filings, and testified in a foundation hearing that determined the admissibility of Tab JJ — the "grandma motion" email chain.

Appearances (4)

Procedural

Foundation Hearing: 'Grandma Motion' (State's Ex. 60-JJ) and Wendi Adelson Proffer Procedure

Day 2 Direct

Jason Newlin - Direct

Day 2 Cross

Jason Newlin - Cross

Day 2 Redirect

Jason Newlin - Redirect

Day 2

Mentioned (2)

Cross

Patrick Sanford - Cross

Day 6 Cross

Josh Turner - Cross

Day 7