Law enforcement · Miami-Dade Police Department

Jonathan Grossman

Miami-Dade law enforcement investigator who testified for the prosecution as an evidence-collection witness in the Garcia-Magbanua 2019 trial and the Donna Adelson 2025 trial.

Appeared Garcia–Magbanua Donna Adelson

167 lines · 6 appearances · 2 trials

About

Grossman's testimony is a useful anchor for anyone tracing how physical evidence in this case moved from discovery to the courtroom. He appeared in trials six years apart and testified in each about evidence he handled himself. His appearances document the chain from a repainted Prius examined twice in 2015 and 2016 to a 2023 condominium search, and his cross-examinations record, on the trial record itself, the acknowledged limits of both searches.

Across Trials

The role is essentially unchanged across the two trials — a prosecution evidence witness laying the foundation for photographs and seizures — but the subject matter and the stakes of his testimony shift with the phase of the case. In the Garcia-Magbanua 2019 trial the State used his testimony to establish the alignment of a floorboard hole with a damaged fuel line beneath it, while cross focused on the incomplete first inspection and the hole missed on that visit. In the Donna Adelson 2025 trial, six years later, he was called in the closing phase of the state's case to establish what was found inside a condominium, including travel documents and luggage bound for Vietnam. The pattern of cross-examination is the clearest continuity: in both trials defense counsel used him to establish limits rather than to dispute his observations — an admittedly incomplete first vehicle inspection in the earlier trial, and his limited knowledge about entry into the luggage, safe photographs, and the canine's alerts in the later one. He conceded those gaps directly in both instances, and in neither trial did he testify beyond his own firsthand knowledge.

Trial Record (6)

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

Trial Summary

Called by the State on day four as a Miami-Dade police witness, Grossman described two inspections of a Toyota Prius tied to the investigation — locating and identifying the car by VIN in November 2015, and returning in October 2016 to document a hole in the passenger-side floorboard.

Testimony (4)

Direct

Jonathan Grossman - Direct

Day 4 Cross

Jonathan Grossman - Cross

Day 4 Cross

Jonathan Grossman - Cross

Day 4 Jury Questions

Jonathan Grossman - Juror Questions

Day 4

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

Trial Summary

Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office Detective called by the prosecution to authenticate the November 2023 search warrant executed at Donna Adelson's Brickell Avenue condominium and the evidence recovered there, including Vietnam-destination luggage and visas in both Donna and Harvey Adelson's names.

Testimony (2)

Direct

Jonathan Grossman - Direct

Day 6 Cross

Jonathan Grossman - Cross

Day 6