Expert witness

Marcia Rodriguez

Retired Tallahassee Police Department digital forensic investigator who testified in both trials about the Cellebrite extraction of Wendi Adelson's iPhone 4.

Appeared Garcia–Magbanua Magbanua Retrial

68 lines · 5 appearances · 2 mentions · 2 trials

About

Rodriguez is the evidentiary link between Wendi Adelson's iPhone 4 and the extracted phone data introduced in the two proceedings. She authenticated extracted data in both trials. The Garcia–Magbanua 2019 record specifically identifies contact entries, call logs, and July 2014 voicemails, while the Magbanua 2022 retrial record describes selected report pages without itemizing those categories. Her testimony is a reference point for tracing where that digital evidence came from, how it was collected, and what portions the source records identify as placed before each jury.

Across Trials

Rodriguez's role was essentially unchanged across the two trials — a State-called digital forensics witness laying the foundation for the same 2014 phone extraction — but the surrounding treatment of that evidence differed. In the Garcia–Magbanua 2019 trial her testimony carried more evidentiary weight in the courtroom: she walked through four sets of excerpt exhibits in detail, the State attempted to admit the complete extraction disc, Katherine Magbanua's counsel Christopher DeCoste objected, and the resulting sidebar left only the targeted excerpts in the record rather than the full device image. Sigfredo Garcia's counsel then briefly cross-examined her, confirming she had not manipulated the original data. By the Magbanua 2022 retrial her appearance had been substantially compressed: she authenticated selected report-page exhibits, which were admitted without objection, and after a document-review recess the defense waived cross-examination entirely, releasing her in under a minute. The shift reflects the digital-forensics foundation becoming settled ground by the retrial — the same witness, the same method, and far less contest over it.

Trial Record (7)

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

Trial Summary

Testified as a Tallahassee Police Department Special Investigations Unit investigator about the Cellebrite forensic extraction of Wendi Adelson's iPhone 4, authenticating four excerpt exhibits drawn from that extraction report.

Testimony (2)

Direct

Marcia Rodriguez - Direct

Day 1 Cross

Marcia Rodriguez - Cross

Day 1

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

Trial Summary

Called by the prosecution on Day 5 as a records custodian, Rodriguez authenticated Cellebrite extraction data from Wendi Adelson's iPhone 4; cross-examination was waived after a brief document-review recess.

Testimony (3)

Direct

Marcia Rodriguez - Direct

Day 2 Cross

Marcia Rodriguez - Cross

Day 2 Cross

Marcia Rodriguez - Cross (Waived)

Day 2

Mentioned (2)

Procedural

Pre-jury logistics — admissibility of prior trial testimony deferred

Day 2 Procedural

End of Day — Jail Call Admissibility Rulings and Scheduling Scheduled as first witness on Day 5

Day 4