Expert witness · Mary Hull Financial Investigations

Mary Hull

A certified fraud examiner and state financial investigator who testified for the prosecution as a forensic accounting expert in all four Dan Markel murder trials.

Appeared Garcia–Magbanua Magbanua Retrial Charlie Adelson Donna Adelson

2,243 lines · 20 appearances · 6 mentions · 4 trials

About

Hull is a recurring thread through the financial side of the Markel prosecution, and her testimony provides a detailed trial-record account of the financial records and patterns presented by the State for 2014 through 2016. Because she testified four times from an expanding but consistent set of records, her appearances show which financial findings recurred across six years of litigation and which depended on documents investigators never obtained. Her concessions about the limits of her sourcing help mark where the financial evidence stopped and inference began.

Across Trials

Hull's role never changed — she was the prosecution's financial expert in all four trials — but the scope of her work and the defense response to it evolved considerably. Her 2019 testimony in the Garcia and Magbanua trial was the broadest, spanning two trial days, a recall for tax returns, and cross-examination by two defense teams working different angles. The 2022 Magbanua retrial covered much of the same ground more narrowly and was the one appearance where the defense signaled in its opening that it would impeach her over errors in prior sworn testimony, then used Charlie Adelson's iCloud messages to walk back her direct-examination statement about the Lexus. In the 2023 Charlie Adelson trial her analysis widened to Adelson's own spending, and the defense drew her agreement that the "murder" label on her charts was not a scientific designation and that a $3,000 monthly payment would be consistent with an extortion narrative rather than a murder-for-hire one. By the 2025 Donna Adelson trial the emphasis had shifted again, to Donna's personal signature on all 44 payroll checks and to three checks missing from the Institute's own books, with the defense leaving the central cash findings unchallenged and confining its questions to a used car, a cash-discount policy, and Harvey Adelson's ownership status. Her qualifications were unchallenged in the source records; what changed was which defendant's finances the records addressed and the substance and scope of each cross-examination.

Trial Record (26)

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

Trial Summary

Testifying as the State's forensic financial analyst, a certified fraud examiner traced vehicle purchases, cash deposits, and Adelson-linked payments across Garcia's, Rivera's, and Magbanua's accounts, then returned two days later to compare Magbanua's reported tax wages against her cash deposits.

Testimony (11)

Direct

Mary Hull - Direct

Day 6 Direct

Mary Hull - Direct (Part 2)

Mary Hull - Cross (Part 2)

Mary Hull - Direct (Recall)

Day 8 Cross

Mary Hull - Cross

Day 8 Cross

Mary Hull - Cross (Recall)

Day 8 Redirect

Mary Hull - Redirect

Day 8

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

Trial Summary

Testified on Day 5 as the State's financial investigator and certified fraud examiner, presenting bank, employment, vehicle, and purchase records and her own analytical charts tracking payments to Katherine Magbanua.

Testimony (3)

Mentioned (3)

Opening

Opening Statement - Tara Kawass

Day 1 Procedural

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

Day 4 Closing

Closing Argument - Tara Kawass

Day 8

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

Trial Summary

Testified for the State on the third trial day as a certified fraud examiner and former financial investigator, presenting a forensic accounting review of the banking, cash-deposit, and payment records of Luis Rivera, Sigfredo Garcia, Katherine Magbanua, and Charlie Adelson.

Testimony (3)

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

Trial Summary

Called by the State on the third trial day as a forensic-accounting expert, Hull presented bank, credit-card, vehicle, and business records tying Adelson Institute checks signed by Donna Adelson to Katherine Magbanua.

Testimony (3)

Mentioned (3)

Procedural

Sidebar — Slide 38 Hearsay Ruling & Hull Late-Disclosure Accommodation

Day 3 Closing

Closing Argument - Jackie L. Fulford

Day 9 Rebuttal

Rebuttal Closing - Georgia Cappleman

Day 9