FSU Law Professor Murder Trial Prosecution Opening Statement

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: We'll start with the state of Florida. May it please the court. Council. Members of the jury, good morning. The evidence in this case will show that at 11 a.m. on July 18, 2014, Jim Geiger is with his wife and grandchildren at his home on Trescot Drive when he hears a noise that sounds like a gunshot. He goes to a large bay window at the front of his residence and looks outside toward his neighbor's house, and he observes what appears to be a light-colored Prius or Prius-type vehicle back quickly out of his neighbor's driveway and take off toward Benton Road. Concerned, Mr. Geiger walks out his front door and walks in the direction of his neighbor's residence. His neighbor is Dan Markell. Seeing that Mr. Markell's vehicle is running in the garage, he's thinking, well, maybe Mr. Markell's about to back out. So he kind of goes back to his house, but he kind of keeps an eye on the driveway. When Mr. Markell does not back out after a couple moments, Mr. Geiger goes over to do some further investigation, and that is when he sees a terrible sight. His neighbor, Dan Markell, behind the wheel with a terrible wound to his head. There is shattered glass everywhere. Mr. Markell is seated in the driver's seat. He's alive. He's moving. He's still groaning, but he's not able to talk. He's not responsive, and he's obviously in distress. Mr. Geiger, seeing this, runs home for his phone and calls 911. That call came in at 11.01 a.m. in broad daylight. First responders arrive to find 41-year-old Dan Markell unresponsive. He's taken to the hospital where he survives for some time, I think about 14 hours before he is officially pronounced deceased. Dan Markell, father of two young boys and highly respected attorney-at-law and professor at the Florida State University College of Law, was shot twice in the head in his own garage in broad daylight. Who would do such a thing? Nothing seems to be missing from the crime scene. There's no sign of a forced entry or a robbery attempt. How do you begin to investigate a case like this? What clues did the killers leave behind? Well, thanks to our 911 caller, we know that the suspect vehicle is a light-colored Prius. And there's a second 911 call as well. You'll learn that Mr. Markell was on the phone at the time he was murdered, and the person that he was on the phone with heard Markell say, hold on a moment, there's someone in my driveway I don't recognize. Then the line went dead, and the man was unable to reach Mr. Markell again, so he called 911. So we learn from that that the person that murdered Mr. Markell was a stranger to him. It was someone he did not recognize. An inquiry into Dan Markell's movements that morning revealed that he dropped his two young sons off at daycare at about 8:50 a.m., then went to work out at Premier Gym, and then was killed shortly upon his return home from the gym. Law enforcement obtained surveillance from the gym, and later surveillance from a city bus. So there are cameras mounted to city buses. And they got surveillance from the city buses along the route that they think this Prius might have traveled along the route that they think Mr. Markell would have traveled between Jim and his residents, and they discover something ominous on this surveillance footage. A light-colored Prius, which they deduced from this surveillance was silver pine mica, that's the exact color, which appears to follow Dan Markell into the gym parking lot at 9:11 a.m. on the morning of his death. The Prius waits in the parking lot for Mr. Markell to work out, which is approximately an hour. And then the Prius follows Mr. Markell out of the parking lot at about 10:38 a.m. The Prius was also observed on a surveillance camera from the city bus, which narrows the time of Mr. Markell's death even further, because we see that Prius on a bus both before, minutes before, and then moments after the murder as well, fleeing at a high rate of speed north on Thomasville Road towards the interstate. And you will observe these surveillance videos and learn a few things from these images that were captured about our suspect vehicle. You'll learn the exact color of the Prius, silver pine mica, the approximate year of the vehicle, the fact that the vehicle had a black aftermarket side mirror attached to it, a missing tow hook cover, which is just a little round circle on the front bumper of the vehicle, and a SunPass transponder mounted to the front of the windshield. Also, in one of the images from the city bus captured after the murder, you will see the presence of what appears to be a driver in a dark-colored shirt and a passenger in a light-colored shirt. That becomes important because later when we have two suspects develop, we find an ATM video that shows in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on the same day of the murder, a silver pine mica Prius at an ATM with our two suspects pictured inside. And you'll see those images as well. So meanwhile, law enforcement is gathering these surveillance images, trying to get information about the suspects and the vehicle that might be involved in this murder. While they're doing that, they're simultaneously trying to learn more about Dan Markell's life. Who is close to him? Who might have a motive to want him dead? Law enforcement meets with Markell's ex-wife, Wendy Adelson, whereby they learn that she has been embroiled in a very contentious divorce and continued litigation with Mr. Markell regarding the enforcement of the divorce settlement agreement, and specifically the custody of their two boys. Pleadings from the divorce indicate that Wendy Adelson had made efforts to relocate to South Florida. She'd actually moved to South Florida with the kids and a court ordered her on June 20th, 2013, that she had to come back to Tallahassee. She couldn't leave with Mr. Markell's children. Emails between Wendy Adelson and her mother, Donna Adelson, that occur around the time of this litigation, about one year before the murder, indicate that Donna Adelson despised Dan Markell and was desperate to find a way for Wendy and these two kids to move down to where she was located in South Florida. Donna Adelson in these emails refers to Dan Markell as a religious zealot, a bastard. She says, let's show this F blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, what will make him absolutely miserable, and proposes a plan of action for how to threaten and or bully and or bribe Dan Markell into allowing Wendy to move to South Florida with the children. These plans included converting the children to Catholicism, even though the entire family was Jewish. All the Adelson's were Jewish as well, but this suggestion was a way to gain leverage against Mr. Markell because Dan Markell was very observant in his faith, and it was very important to him that his children be raised in an environment that observed and was committed to the Jewish faith. The divorce between Wendy and Dan Markell was final back on July 31st of 2013, but as I mentioned, the litigation continued as both sides filed pleadings back and forth in reference to alleged violations of the divorce agreement, in reference to child custody, and specifically one of the last pleadings filed prior to Dan Markell's murder is in reference to Wendy Adelson's mother, his mother-in-law, Donna Adelson. And in this pleading, he alleged that the children's grandmother, Donna Adelson, was disparaging him to the kids, and he was petitioning the court to order that Donna Adelson not be allowed to have unsupervised contact with his children, her grandchildren. A ruling was never made on that motion because Dan Markell was murdered before the hearing was conducted. Wendy Adelson was interviewed, as I mentioned, and she will tell you that she sure hopes someone didn't do this on her behalf. She will tell you that her brother, Charlie Adelson, who also lives in South Florida with her mother, not with, but in the same area as her mother, Donna Adelson, and her father, Harvey Adelson, she'll tell you that Charlie, quote, looked into hiring a hitman, but decided buying her a TV as a divorce present would be cheaper. And what was her alibi for the murder? Where was she when Dan Markell was killed? She has a witness who was present at her home, a repairman who was fixing that very TV. An appointment that was set up by her mother, Donna Adelson. So Wendy's brother, Charlie Adelson, has made references to hiring a hitman to kill Dan Markell, and now hitmen have murdered Dan Markell. Meanwhile, law enforcement is still putting together more information about the Prius and the killers. They have gotten a search warrant for all the phone numbers that interacted with the cell tower, consistent with people being in the area of Premier Gym at the time that we know they were there. So literally every cell phone that interacted with those towers during that hour period of time. And they cross-referenced all of that data with Mr. Markell and his in-laws. So basically have any of the phone numbers that appear on that tower around the time that we know the suspects were at the gym been in contact recently with Dan Markell or with his in-laws or with his ex-wife. The purpose of that was to try to see if there was any link there. And coming through all this data and putting it all together was a very tedious task. But they did find one number with a South Florida exchange, which was present both in the area of Premier Gym at the time that the killers were there and was linked to a single phone call on July 1st, 2014. So about 17 days before the murder, this number that was at Premier Gym from South Florida contacted Harvey Adelson. So the father-in-law of the deceased, husband of Donna Adelson, father of Wendy Adelson. And that number that contacted Harvey Adelson and that was also present at the gym on our date in question belonged to Sigfredo Garcia, the defendant in this case, a.k.a. Tuto, T-U-T-O. [00:11:47] Speaker ?: That's a lot. [00:11:50] Speaker 1: And an examination of Garcia's call logs showed a frequent contact with another number, which also was present on our what we're calling tower dumps. So all those numbers that interacted with that cell phone tower at Premier at that time. Another number, no connection with the Adelson's that we found, but a frequent caller of Sigfredo Garcia is Luis Rivera. That phone number was also present at Premier at the time that our suspect vehicle was there. Luis Rivera's AKA is Tato, so we've got Tuto and Tato. So why would these two guys, Tuto and Tato, with no apparent ties to Tallahassee, be all the way up here from Miami, hanging around the gym at the same time that our suspect Prius was there? Possibly because they're our suspects. They're the ones inside the Prius. So now that we have these suspect phone numbers, we subpoena all the location information from the cell phone providers to show information about Rivera and Garcia's phones. Where were they during the time leading up to the homicide and after the homicide and at the time of the homicide? And what it shows, which you'll get detailed testimony about in the form of digital evidence, is that Rivera and Garcia's phones leave Miami on July 16th, 2014. You'll see their movements up from Miami to Tallahassee. You'll see their movements around Tallahassee, including being in the area of Premier Gym. And then you'll see that both phones are consistent with having been turned off around the time that the Prius was at Premier Gym, waiting for Dan Markell to come out. And both phones remain inactive until about an hour after the murder, where they pop back up, headed southbound on the interstate toward Miami. As a result of this evidence, Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia were charged with first-degree murder of Dan Markell. The police work that has just taken me a few minutes to summarize took about two years to accomplish. By the time Rivera and Garcia were arrested for this murder, Rivera was in custody on an unrelated federal racketeering charge, which concerned Rivera's affiliation with a criminal street gang. So when we develop these suspects, Rivera's in custody on something else. Ultimately, the state made a deal with Rivera to tell the truth in exchange for a plea to second-degree murder and a 19-year prison sentence to run concurrent or at the same time as his federal sentence. Rivera will tell you that he was hired by his lifelong friend, Sigfredo Garcia, who was hired by his longtime girlfriend and children's mother, Catherine Magbanawa, a.k.a. Katie, to come to Tallahassee and to kill Dan Markell. Magbanawa had an on-again, off-again relationship with Mr. Garcia, and during one of the off-again periods, you will learn prior to the murder, during one of these off-again periods with Mr. Garcia, she was seeing somebody else, a wealthy dentist by the name of Charlie Adelson. Charlie Adelson had a sister in Tallahassee, Wendy Adelson. And Wendy Adelson had a problem, and her problem was named Dan Markell. And the solution to that problem was Magbanawa, Rivera, and Garcia. Garcia told Rivera that Catherine Magbanawa had gotten them a job, and it was a big one. It was going to pay a lot of money. The job was in Tallahassee. Rivera and Garcia made, you'll learn, not one, but two trips to Tallahassee. The first trip was about six weeks prior to Markell's death, and it was intended to be a murder trip, but it ended up being more of a scouting trip. The murder did not occur. Garcia told Rivera on the way to Tallahassee on that first trip that they were coming up here to do a murder. Garcia showed Mr. Rivera a photograph of who they were coming to kill. He had a piece of paper with a picture of Dan Markell on it and some tight words underneath. He indicated to Rivera that they needed to kill this guy so that his wife could get their kids and that they were going to be paid $100,000 for the job, with Rivera's cut being $35,000. Rivera bought a gun off the street, and Garcia rented a car for this June trip. Rivera asked Garcia, and this is the first trip, Rivera asked Garcia who knew that he was going along, who knew he was involved, and Garcia assured him that only Katie knew, Catherine Magbanawa. On the way, Garcia showed Rivera the piece of paper, and Rivera also overheard several phone calls between Garcia and Magbanawa during this first trip, which included Magbanawa instructing Garcia about what they needed to do, including things like, make sure you do everything right. Don't do anything stupid. When you are done, call me. Garcia and Rivera got a hotel room here in Tallahassee on this first trip. They did some scouting around the Markell residence, but couldn't get the job done, and ultimately headed back to Miami. Six weeks later, the two returned to Tallahassee in the green Prius rented by Luis Rivera in Miami, Florida. They brought the same gun that was present on the first trip, the one that Luis Rivera bought off the street, and that ultimately becomes the murder weapon. On this trip, they spend two nights in Tallahassee, again scouting around the Markell residence, attempting to follow Mr. Markell, and you'll hear, you know, Katie Catherine Magbanawa previously instructed them not to do anything stupid, and that will, her reasoning for that will be evidenced by some of the activity that they get up to when they're here. For example, Garcia accidentally shot a hole in the floorboard on the passenger side of the Prius with the murder weapon prior to the murder, which resulted in them severing the gas line and rendering the vehicle inoperable. Then they had to get a ride to the store to buy some supplies to fix the thing and fix the thing on the side of the road. So you'll hear a little bit about that. Then, the night before the murder, Rivera will tell you that he took a picture of an owl and posted it on Instagram, which, as y'all may know, indicates where you are when you post something. And he'll tell you that Catherine Magbanawa immediately called Garcia to tell Rivera how stupid he was and to take the picture down because nobody could know where he was. Again, Rivera overhears conversation during the second trip between Garcia and Magbanawa. Catherine Magbanawa indicates that they have to get this job done because the professor is planning to leave town in the near future. So on July 18th, 2014, Rivera and Garcia follow Professor Markell to the daycare where he drops off his kids at approximately 8.50 in the morning. Then they go to the gym where they wait in the parking lot while Mr. Markell works out. And then they go to his home where Rivera pulls the Prius into the driveway close up to the bumper of Mr. Markell where he's parked in his driveway. You'll hear that Garcia gets out and approaches Markell with the revolver purchased on the street by Luis Rivera and that Garcia shoots Mr. Markell twice through the driver's window before hopping back into the Prius. Rivera backs out of the driveway and they head back to Miami. I mentioned earlier that both men had their phones off and that once they turn their phones back on, the very first call that either of them make after the homicide is Mr. Garcia to Catherine Magbanawa. And what does he say? He says the job is done. And what does she reply? She says, I know. There's a brief discussion about when they'll get their money. And Catherine Magbanawa says, don't worry about the money. I will get the money. You'll get it tomorrow. Then the next day, Rivera was at the barbershop when he talked to Catherine Magbanawa. She advised that she had the money and was looking for Garcia to pay up, wasn't able to find Garcia. Rivera knew where to look for Garcia at another young lady's residence. Rivera successfully rounds up Garcia and they all meet at Rivera's house where Rivera gets his payment. So Rivera, Garcia, and Magbanawa are all present. Rivera gets his money. $35,000 stapled into packs of $1,000 apiece. Garcia also gave Rivera a little extra money later that night while they're out celebrating. In the weeks and months after the homicide, Rivera and Garcia bought, they each bought a motorcycle. Garcia also bought a car. Catherine Magbanawa also got a car, a black Lexus, whose previous owner happens to be Harvey Adelson. Magbanawa was also put on the payroll at the Adelson's dental practice shortly after the homicide and began receiving regular checks for approximately two years, although law enforcement has yet to determine what, if anything, what, if any, service she provides to that dental office. And the folks that work there don't seem to know either. She got a breast augmentation surgery shortly after the homicide. She had trips paid for by Charlie Adelson after the homicide that didn't even include him. And she deposited large amounts of cash into her bank account around the time of the murder, sometimes multiple deposits at different banks in the same day. So in an effort to ferret out who are all of the members of this conspiracy, and to prove how information flowed, how was the conspiracy structured, we, on April 19th, 2016, so almost two years after the murder, law enforcement conducts an undercover operation. They got court authorization to go up on a wire, what's called a wire, on Catherine Magbanawa's phone and also Charlie Adelson's phone, which means they could listen in real time to what was being said on these phones. That's despite some popular belief, not something the government normally can do without special authorization. In this case, that authorization was put in place and law enforcement was prepared to listen to both Catherine Magbanawa's calls and Charlie Adelson's calls. They then sent an undercover agent posing as someone who basically was on behalf of Rivera to walk up to Donna Adelson to walk up to Donna Adelson on the street and basically try to extort money out of her. This undercover officer handed Donna Adelson a piece of paper and on the paper is a story about the death of Dan Markell. It includes a photograph of Dan Markell and written on the page is a phone number and the amount, $5,000. and the undercover agent I'm summarizing tells Donna Adelson basically my buddy Rivera he didn't say the word Rivera but my buddy's sitting in jail and you're out here taking care of Katie and Tudo. So basically he's asking for $5,000 for Rivera to even things out. So now law enforcement starts listening to the calls like you know we do this little thing it's two years after the murder we do this undercover operation to try to generate some chatter and see who will say what to whom and you'll get an opportunity to hear some of those phone calls that result from this undercover operation. That phone number the undercover agent's phone number that's written on that piece of paper that's handed to Donna Adelson you're going to see that it travels from Donna to Charlie to Katie and then to Sigbrado. You will hear and see evidence of these calls and you can make of them what you will but in conclusion I believe that you will be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the state is not pulling a fast one on you but rather that Catherine Magbanawa was hired to solicit Garcia who in turn solicited Rivera to come to Tallahassee and to execute Mr. Markell in cold blood. At the conclusion of the evidence I will ask you to return a verdict of guilty as charged for both defendants. Thank you.