The Dan Markel Case: Prosecutors Want To Know Who Paid For These Breast Implants

Here is the latest lurid twist in the ongoing investigation of a tragic killing.

breast implants breasts boobs boob job breast enhancement augmentation surgeryThe investigation into the July 2014 murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel has taken another bizarre turn. Here’s a report from WCTV:

Prosecutors were in court [on Friday] afternoon trying to get access to the medical records of Katherine Magbanua to find out who paid for her 2014 breast augmentation.

They believe she is the link between the family of Markel’s ex-wife [Wendi Adelson] and the two men accused of killing him. Magbanua dated the ex-wife’s brother, Charles Adelson, and is the ex-girlfriend of Sigfredo Garcia. Garcia is one of two men charged in Markel’s murder.

Prosecutors told the judge Friday they believe Charles Adelson paid for Magbanua to get a breast augmentation in October 2014. That’s about three months after Markel’s murder. They told the judge a witness claims Adelson paid half the cost of the $6000- $7000 procedure.

“If Charlie Adelson paid for it, that would be very significant in a homicide investigation where there’s a conspiracy between him and Miss Magbanua,” prosecutor Anna Norris argued.

This sounds très Miami — recall that the Adelsons and Magbanua all live in south Florida — but one can certainly see the potential relevance of such evidence.

Recall law enforcement’s theory that the murder of Markel stemmed from the “desperate desire” of the Adelsons, including Charlie, to bring Wendi Adelson and her two sons with Dan Markel back to the Miami area. So one argument might be that Charlie Adelson wanted to “thank” Katherine Magbanua for whatever role in she might have played in an alleged conspiracy with a gift of better breasts. But even if one doesn’t go that far, evidence that Charlie Adelson paid for Katherine Magbanua’s breast implants could be used to show the closeness of their relationship (which some in the Adelson camp have disputed).

Lawyers for Magbanua and Adelson want to keep this evidence out of prosecutors’ hands:

Magbanua’s attorneys were trying to stop the state from serving a subpoena on Dr. Leonard Roudner, the South Florida plastic surgeon who performed the surgery. His own web site lists his nickname as “Dr. Boobner.”

“What they are doing is they’re speculating based on what their theory is and they’re engaging in a fishing expedition,” Magbanua’s attorney Tara Kawass told the judge Friday.

The judge ultimately ruled the state could not access Magbanua’s medical records except records showing the dates of the breast augmentation surgery, who paid for it and how.

Charles Adelson’s attorney called the state’s theory ridiculous.

“This exposes the utter absence of the state’s case in a pretty stark way and really shows how desperate the state is to make a case where none exists,” David Oscar Markus said.

Fair enough. Markus’s comment highlights the fact that the state’s case against his client — or potential case, since nobody in the Adelson family has been indicted yet — rests upon circumstantial evidence.

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But as lawyers, law students, and watchers of Law and Order well know, a case can rest entirely upon circumstantial rather than direct evidence. The challenge faced by Markus and his colleagues is explaining who did order the murder of Dan Markel if not Charlie Adelson, especially given the connections between Adelson, Katherine Magbanua, and Sigfredo Garcia.

If Charlie or any other member of the Adelson family were to be charged with and tried for Dan Markel’s murder, it would certainly be possible for a defense lawyer to put the state to its proof, emphasize the presumption of innocence ad nauseam, and argue that someone shouldn’t be convicted of a grave crime for what might just be a (massive) coincidence.

But that’s not as easy as it sounds. At the end of the day, jurors are just like us: they want answers, and they want justice.

Prosecutors seek breast augmentation records in Markel murder case [WCTV]
State seeks breast enhancement records in Markel case [Tallahassee Democrat]

Earlier: The Dan Markel Murder Case: The Adelson Family Speaks

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David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.