Crime

The Dan Markel Case: Answers To Your FAQs

Plus some predictions -- but this case is anything but predictable....

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Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua (mugshots courtesy of Leon County Sheriff’s Office)

It’s finally here. More than five years after the horrific crime, after numerous delays and postponements, the trial of two of the alleged murderers of law professor Dan Markel got underway in Tallahassee yesterday.

Sigfredo Garcia, one of the alleged gunmen, and Katherine Magbanua, the alleged go-between connecting the gunmen with those who ordered the hit, will now face a jury of their peers. A third defendant, Luis Rivera, has confessed to involvement in the plot, and he will be a crucial witness during the trial.

If you haven’t been following the case, or if you aren’t up to speed with the most recent developments, check out Joe Patrice’s excellent recap from yesterday. Joe explains the background of the case, the relationships between the different actors, and the procedural history to date.

In this post, which assumes familiarity with the case, I’m going to answer some frequently asked questions and make a few predictions. But take my predictions with a grain of salt; this crime and this case have been anything but predictable.

How long is the trial expected to last?

The estimate is four weeks. But I expect this trial, like many a trial, to go longer than expected. Don’t be surprised if it takes six to eight weeks (or longer).

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Not a single juror was selected yesterday — and given the extensive media coverage of the case, especially in Tallahassee, many prospective jurors know about the case and have strong opinions about it. (Or they’ll claim to have strong opinions so they can get out of serving; potential jurors who escaped service were “audibly celebrating getting let go,” as Karl Etters of the Tallahassee Democrat tweeted yesterday morning.)

Why has no member of the Adelson family been charged in this case?

As longtime followers of this case well know, the prosecution theory of the case is that Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera were hired to kill Markel as part of a plot orchestrated by Charlie and Donna Adelson, the brother and mother of Wendi Adelson, Dan Markel’s ex-wife. (For a more complete version of this theory, see the probable cause affidavit for Charlie Adelson, which was drafted but never filed.)

Why have no charges been brought against the Adelsons (yet)? Per the Tallahassee Democrat:

Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman has said there is a lack of direct evidence to arrest anyone in the Adelson family. But she is quick to point out that there is no statute of limitations on murder charges.

“I don’t take lightly charging somebody with murder and I’m only going to get one shot so I want to make sure that it’s our best effort,” Cappleman said last year, noting a mountain of strong, but circumstantial, evidence in the case. “Yes, the implications are there, but you can’t take implications to a jury.”

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The Adelsons, for their part, vigorously deny any involvement in Markel’s murder.

What can we expect from the defense during the trial?

Not much, if I had to guess. Look for a lot of attacks on the credibility of star witness Luis Rivera, a member of the Latin Kings with a long criminal history. But such attacks rarely work; showing that a cooperating defendant is an unsavory character often has the effect of bolstering rather than reducing the witness’s credibility on matters criminal.

Because much of the evidence is circumstantial, expect many invocations of the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard. This is an important part of our criminal justice system, to be sure — but it’s also the last refuge of defense lawyers with nothing better to argue.

What I would want (but don’t expect) from defense counsel: a coherent, compelling alternative theory to explain why two gunmen drove hours and hours, from South Florida to Tallahassee, to murder a law professor to whom they had no apparent connection — no connection other than Katie Magbanua, mother of two children with Sigfredo Garcia and ex-girlfriend of Charlie Adelson.

This theory would also have to explain the flurry of communications between Garcia, Magbanua, and Charlie Adelson, right before and right after the murder; the mysterious newfound wealth of Magbanua in the weeks and months following the hit; the cryptic communications between Donna Adelson, Charlie Adelson, and Magbanua, triggered by a sting operation and recorded by law enforcement; and so much more.

Oh, and don’t expect either defendant to take the stand.

(Again, I respect the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, just as I respect the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard and the presumption of innocence. But as a commentator, I’m not bound by these doctrines, and I have greater leeway than a judge or a juror to make candid assessments of the case.)

Will Garcia and Magbanua get convicted?

A criminal jury trial is a very unpredictable thing. But for what it’s worth, my prediction is that yes, both defendants will get convicted.

I’m admittedly not an objective observer — I was lucky enough to call Dan a friend, dating back to our college days working together on the Harvard Crimson — but in my opinion, the case against Garcia and Magbanua is very, very strong.

If Garcia and Magbanua get convicted, what will happen next?

Expect Georgia Cappleman and the prosecution to try (once again) to get Garcia and Magbanua to cooperate and to identify the person or people who hired them to murder Markel. Garcia and Magbanua can still cooperate, even after conviction at trial, in exchange for a break at sentencing. And considering that Garcia could face the death penalty if convicted, he would have the strongest of incentives to cooperate.

(Some have wondered why the death penalty isn’t on the table for Katie Magbanua. As prosecutor Georgia Cappleman previously explained, “Since she wasn’t the person who pulled the trigger, we didn’t feel death was an appropriate sentence for her.”)

With cooperation from Garcia, Magbanua, or both, the case against whoever ordered the murder of Dan Markel will become dramatically stronger — which again explains why Georgia Cappleman would rather see if she can win convictions against Garcia and Magbanua before filing additional charges against co-conspirators.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Garcia or Magbanua will cooperate, even after conviction. They haven’t cooperated yet, choosing instead to spend years languishing behind bars. (One wonders if perhaps they might have certain undisclosed incentives to remain silent.)

What comment does the Markel family have on the current proceedings?

Through their lawyer, Orin Snyder of Gibson Dunn, Dan’s parents, Ruth and Phil Markel, issued this statement:

“As the long-awaited trial of two of Dan’s alleged killers begins, the Markels appreciate the love and support they have received from the Tallahassee community and across the world. They continue to be grateful for the efforts of law enforcement and are hopeful that, in the end, all those responsible for Dan’s murder will be brought to justice.”

Where can I follow all the latest developments in the trial?

There’s no shortage of outlets covering the case, which has garnered national attention. Two of my go-to sources are the Tallahassee Democrat and WCTV, local outlets that have provided excellent coverage of the case for years now. Two of their reporters, Karl Etters for the Democrat and Julie Montanaro for WCTV, have been live-tweeting updates. The Democrat is livestreaming the trial at Tallahassee.com and on its Facebook page.

And of course you can read about the trial here, in the pages of Above the Law. We have covered the case from the very beginning, and we will follow it to the very end.

Dan Markel murder: Trial of Sigfredo Garcia, Katherine Magbanua could last four weeks [Tallahassee Democrat]
Jury selection underway in Dan Markel murder trial [WCTV]

Earlier:

DBL square headshotDavid Lat, the founding editor of Above the Law, is a writer, speaker, and legal recruiter at Lateral Link, where he is a managing director in the New York office. David’s book, Supreme Ambitions: A Novel (2014), was described by the New York Times as “the most buzzed-about novel of the year” among legal elites. David previously worked as a federal prosecutor, a litigation associate at Wachtell Lipton, and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@laterallink.com.

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