Trial of Charlie Adelson for the murder of Dan Markel.
This is a helpful recap of the prosecution and defense opening arguments in the trial of Charlie Adelson, who is charged with commissioning the murder for hire of Florida State Univ. law Prof. Dan Markel - a prominent legal scholar. Prosecutors believe Charlie and Donna Adelson (his mother) did it so Dan's ex-wife Wendi Adelson (Charlie's sister) would get sole custody of her and Dan's two kids. The two hired guns who committed the murder have prevously been convicted (one made a plea agreement. So too has Katherine Magbanua, Charlie's ex-girlfriend, who was the go-between connecting the Adelsons and the killers. Magbanua is also the on-again/off-again girlfriend of Sigfredo Garcia, one of the hired guns.
I have followed the case for years, and believe the Adelsons are likely guilty. Thus, I am not completely objective. But it seems to me the defense theory here is crazy: They contend that Magbanua and Garcia conspired to frame Charlie Adelson for the murder. Even if you assume they did want to frame him, the theory here posits they were willing to do so in a way that (if it worked) would also land themselves in prison! After all, on this theory, they would be framing him for commissioning a murder they themselves organized and committed! The only way the plan could work is if the authorities discovered THEIR role, and then traced things back to Charlie. Hard for me to believe they hated Charlie so much they were willing to sacrifice themselves in this way. In fairness, the defense doesn't have to prove their theory is correct. Just make it plausible enough to create reasonable doubt. But even that strikes me as a high hurdle for a theory this inherently dubious.