[somber music]
‐ It's incredibly rare for criminal defendants
to take the stand in their own defense.
It's a risk very few take.
At stake is freedom or even life.
This is Katie Magbanua,
one of three suspects charged with murder
in the hit man for hire case of Dan Markel.
She's decided to take that gamble.
Could it help her convince the jury she's not guilty?
‐ Did he tell you that his brother‐in‐law
had been shot twice?
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ Okay. He didn't tell you he had been murdered?
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ Or will it come back to haunt her?
‐ Why did he put you on the payroll?
Was that as a favor? ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Not as payment for murder? ‐ No, ma'am.
‐ It's a courtside seat through the eyes
of the Magbanua defense team,
the attorney for the alleged shooter,
the reporter who covered the story,
one of the jurors who wishes to remain anonymous
and in her very first interview,
the defendant herself.
I'm Dan Abrams, and this is "Under Oath."
‐ Raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear‐‐
‐ I'm being honest with everything I say to you.
‐ Do you solemnly swear‐‐
‐ The whole truth and nothing but the truth?
‐ I would like to testify.
‐ The testimony you are about to give‐‐
the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
‐ So help you God.
♪ ♪
‐ I have been a criminal defense attorney
for over 10 years now.
I've done over 50 trials,
and I've had in my career five defendants take the stand.
Taking the stand is not an easy thing.
A lot of people who haven't been in the court system
don't know what it's like to have all eyes on you.
Did you have anything to do with the murder of Dan Markel?
‐ No, ma'am. ‐ Did you get the father
of your children, Mr. Garcia, to commit a murder?
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ Katie Magbanua, mother of two,
has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder,
solicitation to commit murder
and the first degree murder of Dan Markel,
a Florida State University professor.
She, along with the father of her children, Sigfredo Garcia,
are standing trial in the hit man for hire killing
of a man they had never met.
Both have been charged on the same counts,
but Garcia is accused of being the shooter
and faces the death penalty.
Katie Magbanua is facing 30 years to life.
Magbanua has already turned down a plea deal,
has been incarcerated for almost 3 years
while awaiting trial.
‐ They offered her a get‐out‐of‐jail‐free card.
I have never had a client in a homicide case
ever be offered a key to get out of jail
and they didn't take it before trial.
She was adamant to me that she wanted someone to fight for her
because she had nothing to do with this,
and I love going to trial, and I love a fight.
‐ And that fight begins even before jury is chosen.
You see, Katie Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia
have separate defense teams,
but they're being tried together
which is a big problem for Katie Magbanua
because the prosecution
is seeking the death penalty for Garcia.
‐ In the state of Florida to go forward on the death penalty,
they have to death qualify a jury,
and one of the important questions
that need to be asked of that jury
is what their position is on the death penalty.
So when you have a death qualified jury,
what you're getting are people
that are okay with the death penalty.
Those tend to be more conservative jurors,
much more willing to punish jury
than in a normal first degree nondeath murder trial.
‐ The judge forced us to try the case alongside Sigfredo.
He never gave a reason.
It was just always motion denied.
‐ As the trial begins,
Sigfredo Garcia declines to testify.
‐ Sigfredo taking the stand was not something that was
ever really in the discussion because
he was concerned about potentially implicating
or hurting Katie.
‐ But Katie Magbanua and her lawyers decide
she should take the stand to try to prove
once and for all her innocence.
‐ The prosecution wants you to believe that Katherine,
a young, hardworking mother of two,
took money to help coordinate the murder
of a man she has never met.
That makes no sense.
Your Honor, at this time
the defense calls Katherine Magbanua to the stand.
‐ All right.
‐ The goal of putting Katie on the stand
was we wanted the jury to see her.
We wanted them to know who Katherine Magbanua was,
the young mother who worked so hard
to do everything she could to be there for her kids,
not this person that the prosecution
was trying to paint was some,
you know, money hungry person
that is going to be involved in a homicide of a father‐‐
being a mother herself‐‐ for this money
and risk being taken away from her kids.
Did you have anything to do with the murder of Dan Markel?
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ The murder of Dan Markel is a complicated case.
It's allegedly rooted in a bitter custody battle.
According to prosecution, two separate groups
conspired to murder Dan Markel.
On the one side you have
Dan Markel's ex‐wife, Wendi Adelson.
The government believes her brother, Charlie Adelson,
and her mother, Donna Adelson,
were responsible for funding the hit,
and neither of them have been charged.
On the other side, you've got Katie Magbanua,
Sigfredo Garcia and his childhood friend Luis Rivera,
the three coconspirators allegedly hired
to actually murder Dan Markel.
Katie Magbanua has two children
with Sigfredo Garcia,
and she was dating Wendi Adelson's brother
Charlie Adelson, around the time of the murder.
She also worked for the dental clinic
owned by Charlie Adelson's family.
Now, the prosecution claims
that the Adelsons paid Katie Magbanua $100,000
to recruit the alleged hit man.
‐ On July 18th, 2014, this community suffered a blow
when revered law professor,
colleague, son, father, brother and friend
was gunned down in broad daylight in his own home.
What enemy or enemies had Mr. Markel made
that set into motion such a brutal act?
The answer: his own family.
‐ Dan Markel was a beloved law professor
at Florida State University,
and it did not appear that he had any sort of enemies.
He was really well liked and well regarded
by a lot of his peers, his students and the community.
♪ ♪
Wendi Adelson was Dan Markel's wife.
They were married for about 7 years.
‐ They seemed to have this picturesque lifestyle.
They moved to Tallahassee. He got a job at FSU.
She also got a job as a professor,
and they had what looked like a beautiful life
in Tallahassee with their two boys,
and somewhere down the road, their relationship fell apart.
Wendi wanted to relocate to Miami with her boys
because that's where her parents lived.
‐ Donna and Harvey Adelson are Wendi's parents.
They live in Miami, and they run the Adelson Institute.
They're prominent dentists down there, very well known.
Donna is a big personality.
She inserts herself into Wendi's life
and Wendi's divorce. She did not like Dan Markel.
‐ Donna Adelson in these e‐mails refers to Dan Markel
as a religious zealot,
a bastard, and proposes a plan of action
for how to threaten and/or bully
and/or bribe Dan Markel into allowing Wendi
to move to south Florida with the children.
♪ ♪
‐ There was a court case where Dan Markel was trying
to prohibit Wendi Adelson's parents
from having unsupervised contact with the children
because the children were saying that their grandmother
was making disparaging remarks against Dan Markel.
As this hearing is about to take place,
Dan Markel is murdered.
‐ I noticed a car exiting Mr. Markel's driveway.
It looked to me like a Prius. It was light colored.
‐ The last voicemail that we have from Dan Markel
was him to Wendi Adelson
after he had dropped his boys off at the daycare center
and on the way to the gym.
You see him on the video at Premier Fitness
and know that he is just moments away.
You almost want to, you know, yell at him and say, you know,
"Don't go home."
‐ After about an hour, Markel exits the gym,
proceeds to leave on his way home.
As he pulls into his home, and then the witness said
he heard what sounded like a gunshot,
and that's when the prosecution's theory
is that Dan Markel was shot.
‐ Daniel has been shot, okay? And we have to find out why
and who did this. Can you help with that?
‐ I will try. ‐ Okay.
‐ Who would do this? ‐ I don't know.
‐ I mean, my brother,
the one whose name is Charlie,
the one I'm really close to‐‐
‐ Charlie Adelson is a dentist down in Miami.
He's well‐to‐do.
Some of his girlfriends say he's a little eccentric.
‐ He knew Danny treated me badly,
and it was always this joke.
He said, "I, you know, I looked into hiring a hit man,
and it was cheaper to get you this TV,
so instead I got you this TV."
Such a horrible thing to say. I'm so sorry.
‐ It's okay.
‐ In Wendi's initial conversation
with investigators,
she brings up a joke that her brother made.
Now, this really raised the eyebrows for investigators,
and at the same time other investigators
are starting to look
into the eyewitness report of this Prius.
‐ Investigators in Tallahassee were able to tie
their movements to the gym
where this Prius had been waiting for Dan Markel,
and there was a public bus that had a camera.
They were able to see this Toyota Prius
was following Dan as he went home.
‐ The car pulls over at an ATM,
and right there is direct evidence, surveillance video,
of Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia
inside that silver Prius.
Cell phone record data
proves that Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia
were in the areas following Dan Markel.
‐ Looking at the, kind of the chronology of the cell sites
that were utilized here,
we can see it travel from Miami north
to the Tallahassee area.
‐ Luis Rivera struck a deal with the prosecution
and flipped, essentially giving up
Sigfredo Garcia and Katie Magbanua.
It signaled a turning point in this case.
‐ Luis Rivera agreed to a plea deal.
He was given an additional 7 years
tacked onto his 12‐year sentence
that he was serving for gang‐related activities.
‐ He got the deal of a century.
He only has to do another 7 years for killing someone.
‐ Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua
now on trial.
‐ Prosecutors claiming it was all fueled by a custody battle
and the promise of a six‐figure payout.
‐ It takes 3 years from the day she was arrested
to the day Katie Magbanua's trial begins,
and the prosecution calls, of all people,
Wendi Adelson to the stand, and she has immunity.
‐ That state subpoena
gives you immunity for your testimony, right?
‐ Yes.
‐ So that means that anything you say today
can't be used against you
if the state decides to arrest you later on.
‐ The state isn't going to decide to arrest me.
‐ Katie Magbanua is facing life in prison
for allegedly taking part
in the murder of college professor Dan Markel.
Prosecution believes she's the connection between the killers
and the people who paid $100,000 for the killing.
Now, Dan Markel's ex‐wife, Wendi Adelson,
is set to take the stand.
The prosecution doesn't believe she was involved,
don't consider her a suspect, and she had an alibi,
but when speaking with police she implicated her brother,
Charlie Adelson, who happened to be dating Katie Magbanua
around the time of the murder.
‐ The prosecution really needed to prove that Katie Magbanua
was the missing piece to the puzzle.
She is the go‐between Wendi's family
and the murderers of Dan Markel.
‐ I don't think that they care whether or not
Katie was involved.
Katie is collateral damage to them.
They just need to get their hands on Charlie Adelson,
and they think the only way to do it is through Katherine.
‐ By putting Wendi Adelson on the stand,
the prosecution hopes to show the connection
between Katie Magbanua and Charlie Adelson
and also to point out that the Adelson family
had the money and motive to have Dan Markel killed.
‐ Were you involved in any way in a plot to kill Dan Markel?
‐ No.
‐ Do you have any knowledge of anyone being involved
in a plot to kill your husband?
‐ No. ‐ And does your family
have a dental practice in south Florida?
‐ They do. ‐ That they own and operate?
‐ They do.
‐ Is your family in south Florida wealthy,
and that's a relative term?
‐ Are you asking me to speculate?
‐ No, I'm asking if they're wealthy.
If you don't know, you say you don't know.
‐ It depends how you define wealthy.
‐ Okay.
‐ It was incredibly frustrating to every jury member
that the Adelsons were not on trial.
It was not lost on us that these low‐income
ethnic minorities were on trial
while the wealthy, privileged white people
were at home with their children.
‐ What was frustrating was how much focus
the government put on the Adelsons in a trial
where none of the Adelsons were charged.
I think that the government did that
so that they could present more evidence in front of the jury.
‐ Do you remember your mom suggesting a plan
to offer Danny $1 million to allow the relocation of you
and your children to south Florida?
‐ I'm sure I knew about it at the time that it happened,
and then I had my memory refreshed about it recently.
‐ Did Charlie ever say that he looked into hiring a hit man
but buying you a TV
as a divorce present would be cheaper?
‐ He did make that joke. He tended to repeat himself,
and sometimes he would make jokes that weren't very funny.
‐ The prosecution wants to prosecute members
of the Adelson family,
and in order to hopefully get to that,
they needed to go after Katie Magbanua.
If they put enough heat onto Katie Magbanua
or Sigfredo Garcia,
they could possibly flip and give testimony on the record
about the Adelsons' involvement.
‐ Do you know Katherine Magbanua?
‐ I have met her before.
‐ How do you know her?
‐ My brother introduced me to her,
and I think we might have gone to the beach
once with her and a friend.
‐ Do you know whether your brother makes a practice
of giving gifts to his former girlfriends?
‐ I have no idea.
‐ Do you know whether the relationship
between your brother and Ms. Magbanua
was a serious relationship?
‐ I met many, many girlfriends of my brother's
over the years.
I didn't get any indication
that it was a serious relationship.
‐ He's a guy that has a lot of girlfriends.
‐ He has had a lot of girlfriends.
‐ The prosecution shows that Katie Magbanua
clearly knows both Charlie and Wendi Adelson,
but the defense turns the tables and suggests
Wendi Adelson may be arrested.
It's an effort to distance Katie Magbanua from the murder
by reminding the jury that the prosecution
is looking to charge one
or more of the Adelsons for the murder of Dan Markel.
‐ You are testifying today
under a state subpoena, correct?
‐ Correct. ‐ And that state subpoena
gives you immunity for your testimony, right?
‐ Yes. ‐ So that means
that anything you say today can't be used against you
if the state decides to arrest you later on.
‐ The state isn't going to decide to arrest me.
‐ Wendi Adelson has what's called limited immunity.
That means that whatever she says on the stand
cannot be used against her,
but it doesn't mean she can't be prosecuted.
She can be.
Prosecutors would just need other evidence to do it.
All eyes now turn to the state's start witness,
Luis Rivera,
who, along with Katie Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia,
is the third alleged coconspirator
and the only eyewitness testifying about the crime.
‐ Luis Rivera agreed to a plea deal
a few months after his arrest.
‐ They gave him that deal to get to Katie
thinking she would crack, okay?
And then they'd get the Adelsons, but she didn't.
‐ And what did you plea to
in this case that we're here about today?
‐ Second degree murder.
‐ And what did you have to do in exchange
for your 19‐year sentence in this case?
‐ Cooperate.
‐ The government didn't have evidence.
They had to go out there and buy evidence against Katie,
and the evidence that they bought was Luis Rivera,
a convicted felon, a lifelong gangster, not to be trusted.
‐ Of course I was worried when I heard Luis Rivera
was cooperating and taking the plea.
Whenever you have a coconspirator
become a cooperating witness, that's always a problem.
‐ Was there a time when Mr. Garcia approached you
about coming to Tallahassee?
‐ He said, "Take a ride with me over to Tallahassee,
and I'll give you some money."
‐ Did you learn something additional
about what it was on the way to Tallahassee?
‐ Yeah. On the way coming up he said,
"We're going to out to kill the man for a lady
because the lady wanted her kids back."
‐ You saw the images of that green Prius circling around
while Mr. Markel was working out in the gym?
‐ Yeah. ‐ Was that you in that vehicle?
‐ Yes, ma'am. ‐ And Mr. Garcia?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ What happened once Mr. Markel came out of the gym?
‐ We followed him all the way back to his house.
‐ And what happened once you pulled into his driveway?
‐ Garcia jumped out,
went to the driver's side and shot him.
‐ He shot Mr. Markel? ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ How many times? ‐ Twice.
[two gunshots]
‐ Do you see the person in the courtroom who shot Mr. Markel?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Could you please point that person out?
‐ Garcia. ‐ Luis Rivera
is the prosecution's star witness.
They needed him to go onto the stand and make that connection,
tell these details that point directly
to Sigfredo Garcia and Katie Magbanua.
‐ Do you know which one of you had the first phone call
once the murder occurred, you or Mr. Garcia?
‐ Garcia.
‐ And who was the first phone call with?
‐ Katie. She goes, "I already know it's done."
‐ All right. And when she said "I already know it's done,"
was that something that you heard or that Garcia told you?
‐ I heard. ‐ How were you able to hear it?
‐ Because I'm in the car with him.
‐ So her voice was loud enough
through the receiver that you were able to hear her.
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ He is able to recognize her voice
from two words in and of itself is ridiculous.
They never talk on the phone. They are not friends like that.
‐ And then what?
‐ And then we asked for the money, like,
"Where the money at?" Said, "You'll get it tomorrow."
‐ Who said, "You'll get it tomorrow"?
‐ Katie. ‐ All right. And did you know
where she was going to get the money from?
‐ We know the lady, Wendi, was paying it.
‐ All right. So you knew that the job was
being done so that Wendi could get her kids.
‐ Yes, ma'am. ‐ Wendi's family hired him?
‐ Yes. ‐ Okay,
and how was Wendi's family connected to Sigfredo Garcia?
‐ Because Katie was dating the dentist.
‐ Did Katie know about the murder?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Did Katie have a role in hiring Sigfredo Garcia?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Do you see the person in the courtroom
that you say hired Sigfredo Garcia to do this homicide?
‐ Katie Magbanua and the father of her two kids,
Sigfredo Garcia, are charged in a murder for hire plot
of college professor Dan Markel.
The prosecution's star witness and accomplice to the murder,
Luis Rivera, identified Garcia as the triggerman and Magbanua
as the link that connected the hit man to the Adelson family
who prosecutors believe paid $100,000 for the murder.
‐ Luis Rivera's testimony absolutely changed
the course of this case.
The government's key piece of evidence,
the climax of their trial was going to be
what they believed believable testimony of Luis Rivera.
‐ It's very rare that a murder suspect testifies.
It was vital in this case that Katie Magbanua
take the stand to defend herself,
especially after this compelling testimony
by Luis Rivera.
‐ You understand that you do not have to testify today?
‐ Yes, ma'am. ‐ Is it completely
your decision to take the stand today?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Objection, Your Honor. ‐ Overruled.
‐ How are you feeling? ‐ Nervous.
‐ The defense is putting Magbanua on the stand
to explain her relationship with Charlie Adelson
whom she was working for and dating
around the time of Dan Markel's murder
and most importantly to try to distance herself
from the killing.
‐ Describe your relationship with Mr. Garcia
at the time that you're dating Charlie.
‐ He was around because of the kids,
but he'd be in and out of my life.
‐ To your knowledge, did Mr. Garcia know
about your relationship with Mr. Adelson?
‐ Yeah. ‐ Okay. Did Mr. Adelson know
about your relationship with Mr. Garcia?
‐ Yes.
‐ When is the first time that you met Charlie Adelson?
‐ I was working at a dental office in South Beach.
‐ Okay. Now, how is it that you two
started to communicate outside of the work arena?
‐ I believe, like, he was asking
a couple of the girls if I was single,
and then he just‐‐ he took down my number.
‐ Why were you asking Charlie Adelson
to help you with employment?
‐ I needed insurance for my children,
and basically since he was doing me this favor,
I was, like, his assistant.
‐ Did he tell you that his brother‐in‐law
had been shot twice? ‐ No, ma'am.
‐ Okay. He did tell you he had been murdered?
‐ No, ma'am. ‐ Did you back then
know someone by the name of Dan Markel?
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ So I want to go over some things
in terms of what we have all described as the bump, okay?
‐ Yes, ma'am. ‐ The bump is a tool
that investigators use to stir up evidence
and get a suspect to reveal something
that might incriminate them.
‐ In this case, the purpose of the bump
is to try to get Charlie Adelson and his mother,
Donna Adelson,
to implicate themselves in the murder of Dan Markel.
Investigators hope that it will also
lead back to Katie Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia.
‐ An undercover FBI agent approaches Donna Adelson
outside her condo. He is there under the guise
of being an associate of Luis Rivera.
‐ He hands Donna Adelson a press release
of the Markel trial with a phone number on it,
and says something to the effect of,
"I know you're taking care of Katie and Sigfredo.
I want my boy Luis to be taken care of as well."
‐ The undercover agent
literally bumps into Donna Adelson
to see if she'll give some indication
that she knows about the hit man for hire plot.
When she doesn't, Donna Adelson does
exactly what investigators thought she'd do.
She calls her son, Charlie Adelson,
as investigators listen in.
‐ Charlie then calls Katie and says,
"Hey, my mom was approached.
Somebody is trying to essentially blackmail her."
‐ Did you ever call that number?
‐ Did I ever call it? No.
‐ Now, we hear on a phone call
you were sounded very frustrated.
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ You were using a lot of bad language with Charlie.
‐ Yeah. ‐ Why were you frustrated?
‐ Well, first off, that phone call is very embarrassing.
I mean, I didn't even know that I could say
that many bad words in a 23‐minute span,
but I was frustrated because it was over and over
and over the same thing, different scenarios,
and it's just like, he was losing it.
‐ None of the Adelsons were arrested,
and there is no smoking gun that comes from this bump.
There's no conversation that directly implicates
Katie Magbanua or any of the Adelsons.
‐ You are aware that the government's position
was that you hold the key to your own freedom.
Remember that?
‐ Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. ‐ Okay.
What did that mean to you?
‐ That it's up to me to get out of jail.
‐ Okay, and how would you do that?
‐ If I gave up Charlie.
‐ The prosecution came to her and said,
"You can get out of jail tomorrow.
All you have to do is say that Charlie Adelson got you
to get your baby daddy to commit this murder for him."
That's it. That's all she had to say,
and she gets to go home to her kids,
and it was a lie, and she couldn't do it.
Based on everything you've seen,
do you think Charlie was involved in this?
‐ Yes. ‐ Why won't you just lie
and tell them that Charlie wasn't part of this?
‐ I wish I could, because I wouldn't be incarcerated,
and I'd be free, and I'd be with my children.
‐ And why haven't you done that?
‐ Because I'm telling the truth.
‐ From the beginning of the trial,
the prosecution has been trying to connect Katie Magbanua
and Sigfredo Garcia to the murder of Dan Markel.
They're both charged with first degree murder,
conspiracy to commit murder
and solicitation to commit murder.
Sigfredo Garcia, the alleged shooter,
decides not to testify, but Katie Magbanua
does something that defendants in a murder case rarely do.
She takes the stand.
Now she has to face the prosecution's calculated
questions about her personal life and finances.
‐ So you've admitted that you had a sexual relationship
with both Sigfredo Garcia and Charlie Adelson
around the same time frame. ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ During the trial, Katie was terrified.
She saw how we cross examined witnesses,
and it wasn't that she was scared
about what she was going to be asked.
It was just nerve‐racking, and, you know, I just told her
that she had the truth on her side.
‐ Each one didn't know you were sleeping with the other one.
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ All right. So were lying to them about that.
‐ I mean, I didn't think that I had to tell either one
that I was sleeping with the other.
‐ Okay. And that's also known as lying.
Would you agree?
‐ No, I don't agree with that.
‐ The way that Georgia Cappleman was saying,
it felt to me like she was attempting to use
Katherine Magbanua's sex life to disparage her character
as opposed to making it relevant to the case.
‐ So he put you on the payroll
2 months after the homicide, yes?
‐ Two months after the homicide...I started...
yes, ma'am.
‐ And was there an actual job opening
at the Adelson Institute
that you filled with this position?
‐ No, ma'am. ‐ All right.
So it's a position that he created for you.
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ The government in their prosecution
of Katherine Magbanua desperately,
desperately clung onto pieces of circumstantial evidence
to paint this picture of Katherine Magbanua's deal,
and one of them are the checks
that she was receiving from the Adelson Institute.
‐ Why did he put you on the payroll?
Was that as a favor?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Not as payment for a murder? ‐ No, ma'am.
‐ Not to keep you happy?
‐ Why wouldn't he just pay me the cash?
Why would I have to get a check from somewhere?
‐ I'm going to ask the questions, okay?
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ You really think that Charlie Adelson would have put
the person who is the go‐between in this homicide
on the family payroll? I mean, he is not that stupid.
‐ Did he pay for breast augmentation for you?
‐ No.
‐ You paid for that. ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ You were saving up for the breast augmentation.
‐ Yeah, I already had it. ‐ But you needed
Charlie Adelson to put you on the payroll
so that you could get insurance for your kids.
‐ Yes. I was saving
because I've always wanted my breast augmentation.
‐ Okay. ‐ And the insurance for my kids
is because my son had a disability,
so I had to do a bunch of therapies for my son.
‐ Okay. Isn't it true that you've been offered
some kind of big payoff
if you refuse to cooperate against Charlie Adelson?
‐ If I refuse? ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ No.
‐ Has anybody offered you some money?
‐ No.
‐ Do you remember telling anybody
that you would be able to stay home
after you get acquitted and have a tutor for your kids
to be homeschooled at the house?
‐ No. I never made that comment.
‐ You testified that you were in fact employed
at a night club around the time of the homicide.
Is that right? ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ All right. And you said that you make up
to $1,500 a night at the night club.
‐ On a good day.
‐ Would you agree, Ms. Magbanua,
that you deposited $13,000 in cash in August of 2014?
[tense music]
‐ If that's what my bank records show.
‐ Okay. And that's the month after the murder, right?
‐ I believe so.
‐ And that's where the cash spike is.
You can't make that much at the club, can you?
‐ But all my income wasn't specifically from there.
It was‐‐there's times that I've gotten money
from Sigfredo. ‐ All right.
Well, is it a coincidence, Ms. Magbanua,
that you notice the striking spike in your income
that happens exactly at the time of this homicide,
don't you? I mean, it's there, isn't it?
‐ I guess so.
‐ The prosecution claims that Katie Magbanua,
mother of two, acted as the go‐between
in the murder of college professor Dan Markel.
They allege that she connected two hit men,
including Sigfredo Garcia, the father of her children,
with the Adelson family who paid $100,000 for the killing.
‐ There are a lot of people
that think some of the Adelsons should be on trial
rather than Katie Magbanua or Sigfredo Garcia or Luis Rivera
or really in addition to them. Certainly the prosecution
wants to see some of the Adelsons on trial,
but they have stated they don't have the evidence
quite yet to make any arrests.
‐ Magbanua and Garcia are being tried together
but have different defense teams,
and while Katie Magbanua made a risky move and testified,
the alleged shooter, Sigfredo Garcia,
did not take the stand.
Their decisions could be the difference
between life and death
as he faces the death penalty and she faces life in prison.
The stakes are high as closing arguments begin.
‐ Just because Katherine Magbanua
didn't come to Tallahassee or pull the trigger herself
does not mean that she is not just as guilty
as the ones who did.
She hired Garcia who in turn hired Rivera,
and she's the conduit between Dan Markel
and the man that put a bullet in his head.
Without her, none of this happens.
‐ Tallahassee was truly waiting on edge for this verdict.
This is a case that really hit a chord here.
This is the point blank murder of a beloved professor.
He was well‐liked. He was a family man,
and he lived in the heart of town
where this murder took place.
‐ The foundation of the government's case unequivocally
without a shadow of a doubt is Luis Rivera.
It's important to know who you're listening to.
It's important to know who is on that stand, and who is he?
He is the head of a criminal organization,
one that he got indicting for for racketeering.
‐ The case against Katherine Magbanua,
you must believe Luis Rivera to convict.
He cannot be trusted. There's only one reason
why a single mother of two young children
would sit in custody for 3 years
in confinement risking it all‐‐
she's innocent.
‐ One of the most gut‐wrenching
and nauseating feelings is waiting for a verdict.
You know that our minds are just racing
because we're wondering, "Oh, my god.
What‐‐all of this work.
It's come now down to this final moment.
What are those jurors thinking?"
‐ The jury deliberates for 11 hours before reaching
a decision on Sigfredo Garcia's case.
Remember, he opted not to testify.
‐ The state of Florida versus Sigfredo Garcia,
we the jury find as follows is...
♪ ♪
Count one, the defendant is guilty
of first degree murder.
‐ Hearing a guilty verdict where you're subject
to the death penalty is the hardest one to hear.
It's a gut punch.
I mean, a real‐‐ That's a Mike Tyson gut punch.
‐ She was an emotional wreck at that point
because in her mind she felt that
they were going to execute the father of her kids.
‐ It was an incredibly sad moment,
and we all recognized
that we were taking another father away from his children.
‐ So the jurors came back with the news that the jury
was still deadlocked in regards to Katherine.
Her entire life has come to this moment,
and Katherine had such a faith in the judicial system
when this all started
and that she said she knows she's going to go home
because she had nothing to do with this
and that she had faith in this system.
‐ The jury informs the judge of their decision.
Facing 30 years to life in prison,
Katie Magbanua listens as the verdict is read.
‐ Ms. Magbanua, the jury is unable to come
to a unanimous decision on any of the three charges.
‐ That's correct, Your Honor. ‐ All right.
So as Ms. Magbanua,
we'll declare this case mistried.
‐ Ultimately there were three of us who did not believe
that the prosecution had enough hard evidence
to convict Katherine Magbanua.
It was a very heated discussion.
I think that Katherine's testimony
solidified the decision for those of us
who ultimately voted to acquit her.
‐ My heart broke in that moment not only for her
but for her kids
because I knew the judge wasn't going to let her out,
that this was just more time.
She had waited all of this time for her day in court,
and she never gave up,
and she's still fighting to this day,
and I will never forget that feeling.
I was devastated.
‐ Katie Magbanua did enough on the stand
to avoid a conviction,
but a mistrial wasn't exactly a win.
She remains in the Leon County Jail in Tallahassee, Florida,
awaiting a retrial.
Sigfredo Garcia didn't take the stand
and was found guilty of first degree murder
and conspiracy to commit murder.
He's about to be sentenced, and the jury has two choices:
life in prison or the death penalty.
‐ Mr. Garcia, you want to say anything?
‐ There's nothing more terrifying
than that verdict being life or death.
I mean, it's your stomach just twists and turns.
‐ The jury having found you guilty of murder
in the first degree and conspiracy
to commit first degree murder,
I do adjudicate you guilty of each offense.
On count one, I sentence you to life in prison.
‐ It took them, like,
10 hours to determine innocence or guilt.
It took them, what, 20 minutes, 25 minutes
to come back with a nondeath verdict.
‐ It was an incredibly sad case because Dan Markel's children
had their father taken from them,
and then Katherine Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia's children
had their parents taken from them.
‐ Sigfredo Garcia avoids the death penalty
and is instead sentenced to life in prison without parole.
After a mistrial in October, 2019, Katie Magbanua
was sent back to her jail cell to await a new trial.
It's from jail that she spoke to us
about the case in her first interview ever.
‐ I don't care if you're homeless
or if you're a millionaire.
If you are going to take someone's liberty away,
you better have the evidence to do it
because I'd rather see a million guilty people go free
than one innocent person
locked up for something that they didn't do.
I couldn't imagine what that must be like.
You take away my one opportunity to exist
on this Earth, you're going to have to fight for it.
‐ The criminal justice system has major problems.
You have a woman that had no criminal history,
and she's been in custody, and let me tell you,
this is oftentimes how prosecutors use leverage
to get what they want
because people are stuck in custody.
‐ To date, how many of the Adelsons have been arrested?
Zero. None of them. Not one.
‐ Katie Magbanua remains in the Leon County Jail
in Tallahassee, Florida waiting on a date
for her retrial.
She's been there since the day she was arrested
on October 1st, 2016.
We reached out to Charlie Adelson's attorney
who provided a statement which reads:
‐ The government has created for themselves
a complete and utter mess
because they tried to play this case out in the media,
and they are going to do everything they can
to get Charlie Adelson and his family,
and whether that means taking Katherine down,
an innocent mother of two, they don't care.
‐ Defendants are never forced to take the stand,
but that decision is likely the biggest one they ever make.
For "Under Oath," I'm Dan Abrams.