Mild-mannered reporter / Tallahassee Democrat / @TDOnline / @USAToday Network / Florida by way of Kentucky.
Nov 14, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Donna Adelson was arrested at the Miami airport last night on charges of murder, conspiracy and solicitation, according to State Attorney Jack Campbell. She and her husband Harvey had bought one-way tickets to Vietnam, with a layover in Dubai.
Campbell said investigators had the evidence to charge Donna Adelson but that the trip to the airport changed prosecutors' timeline. "That's what forced our hand," Campbell said. 1/2
Nov 6, 2023 • 46 tweets • 6 min read
Judge Stephen Everett going over last minute jury instruction changes with Charlie Adelson's defense. The parties waived lesser and included charges in the instructions.
The jury in the Charlie Adelson trial will hear jury instructions and closing arguments today before starting their deliberations.
Nov 3, 2023 • 75 tweets • 10 min read
Charlie Adelson is back on the witness stand this morning, marking the seventh day of testimony in his murder trial. Once his lawyer, Dan Rashbaum, is done with direct examination, the state will have its turn for cross-examination.
Rashbaum asking about text the undercover FBI agent/"blackmailer" sent Donna Adelson at 2 a.m. on May 4, 2016. He said he went to meet with his parents the next day. He saw the text as "much more threatening." "My mom was upset."
Nov 2, 2023 • 84 tweets • 10 min read
Judge Stephen Everett admonishes people watching the trial in the gallery from nodding their heads in agreement or disagreement as Charlie Adelson testifies. He says this is last warning and that anyone in the courtroom who does will be removed by bailiffs.
Charlie Adelson back on the stand after a full morning of direct examination by Dan Rashbaum, his Miami attorney. Rashbaum told Judge Stephen Everett before lunch that his direct questioning of Adelson could last all afternoon and spill into Friday morning.
Nov 2, 2023 • 92 tweets • 12 min read
Charlie Adelson is about to tell his side of the story publicly for the first time since Dan Markel was fatally shot on July 18, 2014. His defense lawyer, Dan Rashbaum, said in opening statements that Adelson was extorted by the killers and did not arrange the hit on Markel.
Dan Markel's parents, Ruth & Phil Markel, and his sister, Shelly, are sitting in the 2nd row in Courtroom 3G, waiting to hear what Adelson will say. Adelson's parents, Donna & Harvey Adelson, are not present. The state & defense agreed earlier they would not be called to testify.
Nov 1, 2023 • 82 tweets • 9 min read
Jury coming in for Day 5 of testimony in the Charlie Adelson murder trial. FBI Special Agent Pat Sanford, who testified yesterday about wire taps and the Dolce Vita recording, is back on the stand. Jurors listened to the entire recording yesterday afternoon.
Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman questioning Sanford on direct.
Oct 31, 2023 • 29 tweets • 4 min read
Next witness, FBI agent says he recorded Charlie Adelson and his dad Harvey Adelson at the Matsuri restaurant on April 21, 2016. The two were sitting at the sushi bar, and the agent sat next to Harvey Adelson. Under direct questions, he said he couldn't hear the conversation.
Under cross, the agent says Charlie Adelson surrendered peacefully during his arrest last year.
Oct 31, 2023 • 16 tweets • 2 min read
Judge Stephen Everett instructs media not to show the faces of FBI agents who will take the stand soon. Prosecutors said some of them are engaged in active undercover operations.
State calls Oscar Jimenez, a retired FBI agent who played a direct role in "The Bump" operation, posing as the blackmailer who handed Donna Adelson the newspaper article with $5,000 written on it, a photo of Dan Markel and a phone number to call.
Oct 27, 2023 • 48 tweets • 5 min read
State calls June Umchinda, a former girlfriend of Charlie Adelson who testified previously that he kept stacks of $100 bills stapled together. She also said he became "very depressed" after the murder and was "never the same."
Charlie Adelson flashes big smile as Umchinda begins testimony.
Oct 27, 2023 • 45 tweets • 6 min read
Charlie Adelson and his lawyers on the second day of testimony in his murder trial.
Wendi Adelson on the stand for the second day in a row, answering questions under cross by her brother's lawyer, Dan Rashbaum. He's asking her about dates she set up on dating websites for the week or so after the murder.