A Florida dentist charged with orchestrating the murder of his law professor brother-in-law nervously denied any role in the crime Thursday at his trial in Tallahassee.
Periodontist Charlie Adelson, 47, is charged with hiring a hitman to pump bullets into prominent Florida State academic Dan Markel in his driveway in 2014.
Markel, a Harvard-educated professor, was in the midst of an ugly custody war with Adelson’s sister, Wendi Adelson, at the time of the slaying.
Defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum asked the fidgety defendant if he had anything to do with Markel’s death.
“No,” he answered on the stand.
After telling jurors that he was nervous, Rashbaum’s asked him why.
“My whole life depends on it,” Adelson said.
Adelson conceded in court he had joked about hiring a hitman to eliminate Markel, but insisted that the remark was in jest.
After Wendi moved out of the marital home and into an apartment, her brother purchased her a TV to help ease her transition.
“When I gave her the TV set as a divorce present — stupidest thing I ever said in my life — and I said, ‘I was gonna get you a hitman, but the TV set was a lot cheaper so I went with the TV set instead.’ I said it as a complete joke and it was stupid but I do that a lot,” Adelson testified.
The dentist faces an uphill battle at the trial after his former girlfriend testified against him earlier this week.
Katherine Magbanua was charged with helping Adelson — her former boyfriend — secure triggerman Sigfredo Garcia, the father of her children.
Magbanua denied any role in the killing at trial, but was convicted and sentenced to life behind bars.
With her fate already sealed, she opted to turn on Adelson, telling jurors he flatly asked her if she knew anyone who could rub Markel out.
“Do you know anybody that can harm someone?” the dentist is said to have asked her as they left a 2013 Halloween party.
Garcia was convicted of shooting Markel dead as he pulled into the driveway of his home, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors have argued that the Adelson family developed a raging hatred of Markel as his marriage to Wendi deteriorated and they fought over their children.
Wendi’s mother, Donna Adelson, was desperate for her daughter to secure custody of their kids and have them relocate from Tallahassee to the Adelsons’ home base in Miami.
The dentist said he had no prior knowledge of the hit on Markel — and was the victim of an extortion plot.
After learning Markel had been shot dead, Adelson said Magbanua told him that Garcia had gunned him down — and was demanding payment for doing so.
Failure to fork over cash, Magbanua told him, would also endanger his own life, Adelson said on the stand.
“She kept saying this was all her fault and she didn’t know any of this was going to happen,” the dentist said on the stand.
The trial is ongoing.