Charlie Adelson: Conviction, Sentence, and Appeal

Charlie Adelson, a South Florida periodontist, was convicted in November 2023 of orchestrating the 2014 murder-for-hire of his former brother-in-law, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. He was 47 at the time of the verdict. On December 12, 2023, a Leon County judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus consecutive maximum terms of 30 years each for solicitation and conspiracy.¹²

The Killing and the Motive

Dan Markel was shot in the head on July 18, 2014, while sitting in his car in the garage of his Tallahassee home. He died at a hospital later that day.³

Prosecutors argued the motive traced to a bitter divorce and custody fight between Markel and Charlie Adelson’s sister, Wendi Adelson. After the couple separated, Wendi sought to move their two young children from Tallahassee to South Florida, where her parents lived. A Leon County judge denied the request. Investigators later characterized the Adelson family’s desire to bring the children south as “desperate.”⁴

The conflict grew sharper after the divorce was final. In March 2014, Markel filed a motion accusing his former mother-in-law, Donna Adelson, of “parental alienation” and asked the court to end her unsupervised visits with the children. A hearing on that motion was set for May 2014. It never happened. Markel was killed two months later.⁴

How Investigators Linked Charlie Adelson to the Plot

Adelson was not charged until April 21, 2022, nearly eight years after the murder. By then, prosecutors had built a case around a chain that ran from the hitmen to a woman close to Adelson and, finally, to Adelson himself.⁵

The connecting figure was Katherine Magbanua. She was the mother of triggerman Sigfredo Garcia’s children and was romantically involved with Charlie Adelson at the time of the killing. Prosecutors alleged she recruited Garcia and Luis Rivera at Adelson’s direction. She was also on the payroll of the Adelson family dental practice, though prosecutors said she performed no apparent work there.⁶

The Dolce Vita Recording

In 2016, an FBI agent posing as a Latin Kings member approached Donna Adelson outside her grandchildren’s school and pretended to extort the family over their connection to Rivera. The agent handed her a newspaper article about the murder with “$5,000” and a phone number written on it.⁷

Charlie Adelson and Magbanua then met at the Dolce Vita restaurant in Miami Beach, where they discussed the fake blackmail. The FBI recorded them. During the roughly 45-minute conversation, Adelson suggested making a “charity” payment to the supposed blackmailer and was captured saying, “If they had any evidence here, we’d be at the airport.”⁸ For years, the audio was too poor to be useful. A forensic audio expert eventually enhanced it, and that improvement was central to the decision to finally charge Adelson.⁹

Other Evidence

Prosecutors also relied on wiretaps that captured thousands of calls from Adelson and Magbanua, along with phone, text, and financial records tying all five conspirators together.⁷ Wendi Adelson had acknowledged in earlier testimony that her brother once joked about hiring a hitman, telling her that “buying you a TV as a divorce present would be cheaper.” A witness who had briefly dated Wendi, Jeffrey Lacasse, testified that she told him in the summer of 2013 that Charlie had “looked into” hiring someone to kill Markel for about $15,000.⁹

Magbanua’s own case sharpened the picture. Her first trial in 2019 ended in a hung jury. At a second trial in 2022, she testified that she had previously lied to protect herself and implicated Charlie Adelson in the plot. She was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation and sentenced to life plus 60 years.³

The Trial and the Extortion Defense

Adelson’s trial ran about eight days in Leon County Circuit Court in late October and early November 2023, before Judge Stephen Everett.¹⁰

He testified in his own defense. His account: on the night of the murder, Magbanua showed up at his home and told him that people she knew had killed Markel. She allegedly demanded “a third of a million dollars” and said he would be killed within 48 hours if he did not pay. Adelson said he handed over $138,000 in cash that night, which he described as his life savings, and agreed to pay the balance at $3,000 a month. He cast himself as an extortion victim, not a conspirator.¹¹

On cross-examination, Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman pressed the gaps. Adelson admitted he never had any direct contact with the gang members he claimed were threatening him. No one ever pulled a gun on him. He continued a sexual relationship with Magbanua and sent her affectionate text messages for months after the killing. He never went to police. When asked why he had never reported the alleged extortion, Adelson testified that “no one asked him.”¹² Cappleman labeled the monthly installment arrangement an “extortion layaway plan.”¹³

On November 6, 2023, the jury rejected the defense and found Adelson guilty on all three counts, first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder, after roughly three hours of deliberation.¹⁰

The Sentence

Judge Everett imposed life in prison without the possibility of parole on the first-degree murder count on December 12, 2023. He added consecutive maximum sentences of 30 years each for the solicitation and conspiracy counts.²

Where Charlie Adelson Is Incarcerated

Adelson was initially held in the Florida prison system. In May 2024, he was transferred to a prison facility in South Dakota.¹⁴ Court TV reported that podcast hosts covering the case said Adelson was moved out of Florida because of a threat on his life from the Latin Kings gang.¹⁵

The Appeal

Adelson is appealing to Florida’s First District Court of Appeal in Charles Adelson v. State of Florida, Case No. 1D2024-0004.¹⁶

His attorneys argue the case should have been moved out of Tallahassee because pretrial publicity made an impartial jury impossible. The defense also alleged juror misconduct, claiming some jurors discussed the case among themselves before trial properly began, and argued the trial court improperly excluded defense evidence.¹⁷

Oral arguments were heard on February 3, 2026. Adelson’s attorney, Michael Ufferman, pressed the venue issue. The state countered that Adelson had waived the claims by accepting the jury and that it is “impossible to escape a jury that has some pre-judgement.”¹⁸ As of mid-2026, the appellate court had not ruled.¹⁶

The Wider Conspiracy

Adelson’s conviction was not the end of the case. One week after the guilty verdict, his mother, Donna Adelson, was arrested at Miami International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Vietnam. She was charged with the same three counts. Prosecutors alleged she was the driving force behind the family’s push to relocate the grandchildren and that she arranged Markel’s killing after the court denied the relocation request.¹⁹²⁰

A jury convicted Donna Adelson on all counts on September 4, 2025. On October 13, 2025, she was sentenced to life without parole plus 30 years for the conspiracy and solicitation charges. Judge Everett noted an “utter lack of remorse” in her statements. Donna Adelson, 75 at the time, maintained her innocence and pledged to appeal.²¹

Five people have been sentenced in connection with Markel’s murder. Charlie Adelson, Donna Adelson, Sigfredo Garcia, and Katherine Magbanua are all serving life sentences. Luis Rivera, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, cooperated with prosecutors, and testified at multiple trials, is expected to be released from federal custody in mid-2026 and transferred to Florida state prison to serve the remainder of his 19-year sentence.²²²³²⁴ Harvey Adelson, Charlie’s father, has not been charged.

1
NBC Miami. Broward Dentist Convicted in 2014 Murder of FSU Professor Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole
2
Florida Politics. Charlie Adelson Gets Life Sentence
3
WCTV. Extended Timeline: Key Dates in the Dan Markel Murder Case
4
Tallahassee Democrat. Markel, Adelson Sparred Up to the End
5
Tallahassee Democrat. Dan Markel Murder for Hire: Charlie Adelson Guilty
6
NBC News. Daniel Markel Murder: Hit Men, Family, Donna Adelson, Katherine Magbanua
7
WCTV. Investigator Delves Into Call, Location, Text Records at Charlie Adelsons Murder Trial
8
Tallahassee Democrat. Dan Markel Murder Trial: Judge Allows Dolce Vita Secret FBI Recording in Charlie Adelson Trial
9
WFSU News. Connecting the Dots: How a 6-Year-Old FBI Recording Unlocked the Markel Murder Case
10
WCTV. Charlie Adelson Found Guilty of Murder for Hire of Dan Markel
11
Tallahassee Democrat. Prosecutor Grills Charlie Adelson in Dan Markel Murder-for-Hire Court Trial
12
Court TV. Charlie Adelson Explains Why He Never Told Police About Extortion
13
ABA Journal. Rejecting Extortion Layaway Defense, Jurors Convict Dentist in Murder of FSU Law Prof Dan Markel
14
Court TV. Charlie Adelson Transferred to South Dakota Prison
15
Court TV. Why Charlie Adelson Was Transferred to South Dakota: Insiders Tell All
16
Florida Courts. Charles Adelson v. State of Florida, 1D2024-0004
17
Court TV. Charlie Adelson Will Return to Court in Bid for New Trial for Dan Markels Murder
18
WFSU News. Oral Arguments Heard in Charlie Adelson Murder Conviction Appeal
19
ABA Journal. Timeline of Developments Stemming From the Murder of Law Prof Dan Markel
20
WCTV. Contentious or Typical? Dan Markels Divorce Under Scrutiny as Donna Adelson Trial Continues
21
CNN. Donna Adelson Sentencing
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WCTV. Convicted Hitman in Markel Murder Case Will Soon Be Released From Federal Prison
23
Court TV. Wendi Adelson Fights Defense Subpoena for Moms Murder Trial
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Tallahassee Democrat. Donna Adelson Trial Analysis: Is Justice Done With the Family?