A trial date has been set for April in the case against a Florida dentist accused of hiring a hitman to kill his sister’s ex-husband more than eight years ago, according to reports.
Jury selection for Charles “Charlie” Adelson will begin on April 24, 2023, in connection with the murder of prominent Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel, local news station WTXL.com reported. The Leon County Court records website could not be accessed for confirmation Friday.
Adelson, 45, faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder for allegedly hiring a pair of hitmen to kill Markel in July 2014.
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The split image shows Dan “Danny” Markel and Charlie Adelson, one of the people accused of his murder.
(Ruth Markel/Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Jury selection is reportedly expected to last days, with opening statements scheduled to begin in late April or early May.
Investigators with the Tallahassee Police Department said Markel dropped off her children at day care about 8:50 a.m. on July 18, 2014, approximately five miles from her home. She then drove to the Premier Health and Fitness Center, where she arrived around 9:12 a.m., according to a probable cause affidavit shared online in 2016.
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daniel markell
(Florida State University)
Police discovered that a Toyota Prius had followed Markel not only to the gym parking lot, but was also “following Markel’s car” before and after his time at the gym.
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“Investigators believe the suspects in the Prius followed the victim throughout the morning and back to this residence, where the victim was shot in the head while sitting in his car,” the affidavit reads. “Markel’s neighbor heard what he believed to be a gunshot and looked out his window, where he saw a small silver or light-colored vehicle, resembling a Prius, backing out of the victim’s driveway.”
Tallahassee Police Department public information officer David Northway unveils an image of Sigfredo Garcia, 34, during a press conference in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, May 26, 2016. Garcia is accused of participating in the murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. Markel was murdered at his Tallahassee home in July 2014.
(Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)
Markel was rushed to a local hospital, but ultimately could not be saved.
Adelson’s sister, Wendi Adelson, was Markel’s ex-wife, with whom he shared two children. Charlie Adelson was arrested in April 2022 after he was indicted by a grand jury.
Florida’s Leon County State’s Attorney Jack Campbell said in a statement at the time that investigators were able to improve the quality of a secretly recorded meeting between Charlie Adelson and Katherine Magbanua, who was later convicted of acting as an intermediary between Charlie and the alleged hitmen
Luis Rivera (left) and Sigfredo García, the men who would have been hired to kill Dan Markel
(Federal Bureau of Prisons/Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
The meeting was recorded in 2016 as part of a “law enforcement sting operation,” Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman told Fox News Digital at the time of the arrest. The enhanced recording “provided us with some new statements that we felt were damaging,” Cappleman said.
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Wendi Adelson previously testified in court that her brother had made jokes more than once about hiring a hit man.
“He had bought me a television when I got divorced and he said it was a gift and he made a very bad joke, in bad taste, that it was cheaper than hiring a hitman,” Adelson said.
