Of interest to those following the ongoing saga of the effort to get justice for the 2014 murder-for-hire of Florida state law professor Dan Markel. Brief recap for those who may not remember:
Both of the hired guns who killed Dan have been convicted (including one who made a plea bargain and became a witness for the state). But the authorities still haven’t charged the people who likely hired them: the mother and brother of Dan’s ex-wife Wendi Adelson. Investigators believe they had Dan killed so Wendi would get sole custody of their two boys.
Magbanua is the former girlfriend of both Charlie Adelson and one of the killers, and the main (perhaps only) link between them. The authorities believe she was the go-between connecting the Adelsons and the actual killers. The jury deadlocked 10-2 when Magbanua was tried last year (10 in favor of conviction).
After long delays caused by the pandemic, the government plans to retry Magbanua this fall. If convicted, they hope she will turn on the Adelsons, which will then enable prosecutors to charge them. As people who follow the case know, there is a lot of controversy over whether this step-by-step approach is sound. Many believe the authorities should have charged the Adelsons a long time ago, and that they should not wait for Magbanua to turn state's evidence (if she ever does).
Meanwhile, Wendi Adelson has custody of the two boys, has changed their last names from Markel to Adelson, and has cut off virtually all contact with Dan's parents (the two boys' grandparents). That is unlikely to change even if Magbanua and/or the other Adelsons get convicted - though there is a legislative effort under way to change Florida law to give visitation rights to grandparents in such situations.