TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Leon County judge sentenced a Broward periodontist to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder on Tuesday in Tallahassee.
Charlie Adelson hired two hitmen who knew his then-girlfriend to kill his former brother-in-law who was in a child custody fight with his sister, prosecutors said.
Before the sentencing, Adelson, of Fort Lauderdale, said, “I would just like to say I maintain my innocence.”
Leon County Circuit Judge Stephen Everett also sentenced Adelson to 30 years in prison to be served consecutively on the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation charges.
Everett also said Adelson was going to be transferred to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections and his attorneys had 30 days to appeal his sentence.
Adelson was the fourth defendant who was convicted in the 2014 execution-style murder of Daniel Markel, a Florida State University law professor and father of two boys who was born in Canada. Markel’s parents, Ruth and Phil Markel, and his sister delivered victim impact statements.
“Ruth and I have been deprived of our son who was taken away from us so suddenly and against life’s schedule,” Phil Markel said. He asked for the maximum sentence and added that not seeing their two grandsons who no longer have their father’s last name has been “incredibly painful.”
A jury sided with the prosecutors who accused Adelson of being the mastermind behind Markel’s murder and found him guilty of all charges on Nov. 6.
During the trial, Adelson testified in his defense. He said his ex-girlfriend, Katherine “Katie” Magbanua, the father of her kids Sigfredo “Tuto” Garcia, and their friend Luis “Tato” Rivera, a gang leader, decided to kill Markel on their own and were extorting him.
Wendi Adelson filed for divorce from Markel in 2012 and moved to South Florida with their two sons. A Leon County judge denied her motion for relocation in 2013 and Markel sought to enforce the ruling in 2014, records show.
Rivera testified Garcia shot Markel in the head twice on July 18, 2014, as part of a murder-for-hire job that required him to find a gun and rent a car. Markel, a father of Adelson’s two nephews, died about 14 hours after the shooting, according to the FBI.
Rivera accepted a plea deal of 19 years in prison for second-degree murder. Magbanua and Garcia were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Detectives arrested Adelson last year and his mother, Donna Adelson, last month while she was trying to board a flight at Miami International Airport. Prosecutors charged the Adelson family matriarch with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation. She pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Neither Wendi Adelson nor her father have been charged in the murder of her ex-husband. The prosecution said there was an ongoing investigation.
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