In part 2 we learn about the search warrant executed at Donna and Harvey’s condo, both jail house informants testify, a handwriting expert takes the stand, and we end with Sgt Corbitt who introduces NEW texts and new evidence against Donna. The state rested their case. REMINDER - NO court on Monday, & Donna could take the stand as early as Tuesday morning.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
What you know, alibiers.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to another episode of Pretty Lies and Alibis.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Jigi.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
It is Saturday, August thirtieth, still, but we're going to
knock out part two of Day six and finally, y'all,
I'll be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Caught up from this week. It's been a wild one.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
The less get started as far as the search warrant
after Donna's arrest that took place on November fourteenth, twenty
twenty three. They show photos of a few things in
the house, luggage in the entryway, luggage tags to side
gone by way of Dubai camera equipment, Vietnam visas for
both Donna and Harvey, another day planner, and they found
(00:37):
a note in the floor of the bedroom. It says Wendy,
this is an M eleven gun and can only be
sold with the paperwork enclosed. They leave a name for
her to contact, as well as a number. They didn't
take a whole lot of time on this at all.
On Cross, Harvey was there for the search warrant. They
also had an electronic canine dog which he heard alerted
(00:58):
to a laptop in a closet, and that was pretty
much it for Cross. Next up was the first jailhouse informant.
Her name is Patricia Bird. She's currently in custody at
the Leon County Detention Center for a violation of probation
on a felony case. She could get up to fifteen
years in prison. She also has a pending felony case
(01:18):
that would be up to five years. She's been given
nothing to testify for this case. She was in custody
with Donna for six to seven months at the Leon
County Jail. They were in the same pod, slept right
next to each other, and she said they all ate
together in their downtime and became friendly. She said they
talked all day every day. Donna was also close to
(01:38):
another inmate, Trina Bernhardt, as well as a couple more.
Donna did talk to her about the pending case. DMA
asked if she did what she was accused of, and
Donna said yes, to keep her grandchildren, but it wasn't
supposed to go that far. The prosecutor asked the witness
if she was ever in custody with Katie, and she
was for about a year, a year or two several
(02:01):
years ago. Donna wanted her to say that Katie told
her that they killed Dan because her boyfriend's family had money.
Donna wanted the inmate to tell this to investigators. Donna
promised the inmates she would get her a trailer with
some land, she would have Harvey fix her teeth, and
while in jail, she brought her canteen items she was
(02:23):
promised the other things if she spoke to investigators and
told them now. The witness spoke to her attorneys about
this and told them what she has testified to today.
Investigators also spoke to four other people about this. The
witness told her attorney about what Donna was asking her
to do, so an investigator from the State Attorney's office
came to talk to her and she recounted what she
(02:45):
said on the stand. She said Katie never said those
things to her. On cross asks is she remembers testifying
in a hearing on this matter a couple of weeks ago,
and he asked was the investigator white or black? The
witness said the investigat it was black. But the defense says,
do you remember testifying and hearing a couple of weeks
ago that shee was white? The witness says, yeah, I
(03:07):
was confused, and the defense says, confused by the question
or confused about the race of the investigator you spoke with.
The witness said, it was the question. I'm not sure
if they thought that would make her look bad, but
to me, it made them look bad. He asked if
she was in with Donna for six or seven months,
and how much of that time were you sleeping in
the bed.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Next to her?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
She said between three or four months. And the defense
says the jail records would reflect something different. Would that
be more accurate? And she says it could be. She
went to say something else, but the defense attorney cut
her off and they had no further question. So the
prosecution gets back up and says, finish what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
She was going to say.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
At some point they were moved into two separate pods,
but they were still in the same area, just not
next to each other. They were in the same room.
And the prosecutor asked, did you have downtime each day
and the pod together?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
The witness said she talked to Donna every day for
several months at a time, on a regular basis. Did
you ask Donna whether she wrote the checks to Katie
or whether she was guilty of what they accused her
of the witness said, I asked if she did what
they were accusing her of, and she said yes. That
was it for her. The next informant, Drina Bernhardt. She's
(04:19):
currently incarcerated in the Leon County Jail for two different
felony cases. She has not been promised anything by the
prosecution or any members of the prosecution team in exchange
for her testimony. She has been in and out of
jail quite a few times. She has twenty seven prior
convictions that are either felonies or crimes of dishonesty. She
(04:40):
was in jail with Donna for around four months, in
the same pod the entire time. She said it's easier
to become friendly with people in a pod because everybody's together.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Twenty four to seven. She said.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Initially her friendship with Donna was very nice, and Donna
called her her jail daughter, and they got very close.
They talked about person things like their lives, and Donna
nicknamed her Sunshine, which ironically is what she called her
grandson's Remember, Donna told the kids, your dad's trying to
take my sunshines away. Also, if you go back and
(05:13):
look into Wendy's senior yearbook, ad there is a photo
of Wendy and underneath it says Sunshine. They bring in
a notebook that has letters that Donna wrote to her.
On the back, it says, I hope your life will
be filled with love, joy and flowers. You deserve only
the best because you are the best, Love Donna. The
witness would make art for Donna, and she told the
(05:35):
witness that she is very close with her grandchildren and
every now and then she would even call them her children.
Donna would bring up her case to the witness often
and mostly daily. At one point, the witness reached out
to law enforcement to report some of the things Donna
had been saying to her about the case. She admits
initially she did it for selfish reasons, but the more
(05:56):
time she's spent with Donna, she realized it was morally
correct and she just wanted to get justice for the
Markel family. She felt it was just the right thing
to do. She admits she hoped to get a lighter
sentence in doing this in the first place. Donna told
the witness that she was worried about her son Rob testifying,
Donna knew that the witness knew Katie. Donna tried to
(06:19):
recruit her to become a witness for her in this case.
She asked if she would be willing to, and the
witness said she would. This was discussed a lot. Donna
wanted the witness to testify about several things regarding Katie,
and in fact, Donna prepared a script of exactly what
she wanted the witness to testify to. This was written
in that notebook that belongs to the witness. The first part,
(06:42):
how did you know who Donna Adelson was? And the
answer She's been on the news. I've seen and heard
about this on some TV and read it in the
newspaper over the years. The prosecutor asked the witness do
you read newspapers and she says no. The witness also
knew nothing about Donna or her case before meeting her
in jail. Donna told her to copy down the script
(07:03):
in her own handwriting and give it back to her.
The witness provided this to the prosecutor's office. The next
section of what Donna wrote down as the script is
that the witness approached Donna and told her she had
information about Katie that she wanted to give her. The
prosecutor asks, is that true, and she says no. It
goes on to say, Katie told you that she told
(07:25):
Charlie the night of the murder that some friends of
hers went to Tallahassee and killed him. Katie asked Charlie
to give her the one third of a million dollars
that he was going to pay his sister so that
she could relocate with her children to Miami, and then
Charlie went crazy on her. He said this was going
to be an offer to his brother in law not
to kill him, but she convinced him. The murderers think
(07:47):
a woman is paying for this. They don't know Charlie.
Katie told him she wouldn't tell her friends who he
is the reason to keep him safe. He opened to
safe and gave her stacks of money, and then she
told him he could pay her the resting cash. She
said he was giving her three thousand dollars every month.
She laughed about how easy it was to extort him.
(08:07):
And the word extort is underlined. Remember Charlie's defense, I
was extorted. The witnesses asked if Donna is insinuating here
that Katie is his friend when she really wasn't. The
witness is like, I suppose the witness is not familiar
at all with Charlie's trial or his testimony. The prosecutor
keeps reading the script, saying he wouldn't have to take
(08:28):
her out to a fancied dinner. She could buy plenty
of fancy dinners with the one third of one million.
She says, she fooled her baby daddy, and she fooled Charlie.
Sigfredo would do anything for her, and he did. Charlie
was scared and easy to extort.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
What a stupid fool.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
He believed her that she was keeping him safe from
the killers. Ha ha, what a joke. Well, the prosecutor
asked the witness, is this any kind of language Katie
would use?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And she's like nope.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
The prosecutor asked, is this what Donna wanted you to
come into this trial to testify?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And she says yes. Now.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
As far as payment for this testimony, while in jail,
she did receive commissary as well as Donna allowing her
to use her account to make phone calls. She also
offered her a baby grand piano, cameras, and pills. Donna
gave her the name of a doctor who Donna said
would write her prescriptions. Donna said the money would be
(09:23):
sent by Harvey through the Zell app, and Donna said
the two of them could communicate through a phone app
called Signal. The witness had never heard of the Signal app.
Now I had a listener remind me of this today.
I'd totally forgotten. But at one of Donna's bond hearings
where she took the stand, if you guys remember, she
said she was being extorted by inmates for commissary. Clearly
(09:47):
that was a lie, and also the fact that this
woman is a recovering addict, and Donna uses that to
try to convince her to life for her in this trial.
Just low on cross. The defense says, you said you
weren't given anything for your testimony, But isn't it true
you were released from jail February eleventh of this year
as a result of your cooperation in this manner. The
(10:10):
witness doesn't know if it was a result of her cooperation,
but that's when she was released. She's asked if she
sent a letter to a detective in December of twenty
twenty four saying she had information about Donna, that she
had cooperated in the past, and she wanted to do
it again. So as a result of that, December eighteenth,
the detective came to meet with you, and on December twentieth,
(10:32):
you were taken to the State Attorney's office to meet there,
and as a result of that conversation, you were released
February eleventh. The witness again says, I don't know if
that's why or if that's how it works. She's asked
if she knew the previous witness, Patricia Bird, and were
they friends on the outside, and she said nope, just
on the inside. She's asked if when she ended her
(10:53):
conversation at the State Attorney's office did she say, did
I do a good job?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
She said she did.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They go through her criminal record and her conviction was
for one kind of burglary, and they talk about the
mandatory sentencing.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
She was brought in on a probation violation.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
All this stuff really is just to dirty up this
witness for the jury. I'm not gonna regurgitate all that,
but ultimately she is facing a fifteen year mandatory day
for day sentence unless she could meet an agreement with
the state. Then you meet Donna, you get out of
jail free card, and you friend her and you ask
her questions about her case. The witness said, no, she
(11:32):
offered it to me and I would listen. The defense
your testimony here today is that you did not ask
her questions. She says, I can't remember. I may have
asked one or two. We were locked up together a
long time, but I did not go to her constantly
asking questions. Isn't it true when you met with law
enforcement on December twentieth of twenty twenty four, a few
(11:53):
days prior to this, you sat down in the location
in the pod to engage in a lengthy conversation with Donna,
and you told them you made sure to sit where
a camera would catch you while you sat with my
client going over paperwork. And the witness is like, yep, Defense,
you wanted to make sure they could get you on
video with my client. And she says, yes, did you
(12:15):
tell my client she was naive about gel And the
witness is like yes, And can I just say totally
agree with this witness? The defense wants her to explain
how it came to be that Donna wrote the script
down that they're introducing as evidence. The witness said, Donna
wrote it and said I was supposed to go over
it and practice it on redirect. The prosecutor points out
(12:36):
that the witness has her own defense attorney and she
is working with a prosecutor on her case, but not
their prosecution team. She had a five year plea offer
at some point, and as we sit here.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Today, do you have a plea offer?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And she says no, She's waiting to get a new
plea offer, but not from this prosecution team. One thing
I forgot to mention is the defense attorney asked if
she wrote that script herself, meaning the witness, and the
prosecutor asked, do you even know any of that story
to tell?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And she said no.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
The next witness is a handwriting expert who looked at
the written script compared to known handwriting samples of Donna's,
and to make a long story short, she concluded both
handwriting samples were in fact Donna SU's. The last witness
of the days, Sergeant Corbett back on the stand. They
go back through the script that Donna wrote for these inmates,
(13:30):
and they brought in a little more of the script
that Donna had wrote. This is where Charlie threatened to
go to the police. It said, I told him if
he went to the police, these murderers would kill him.
And if they don't get you, they'll kill your mom
or your dad. And you should have seen the look
on his face. He turned white, he was scared, crapless.
But she said she convinced him that the murderers think
(13:52):
this is a woman paying for this. They don't know Charlie,
and she told him she would not tell her friends
who he is in order to keep him safe. Now,
Charlie testified he gave Katie one hundred and thirty eight
thousand dollars the night of the murder or the next morning,
So they go through what money Charlie did actually give Katie.
(14:12):
Charlie testified he gave her one hundred and thirty eight
thousand dollars cash the night of the murder or the
next morning. The rest was supposed to be three thousand
dollars a month. Over time, that would be one thousand
a month in paychecks from the Adelson Institute and then
two thousand in cash. In his testimony, he said Katie
told him the money would be going to the hitman
(14:33):
and not her. He testified he told his mother about
the extortion in September of twenty fourteen. They point out
the word extortion is written twice in this document and
underlined for emphasis. When they got Donna's cell phone, they
ran the Celebrate extraction and pulled some data off of there.
Charlie's trial began October sixteenth of twenty twenty three, and
(14:55):
a week before his trial started, they found Donna googled
stortion versus blackmail? What is the difference? The prosecutor asks
if Charlie testified they were being extorted since twenty fourteen,
and the witness says yes. So they go through a
timeline of Charlie's trial. October twenty fourth of twenty twenty
(15:15):
three is when there were opening statements and the first witnesses.
November second, Charlie got on the stand and testified in
his own defense. They found a text message between Wendy
and Donna where they agree Charlie's testimony was right about
being extorted. Right before this exchange, Wendy put up a
prayer hands emoji. Donna's response to that was, we shouldn't
(15:38):
have to pray. He's telling the truth, protected his little
sister for years, suffers through this, and now what prayer hands?
I think it's kind of big there that insinuation. The
prosecution notes that this text was about four days after
Charlie testified, but before a verdict was rendered. They also
point out Rob was not a witness at Charlie's trial,
(16:01):
so the only person Wendy was a little sister to
in this context would be Charlie. They also show that
she sent a lot of messages to different family members
and friends saying finally the truth is out. They put
a bunch of these on the screen and note they
were all sent out in a relatively short timeframe to
each person. Then they show some other texts. She would say,
(16:25):
have you been watching the last forty five minutes? Finally
the truth comes out. Dan just proved extortion. It's easy
when you're telling the truth, listening to what really happened. Finally,
but his attorney will speak for him and finally the
truth will come out. In a text on November first,
Donna texts Wendy and says, I'm sorry this has been
(16:45):
our life for so many years. It's been torture. But
your lawyer didn't want you to know what happened. I
think if you did, our relationship and yours with Charlie
would have been much different. I hope he knew what
he was doing. Your testimony was crucial. Li's see what
a jury does to him and the rest of us.
You know I'm next, but that won't happen. I'll take
(17:09):
care of it. So obviously, they go back through all
the communications to see if there really was any extortion happening.
They looked at phone records after the murder, starting July nineteenth.
That was the day after Katie would have told Charlie
he was being extorted, They point out in the text
messages the day after the murder, Charlie and Katie are
(17:29):
talking headed to the gym. Asked if she's taking her
kids to the beach, and she replied it's beautiful, but
probably the pool.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Charlie tells her to have a nice day. Guess what.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No mention of extortion, no mention of bad guys or money,
and Charlie does not seem angry or in fear. The
week following the murder, they show another text about Charlie
getting someone to call him prescription shampoo for Katie. Charlie
tells her sweet dreams. She says, have a good day.
Their smiley faces. He says, you two again no mention
(18:00):
of being extorted, bad guys or money. They also point
out between twenty fourteen and twenty sixteen they stayed in contact,
and they show examples of her giving him relationship advice,
telling him he would make a great dad. Charlie tells
her he loves her in October of twenty fourteen, and
he said, it makes me feel good that you care
(18:20):
about me. I'm very lucky to have you as a
part of my life. Katie says she'll always care about him.
February twenty fifteen, Katie tells him I always know how
to make you smile, and he says, yes, you do.
February twenty fourth of twenty fifteen, Katie says I love
you and Charlie responds, I love you too. Later that year,
(18:41):
more friendly exchanges some happy birthdays, Thank you for helping me,
I love you, Charlie says he can't wait to have
lunch with her. You're the best. I'm lucky to have
you as a friend for life. In another text, Charlie
says he misses her. There are some inside jokes exchanged.
They talk about Charlie and Katie speaking on the phone
after Sigfredo's arrest and nothing.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
To suggest extortion.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So once they got Donna's phone and they ran the
celebrate on it, there was evidence that she and Charlie
had communicated for several years using WhatsApp, which is very
hard to get records from because of the encryption. They
found some WhatsApp messages after Donna's arrest that they previously
did not have. One is from July one, twenty sixteen.
(19:28):
This would be after Sigfredo and Rivera's arrest. Starting with Charlie,
it says, no, it's in the paper from yesterday, and
I spoke to Marcus, who was his attorney at the time,
this morning and he said it's not official yet, but
it's looking that way. After he spoke to Sigfredo's attorney,
by chance, walking out of the building, he ran straight
into Katie.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Charlie says, what a small world.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
This means that Charlie's attorney and Sigfreda's attorney we're talking.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And he's letting Donna know that.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
In the message, Charlie says to Donna, it's a small world,
and Donna says it is. Charlie said that they just
said hi to each other and shook hands. And her
attorney introduced himself. He said that Katie was so nice
and beautiful, and Donna says, like all your girlfriends. In August,
they found more WhatsApp messages. Charlie says, did you see
(20:17):
in the paper where the state star witness that rented
the hotel room is a convicted cocaine dealer. Maybe those
guys were just up in Tallahassee buying drugs and in
the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe the coke
dealer did it because Danny did not pay for his drugs,
just like he stiffed everybody else he did business with.
(20:37):
This whole thing is just crazy. Donna says she didn't
see that and asked what paper again. The state points out,
according to Charlie, both he and Donna have been extorted
for almost a year and a half. This message appears
to show the two of them discussing another.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Theory for the murder besides the extortion.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Back to the text messages, Charlie tells Donna that this
was in the Tallahassee Democrat and Donna says, wow, I've
stopped reading everything. The text continues, and Charlie says the
guy admitted to selling them cocaine and hanging out with them.
Donna says, OMG. Charlie says, so a convicted felon who
is still selling drugs is their star witness Again, no
(21:17):
mention of extortion. On November six, twenty twenty three, Donna
texts Wendy and says there's a verdict. Wendy replies, I
love you very much, call if you feel like you can.
Donna says, your brother protected you for years and now
you're not guilty. Your lawyer took very good care of you.
You can bury me in the dress that I bought
(21:38):
for Lincoln's bar Mitzvah. After the verdict, they found evidence
in Donna's phone that they were planning to flee the country.
There is a conversation they show on WhatsApp between Donna
and a representative from a Vietnam visa company regarding Donna
getting a visa for herself and Harvey.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
The prosecutor said this chat.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Is very, very lengthy and they're not going to go
through all of it at this time, but one text says, Hi, Daisy,
I'm trying to get a fast track emergency visa for Vietnam.
I filled everything out on the online application, and I
filled out the visa option. I want the fastest I
can get. I put the application details with our photos.
(22:18):
This is for Donna and Harvey Adelson. There's some back
and forth where they ask, did you go to this
site to do this?
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I just don't see how to pay for this. Donna says,
if I do not get there until the twelfth or
thirteenth of November, is that a problem. I'm putting down
November eleventh as the day to arrive. They talk a
bit about how long her visa will be for, and
Donna wants it for ninety days and clarifies a ninety
day multi entrance visa. But Donna finds out there is
(22:48):
not enough time to get a ninety day visa because
immigration doesn't work on the weekends. Wherever this is going through,
Donna's reply is, if we get a thirty day visa,
can I extend it? Why while I'm in Vietnam? And
the response is, we can't arrange ninety day multiple entry
and send it to you at the end of next Monday.
(23:08):
You must leave and re enter with your new visa.
The ninety day visa, by the way, would have put
it February seventh as when it expired. Donna responds, okay,
I'll take it, and she mentions the ninety day multiple
entry is what she would like. As fast as possible,
She says, next Monday will be fine. The service responds,
(23:30):
telling Donna to send some information as follows, a passport copy,
a portrait image, your email, your checkpoint, airport, the arrival
day after receiving your information, and then we will send
you the payment.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Link to you.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
After she sends all this, we will process and send
it for you on time. On Monday, November twelve, this
is the day before she's due to leave. There is
the question from the agency, what is your flight number?
Donna gives it to her and says from Dubai and
then from Dubai to hochy Men City. Donna responds in
(24:07):
caps now it's almost ten am on Sunday. We take
flight out tomorrow at eight pm. That's thirty hours, but
we must be there a few hours early. I'm worried
it will not be in our email in time. Please
anything you can do to make it arrive sooner. They
tell Donna they will send the e visas to her
(24:27):
within twenty one hours from now. It's fine for your flight.
Please don't worry, Donna says, okay, thank you for reassuring me.
She does get that visa November thirteenth, at five twenty
eight am for both her and Harvey. As far as
some things they found, because Donna writes down everything, they
found a note to self to cancel all Amazon deliveries.
(24:50):
They found a note in her apartment to Wendy with
those instructions on how to sell the weapon that they
found in the search warrant.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
And they also see.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
On November ninth, days after the verdict, she puts down
the visa, and three days after the verdict a list
of things to sell like jewelry, dishes, implants, comics. There
are notes about packing for Vietnam, canceling disability insurance, and
she wanted Dan Rashbaum to tell Charlie about them going
(25:20):
to Vietnam on the private attorney line. There's an entry
in the planner about child support for Charlie's son. They
wanted to pay that in advance through November of twenty
twenty five. There is a note to tell Wendy to
do expenses for the three properties.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
And enter that into the computer.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
They bring in the text from Donna to Wendy about
needing to talk about her business stuff, and on November tenth,
Donna texted Wendy to contact cards saying she needed this information.
One is for an attorney for a condo in a
certain tower. On November seventh, in a message to a friend,
Donna says, I'm copying you on different emails and things
(25:59):
that you may not understand, but just check with me later.
I'll explain everything. Please check if there's any chance you
could get down here by possibly Thursday, but don't book
a final ticket please. There's so much we have to
go over with you. The same day, November seventh, I
won't know for about another three hours if that will work.
(26:21):
That's why I'm holding off on talking to you. The
prosecution points out the day after Charlie's verdict, they found
on Donna's phone there were searches related to extradition and
Vietnam would have been listed. On that she googled lists
of US extradition treaties and some searches about how to
get to ho Chi Man City from five nearby airports.
(26:43):
This is the same day she first started the chat
for the emergency fast track visa. On cross. They talk
about things Donna listed to sell, like an implant motor,
the dishes in her closet, and the defense ask is
it unusual to keep dishes in the closet, and the
witness says pop possibly, But then he says, I have
to clarify that last answer because there are dishes in
(27:05):
my spare closet, and everybody in the courtroom laughs out loud.
The defense asked if law enforcement did not do a
good job of documenting the search forrant, and the witness
that he wasn't there. The defense points out there was
a piece of small luggage in that same closet as
the dishes, as the one pictured as being by the door.
The defense points out they have moved from Coral Springs
(27:27):
to this condo, and just because she's selling jewelry and comics,
it doesn't mean they're fleeing and stopping deliveries is something
people do when they're going out of town, and the
witness agrees the witness is not aware if there actually
was a trust set up for Charlie's son. There was
no evidence that donnamuve assets oversees, no evidence she was
moving out of the country opposed to getting a ninety
(27:49):
day visa. But the witness said the evidence he observed
from the messages, as well as business being taken care of,
it was a lengthy time to be away. The defense
asked if the time type of visa Donna gott means
you can come and go.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Is there any evidence that my client was aware of
the friendly text between Charlie and Katie. No. The defense
points out there's a lot of slides of just Charlie
running his mouth.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
On redirect they talk about that article it was published
July sixteenth, twenty sixteen. In a text to Donna, Charlie said,
there's good news in the paper yesterday. It talks about
the murder of Dan and how Rivera and Garcia were arrested.
In the article, a family friend of the Adelsons is
quoted in there. He says, I don't think there's going
(28:35):
to be any more arrests, and I think this is
going to be a speedy trial. Prosecution points out if
Charlie and Donna are referencing this paper is good news
to them because their friend says there probably won't be
any more arrest The witness said all of the communications
after the conviction had a sense of urgency. He's asked,
did Donna look for non extradition countries?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yes? Was Vietnam the country? She? Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
After this, the state rests, the judge tell of the defense.
I think you know who you're intending to call on Tuesday.
But we can discuss that Tuesday morning. Is it gonna
be Donna, Please, Baby Jesus, let it be Donna so
I can be home for that and cover that because
that's gonna be huge. Also, just a reminder, no court
(29:23):
on Monday. So that's it. We are caught up, y'all.
Thank you so much for being patient with me. Mom, life,
granddaughter life. Everything just been coming at me from all
angles this week. But you know what, I am sitting
here as blessed as I can be, so I ain't complaining.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
I hope you
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Guys have a good Sunday and a great Labor Day
and we will see soon.
What you know, alibiers.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to another episode of Pretty Lies and Alibis.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Jigi.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
It is Saturday, August thirtieth, still, but we're going to
knock out part two of Day six and finally, y'all,
I'll be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Caught up from this week. It's been a wild one.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
The less get started as far as the search warrant
after Donna's arrest that took place on November fourteenth, twenty
twenty three. They show photos of a few things in
the house, luggage in the entryway, luggage tags to side
gone by way of Dubai camera equipment, Vietnam visas for
both Donna and Harvey, another day planner, and they found
(00:37):
a note in the floor of the bedroom. It says Wendy,
this is an M eleven gun and can only be
sold with the paperwork enclosed. They leave a name for
her to contact, as well as a number. They didn't
take a whole lot of time on this at all.
On Cross, Harvey was there for the search warrant. They
also had an electronic canine dog which he heard alerted
(00:58):
to a laptop in a closet, and that was pretty
much it for Cross. Next up was the first jailhouse informant.
Her name is Patricia Bird. She's currently in custody at
the Leon County Detention Center for a violation of probation
on a felony case. She could get up to fifteen
years in prison. She also has a pending felony case
(01:18):
that would be up to five years. She's been given
nothing to testify for this case. She was in custody
with Donna for six to seven months at the Leon
County Jail. They were in the same pod, slept right
next to each other, and she said they all ate
together in their downtime and became friendly. She said they
talked all day every day. Donna was also close to
(01:38):
another inmate, Trina Bernhardt, as well as a couple more.
Donna did talk to her about the pending case. DMA
asked if she did what she was accused of, and
Donna said yes, to keep her grandchildren, but it wasn't
supposed to go that far. The prosecutor asked the witness
if she was ever in custody with Katie, and she
was for about a year, a year or two several
(02:01):
years ago. Donna wanted her to say that Katie told
her that they killed Dan because her boyfriend's family had money.
Donna wanted the inmate to tell this to investigators. Donna
promised the inmates she would get her a trailer with
some land, she would have Harvey fix her teeth, and
while in jail, she brought her canteen items she was
(02:23):
promised the other things if she spoke to investigators and
told them now. The witness spoke to her attorneys about
this and told them what she has testified to today.
Investigators also spoke to four other people about this. The
witness told her attorney about what Donna was asking her
to do, so an investigator from the State Attorney's office
came to talk to her and she recounted what she
(02:45):
said on the stand. She said Katie never said those
things to her. On cross asks is she remembers testifying
in a hearing on this matter a couple of weeks ago,
and he asked was the investigator white or black? The
witness said the investigat it was black. But the defense says,
do you remember testifying and hearing a couple of weeks
ago that shee was white? The witness says, yeah, I
(03:07):
was confused, and the defense says, confused by the question
or confused about the race of the investigator you spoke with.
The witness said, it was the question. I'm not sure
if they thought that would make her look bad, but
to me, it made them look bad. He asked if
she was in with Donna for six or seven months,
and how much of that time were you sleeping in
the bed.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Next to her?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
She said between three or four months. And the defense
says the jail records would reflect something different. Would that
be more accurate? And she says it could be. She
went to say something else, but the defense attorney cut
her off and they had no further question. So the
prosecution gets back up and says, finish what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
She was going to say.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
At some point they were moved into two separate pods,
but they were still in the same area, just not
next to each other. They were in the same room.
And the prosecutor asked, did you have downtime each day
and the pod together?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
The witness said she talked to Donna every day for
several months at a time, on a regular basis. Did
you ask Donna whether she wrote the checks to Katie
or whether she was guilty of what they accused her
of the witness said, I asked if she did what
they were accusing her of, and she said yes. That
was it for her. The next informant, Drina Bernhardt. She's
(04:19):
currently incarcerated in the Leon County Jail for two different
felony cases. She has not been promised anything by the
prosecution or any members of the prosecution team in exchange
for her testimony. She has been in and out of
jail quite a few times. She has twenty seven prior
convictions that are either felonies or crimes of dishonesty. She
(04:40):
was in jail with Donna for around four months, in
the same pod the entire time. She said it's easier
to become friendly with people in a pod because everybody's together.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Twenty four to seven. She said.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Initially her friendship with Donna was very nice, and Donna
called her her jail daughter, and they got very close.
They talked about person things like their lives, and Donna
nicknamed her Sunshine, which ironically is what she called her
grandson's Remember, Donna told the kids, your dad's trying to
take my sunshines away. Also, if you go back and
(05:13):
look into Wendy's senior yearbook, ad there is a photo
of Wendy and underneath it says Sunshine. They bring in
a notebook that has letters that Donna wrote to her.
On the back, it says, I hope your life will
be filled with love, joy and flowers. You deserve only
the best because you are the best, Love Donna. The
witness would make art for Donna, and she told the
(05:35):
witness that she is very close with her grandchildren and
every now and then she would even call them her children.
Donna would bring up her case to the witness often
and mostly daily. At one point, the witness reached out
to law enforcement to report some of the things Donna
had been saying to her about the case. She admits
initially she did it for selfish reasons, but the more
(05:56):
time she's spent with Donna, she realized it was morally
correct and she just wanted to get justice for the
Markel family. She felt it was just the right thing
to do. She admits she hoped to get a lighter
sentence in doing this in the first place. Donna told
the witness that she was worried about her son Rob testifying,
Donna knew that the witness knew Katie. Donna tried to
(06:19):
recruit her to become a witness for her in this case.
She asked if she would be willing to, and the
witness said she would. This was discussed a lot. Donna
wanted the witness to testify about several things regarding Katie,
and in fact, Donna prepared a script of exactly what
she wanted the witness to testify to. This was written
in that notebook that belongs to the witness. The first part,
(06:42):
how did you know who Donna Adelson was? And the
answer She's been on the news. I've seen and heard
about this on some TV and read it in the
newspaper over the years. The prosecutor asked the witness do
you read newspapers and she says no. The witness also
knew nothing about Donna or her case before meeting her
in jail. Donna told her to copy down the script
(07:03):
in her own handwriting and give it back to her.
The witness provided this to the prosecutor's office. The next
section of what Donna wrote down as the script is
that the witness approached Donna and told her she had
information about Katie that she wanted to give her. The
prosecutor asks, is that true, and she says no. It
goes on to say, Katie told you that she told
(07:25):
Charlie the night of the murder that some friends of
hers went to Tallahassee and killed him. Katie asked Charlie
to give her the one third of a million dollars
that he was going to pay his sister so that
she could relocate with her children to Miami, and then
Charlie went crazy on her. He said this was going
to be an offer to his brother in law not
to kill him, but she convinced him. The murderers think
(07:47):
a woman is paying for this. They don't know Charlie.
Katie told him she wouldn't tell her friends who he
is the reason to keep him safe. He opened to
safe and gave her stacks of money, and then she
told him he could pay her the resting cash. She
said he was giving her three thousand dollars every month.
She laughed about how easy it was to extort him.
(08:07):
And the word extort is underlined. Remember Charlie's defense, I
was extorted. The witnesses asked if Donna is insinuating here
that Katie is his friend when she really wasn't. The
witness is like, I suppose the witness is not familiar
at all with Charlie's trial or his testimony. The prosecutor
keeps reading the script, saying he wouldn't have to take
(08:28):
her out to a fancied dinner. She could buy plenty
of fancy dinners with the one third of one million.
She says, she fooled her baby daddy, and she fooled Charlie.
Sigfredo would do anything for her, and he did. Charlie
was scared and easy to extort.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
What a stupid fool.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
He believed her that she was keeping him safe from
the killers. Ha ha, what a joke. Well, the prosecutor
asked the witness, is this any kind of language Katie
would use?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And she's like nope.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
The prosecutor asked, is this what Donna wanted you to
come into this trial to testify?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And she says yes. Now.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
As far as payment for this testimony, while in jail,
she did receive commissary as well as Donna allowing her
to use her account to make phone calls. She also
offered her a baby grand piano, cameras, and pills. Donna
gave her the name of a doctor who Donna said
would write her prescriptions. Donna said the money would be
(09:23):
sent by Harvey through the Zell app, and Donna said
the two of them could communicate through a phone app
called Signal. The witness had never heard of the Signal app.
Now I had a listener remind me of this today.
I'd totally forgotten. But at one of Donna's bond hearings
where she took the stand, if you guys remember, she
said she was being extorted by inmates for commissary. Clearly
(09:47):
that was a lie, and also the fact that this
woman is a recovering addict, and Donna uses that to
try to convince her to life for her in this trial.
Just low on cross. The defense says, you said you
weren't given anything for your testimony, But isn't it true
you were released from jail February eleventh of this year
as a result of your cooperation in this manner. The
(10:10):
witness doesn't know if it was a result of her cooperation,
but that's when she was released. She's asked if she
sent a letter to a detective in December of twenty
twenty four saying she had information about Donna, that she
had cooperated in the past, and she wanted to do
it again. So as a result of that, December eighteenth,
the detective came to meet with you, and on December twentieth,
(10:32):
you were taken to the State Attorney's office to meet there,
and as a result of that conversation, you were released
February eleventh. The witness again says, I don't know if
that's why or if that's how it works. She's asked
if she knew the previous witness, Patricia Bird, and were
they friends on the outside, and she said nope, just
on the inside. She's asked if when she ended her
(10:53):
conversation at the State Attorney's office did she say, did
I do a good job?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
She said she did.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They go through her criminal record and her conviction was
for one kind of burglary, and they talk about the
mandatory sentencing.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
She was brought in on a probation violation.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
All this stuff really is just to dirty up this
witness for the jury. I'm not gonna regurgitate all that,
but ultimately she is facing a fifteen year mandatory day
for day sentence unless she could meet an agreement with
the state. Then you meet Donna, you get out of
jail free card, and you friend her and you ask
her questions about her case. The witness said, no, she
(11:32):
offered it to me and I would listen. The defense
your testimony here today is that you did not ask
her questions. She says, I can't remember. I may have
asked one or two. We were locked up together a
long time, but I did not go to her constantly
asking questions. Isn't it true when you met with law
enforcement on December twentieth of twenty twenty four, a few
(11:53):
days prior to this, you sat down in the location
in the pod to engage in a lengthy conversation with Donna,
and you told them you made sure to sit where
a camera would catch you while you sat with my
client going over paperwork. And the witness is like, yep, Defense,
you wanted to make sure they could get you on
video with my client. And she says, yes, did you
(12:15):
tell my client she was naive about gel And the
witness is like yes, And can I just say totally
agree with this witness? The defense wants her to explain
how it came to be that Donna wrote the script
down that they're introducing as evidence. The witness said, Donna
wrote it and said I was supposed to go over
it and practice it on redirect. The prosecutor points out
(12:36):
that the witness has her own defense attorney and she
is working with a prosecutor on her case, but not
their prosecution team. She had a five year plea offer
at some point, and as we sit here.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Today, do you have a plea offer?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And she says no, She's waiting to get a new
plea offer, but not from this prosecution team. One thing
I forgot to mention is the defense attorney asked if
she wrote that script herself, meaning the witness, and the
prosecutor asked, do you even know any of that story
to tell?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And she said no.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
The next witness is a handwriting expert who looked at
the written script compared to known handwriting samples of Donna's,
and to make a long story short, she concluded both
handwriting samples were in fact Donna SU's. The last witness
of the days, Sergeant Corbett back on the stand. They
go back through the script that Donna wrote for these inmates,
(13:30):
and they brought in a little more of the script
that Donna had wrote. This is where Charlie threatened to
go to the police. It said, I told him if
he went to the police, these murderers would kill him.
And if they don't get you, they'll kill your mom
or your dad. And you should have seen the look
on his face. He turned white, he was scared, crapless.
But she said she convinced him that the murderers think
(13:52):
this is a woman paying for this. They don't know Charlie,
and she told him she would not tell her friends
who he is in order to keep him safe. Now,
Charlie testified he gave Katie one hundred and thirty eight
thousand dollars the night of the murder or the next morning,
So they go through what money Charlie did actually give Katie.
(14:12):
Charlie testified he gave her one hundred and thirty eight
thousand dollars cash the night of the murder or the
next morning. The rest was supposed to be three thousand
dollars a month. Over time, that would be one thousand
a month in paychecks from the Adelson Institute and then
two thousand in cash. In his testimony, he said Katie
told him the money would be going to the hitman
(14:33):
and not her. He testified he told his mother about
the extortion in September of twenty fourteen. They point out
the word extortion is written twice in this document and
underlined for emphasis. When they got Donna's cell phone, they
ran the Celebrate extraction and pulled some data off of there.
Charlie's trial began October sixteenth of twenty twenty three, and
(14:55):
a week before his trial started, they found Donna googled
stortion versus blackmail? What is the difference? The prosecutor asks
if Charlie testified they were being extorted since twenty fourteen,
and the witness says yes. So they go through a
timeline of Charlie's trial. October twenty fourth of twenty twenty
(15:15):
three is when there were opening statements and the first witnesses.
November second, Charlie got on the stand and testified in
his own defense. They found a text message between Wendy
and Donna where they agree Charlie's testimony was right about
being extorted. Right before this exchange, Wendy put up a
prayer hands emoji. Donna's response to that was, we shouldn't
(15:38):
have to pray. He's telling the truth, protected his little
sister for years, suffers through this, and now what prayer hands?
I think it's kind of big there that insinuation. The
prosecution notes that this text was about four days after
Charlie testified, but before a verdict was rendered. They also
point out Rob was not a witness at Charlie's trial,
(16:01):
so the only person Wendy was a little sister to
in this context would be Charlie. They also show that
she sent a lot of messages to different family members
and friends saying finally the truth is out. They put
a bunch of these on the screen and note they
were all sent out in a relatively short timeframe to
each person. Then they show some other texts. She would say,
(16:25):
have you been watching the last forty five minutes? Finally
the truth comes out. Dan just proved extortion. It's easy
when you're telling the truth, listening to what really happened. Finally,
but his attorney will speak for him and finally the
truth will come out. In a text on November first,
Donna texts Wendy and says, I'm sorry this has been
(16:45):
our life for so many years. It's been torture. But
your lawyer didn't want you to know what happened. I
think if you did, our relationship and yours with Charlie
would have been much different. I hope he knew what
he was doing. Your testimony was crucial. Li's see what
a jury does to him and the rest of us.
You know I'm next, but that won't happen. I'll take
(17:09):
care of it. So obviously, they go back through all
the communications to see if there really was any extortion happening.
They looked at phone records after the murder, starting July nineteenth.
That was the day after Katie would have told Charlie
he was being extorted, They point out in the text
messages the day after the murder, Charlie and Katie are
(17:29):
talking headed to the gym. Asked if she's taking her
kids to the beach, and she replied it's beautiful, but
probably the pool.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Charlie tells her to have a nice day. Guess what.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No mention of extortion, no mention of bad guys or money,
and Charlie does not seem angry or in fear. The
week following the murder, they show another text about Charlie
getting someone to call him prescription shampoo for Katie. Charlie
tells her sweet dreams. She says, have a good day.
Their smiley faces. He says, you two again no mention
(18:00):
of being extorted, bad guys or money. They also point
out between twenty fourteen and twenty sixteen they stayed in contact,
and they show examples of her giving him relationship advice,
telling him he would make a great dad. Charlie tells
her he loves her in October of twenty fourteen, and
he said, it makes me feel good that you care
(18:20):
about me. I'm very lucky to have you as a
part of my life. Katie says she'll always care about him.
February twenty fifteen, Katie tells him I always know how
to make you smile, and he says, yes, you do.
February twenty fourth of twenty fifteen, Katie says I love
you and Charlie responds, I love you too. Later that year,
(18:41):
more friendly exchanges some happy birthdays, Thank you for helping me,
I love you, Charlie says he can't wait to have
lunch with her. You're the best. I'm lucky to have
you as a friend for life. In another text, Charlie
says he misses her. There are some inside jokes exchanged.
They talk about Charlie and Katie speaking on the phone
after Sigfredo's arrest and nothing.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
To suggest extortion.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So once they got Donna's phone and they ran the
celebrate on it, there was evidence that she and Charlie
had communicated for several years using WhatsApp, which is very
hard to get records from because of the encryption. They
found some WhatsApp messages after Donna's arrest that they previously
did not have. One is from July one, twenty sixteen.
(19:28):
This would be after Sigfredo and Rivera's arrest. Starting with Charlie,
it says, no, it's in the paper from yesterday, and
I spoke to Marcus, who was his attorney at the time,
this morning and he said it's not official yet, but
it's looking that way. After he spoke to Sigfredo's attorney,
by chance, walking out of the building, he ran straight
into Katie.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Charlie says, what a small world.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
This means that Charlie's attorney and Sigfreda's attorney we're talking.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And he's letting Donna know that.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
In the message, Charlie says to Donna, it's a small world,
and Donna says it is. Charlie said that they just
said hi to each other and shook hands. And her
attorney introduced himself. He said that Katie was so nice
and beautiful, and Donna says, like all your girlfriends. In August,
they found more WhatsApp messages. Charlie says, did you see
(20:17):
in the paper where the state star witness that rented
the hotel room is a convicted cocaine dealer. Maybe those
guys were just up in Tallahassee buying drugs and in
the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe the coke
dealer did it because Danny did not pay for his drugs,
just like he stiffed everybody else he did business with.
(20:37):
This whole thing is just crazy. Donna says she didn't
see that and asked what paper again. The state points out,
according to Charlie, both he and Donna have been extorted
for almost a year and a half. This message appears
to show the two of them discussing another.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Theory for the murder besides the extortion.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Back to the text messages, Charlie tells Donna that this
was in the Tallahassee Democrat and Donna says, wow, I've
stopped reading everything. The text continues, and Charlie says the
guy admitted to selling them cocaine and hanging out with them.
Donna says, OMG. Charlie says, so a convicted felon who
is still selling drugs is their star witness Again, no
(21:17):
mention of extortion. On November six, twenty twenty three, Donna
texts Wendy and says there's a verdict. Wendy replies, I
love you very much, call if you feel like you can.
Donna says, your brother protected you for years and now
you're not guilty. Your lawyer took very good care of you.
You can bury me in the dress that I bought
(21:38):
for Lincoln's bar Mitzvah. After the verdict, they found evidence
in Donna's phone that they were planning to flee the country.
There is a conversation they show on WhatsApp between Donna
and a representative from a Vietnam visa company regarding Donna
getting a visa for herself and Harvey.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
The prosecutor said this chat.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Is very, very lengthy and they're not going to go
through all of it at this time, but one text says, Hi, Daisy,
I'm trying to get a fast track emergency visa for Vietnam.
I filled everything out on the online application, and I
filled out the visa option. I want the fastest I
can get. I put the application details with our photos.
(22:18):
This is for Donna and Harvey Adelson. There's some back
and forth where they ask, did you go to this
site to do this?
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I just don't see how to pay for this. Donna says,
if I do not get there until the twelfth or
thirteenth of November, is that a problem. I'm putting down
November eleventh as the day to arrive. They talk a
bit about how long her visa will be for, and
Donna wants it for ninety days and clarifies a ninety
day multi entrance visa. But Donna finds out there is
(22:48):
not enough time to get a ninety day visa because
immigration doesn't work on the weekends. Wherever this is going through,
Donna's reply is, if we get a thirty day visa,
can I extend it? Why while I'm in Vietnam? And
the response is, we can't arrange ninety day multiple entry
and send it to you at the end of next Monday.
(23:08):
You must leave and re enter with your new visa.
The ninety day visa, by the way, would have put
it February seventh as when it expired. Donna responds, okay,
I'll take it, and she mentions the ninety day multiple
entry is what she would like. As fast as possible,
She says, next Monday will be fine. The service responds,
(23:30):
telling Donna to send some information as follows, a passport copy,
a portrait image, your email, your checkpoint, airport, the arrival
day after receiving your information, and then we will send
you the payment.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Link to you.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
After she sends all this, we will process and send
it for you on time. On Monday, November twelve, this
is the day before she's due to leave. There is
the question from the agency, what is your flight number?
Donna gives it to her and says from Dubai and
then from Dubai to hochy Men City. Donna responds in
(24:07):
caps now it's almost ten am on Sunday. We take
flight out tomorrow at eight pm. That's thirty hours, but
we must be there a few hours early. I'm worried
it will not be in our email in time. Please
anything you can do to make it arrive sooner. They
tell Donna they will send the e visas to her
(24:27):
within twenty one hours from now. It's fine for your flight.
Please don't worry, Donna says, okay, thank you for reassuring me.
She does get that visa November thirteenth, at five twenty
eight am for both her and Harvey. As far as
some things they found, because Donna writes down everything, they
found a note to self to cancel all Amazon deliveries.
(24:50):
They found a note in her apartment to Wendy with
those instructions on how to sell the weapon that they
found in the search warrant.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
And they also see.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
On November ninth, days after the verdict, she puts down
the visa, and three days after the verdict a list
of things to sell like jewelry, dishes, implants, comics. There
are notes about packing for Vietnam, canceling disability insurance, and
she wanted Dan Rashbaum to tell Charlie about them going
(25:20):
to Vietnam on the private attorney line. There's an entry
in the planner about child support for Charlie's son. They
wanted to pay that in advance through November of twenty
twenty five. There is a note to tell Wendy to
do expenses for the three properties.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
And enter that into the computer.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
They bring in the text from Donna to Wendy about
needing to talk about her business stuff, and on November tenth,
Donna texted Wendy to contact cards saying she needed this information.
One is for an attorney for a condo in a
certain tower. On November seventh, in a message to a friend,
Donna says, I'm copying you on different emails and things
(25:59):
that you may not understand, but just check with me later.
I'll explain everything. Please check if there's any chance you
could get down here by possibly Thursday, but don't book
a final ticket please. There's so much we have to
go over with you. The same day, November seventh, I
won't know for about another three hours if that will work.
(26:21):
That's why I'm holding off on talking to you. The
prosecution points out the day after Charlie's verdict, they found
on Donna's phone there were searches related to extradition and
Vietnam would have been listed. On that she googled lists
of US extradition treaties and some searches about how to
get to ho Chi Man City from five nearby airports.
(26:43):
This is the same day she first started the chat
for the emergency fast track visa. On cross. They talk
about things Donna listed to sell, like an implant motor,
the dishes in her closet, and the defense ask is
it unusual to keep dishes in the closet, and the
witness says pop possibly, But then he says, I have
to clarify that last answer because there are dishes in
(27:05):
my spare closet, and everybody in the courtroom laughs out loud.
The defense asked if law enforcement did not do a
good job of documenting the search forrant, and the witness
that he wasn't there. The defense points out there was
a piece of small luggage in that same closet as
the dishes, as the one pictured as being by the door.
The defense points out they have moved from Coral Springs
(27:27):
to this condo, and just because she's selling jewelry and comics,
it doesn't mean they're fleeing and stopping deliveries is something
people do when they're going out of town, and the
witness agrees the witness is not aware if there actually
was a trust set up for Charlie's son. There was
no evidence that donnamuve assets oversees, no evidence she was
moving out of the country opposed to getting a ninety
(27:49):
day visa. But the witness said the evidence he observed
from the messages, as well as business being taken care of,
it was a lengthy time to be away. The defense
asked if the time type of visa Donna gott means
you can come and go.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Is there any evidence that my client was aware of
the friendly text between Charlie and Katie. No. The defense
points out there's a lot of slides of just Charlie
running his mouth.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
On redirect they talk about that article it was published
July sixteenth, twenty sixteen. In a text to Donna, Charlie said,
there's good news in the paper yesterday. It talks about
the murder of Dan and how Rivera and Garcia were arrested.
In the article, a family friend of the Adelsons is
quoted in there. He says, I don't think there's going
(28:35):
to be any more arrests, and I think this is
going to be a speedy trial. Prosecution points out if
Charlie and Donna are referencing this paper is good news
to them because their friend says there probably won't be
any more arrest The witness said all of the communications
after the conviction had a sense of urgency. He's asked,
did Donna look for non extradition countries?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yes? Was Vietnam the country? She? Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
After this, the state rests, the judge tell of the defense.
I think you know who you're intending to call on Tuesday.
But we can discuss that Tuesday morning. Is it gonna
be Donna, Please, Baby Jesus, let it be Donna so
I can be home for that and cover that because
that's gonna be huge. Also, just a reminder, no court
(29:23):
on Monday. So that's it. We are caught up, y'all.
Thank you so much for being patient with me. Mom, life,
granddaughter life. Everything just been coming at me from all
angles this week. But you know what, I am sitting
here as blessed as I can be, so I ain't complaining.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
I hope you
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Guys have a good Sunday and a great Labor Day
and we will see soon.
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