Filipina to be tried in contract killing of a Florida professor

Kathy Magbanua is accused of a murder-for-hire conspiracy. SHERIFF’S OFFICE

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – A Filipina and his boyfriend will soon face trial on first-degree murder charges for the death of Dan Markel, a Florida State University law professor and one of America’s most eminent legal scholars.

Kathy Magbanua, 34, a mother of two, and his on-again off-again boyfriend Sigfredo Garcia, 37, will face trial for Markel’s murder. Garcia and an accomplice, Luis Rivera, allegedly waited for Markel in his driveway and shot him with a snub-nose pistol in exchange for a $100,000 payoff. Magbanua allegedly arranged the murder-for-hire scheme.

Cops say Donna Adelson and her son. Charlie, Wendi’s older brother, paid $100,000 to have Markel killed. According to law enforcement, the Adelsons hoped to free Wendi and her two pre-school-aged sons from Markel and move them to South Florida. But almost five years after the murder, neither has been criminally charged, according to Miami New Times.

Magbanua’s co-accused, boyfriend Sigfredo Garcia. SHERIFFS OFFIC

Police said there was a flurry of cell-phone calls between Charlie, Donna, and Magbanua around the time of the murder. Magbanua allegedly made cash deposits to her bank accounts over the next year of up to $2,000 at a time, about $44,000 total. Magbanua had also begun to receive checks from the Adelson dental practice in September 2014. The checks were signed by Donna Adelson.

Magbanua and Garcia have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder,

conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation to commit murder. They have been in the Leon County Jail since their arrests and will be tried together.

Magbanua and Garcia’s alleged accomplice Luis Rivera. SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Miami New Times quoted David Lat, a New York lawyer who has tracked the case from the beginning on his blog, Above the Law: “This is such an unusual situation, in that law enforcement is alleging a conspiracy but only some members of that conspiracy have been charge.

“If Garcia or Magbanua are convicted in Tallahassee, they might be inclined to cooperate with the state — if they have information, that is. “If they implicate the Adelsons, the case will be much stronger,” Lat says. “So, I don’t think the Adelsons are out of the legal woods yet.”