Judge in Dan Markel murder case approves subpoena for breast implant payment records
A judge in Florida has approved a subpoena for medical records showing who paid for breast enhancement surgery for a woman whose name has surfaced as a possible witness in the murder-for-hire case against two men accused of killing Florida State University law professor Dan Markel.
Judge James Hankinson of Leon County on Friday approved prosecutors’ request for subpoenas, but limited the information they could obtain about the breast enhancement surgery obtained by Katherine Magbanua, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
Prosecutors have said Magbanua had two children who were fathered by shooting suspect Sigfredo Garcia, and also had a personal relationship with Charlie Adelson, the brother of Markel’s ex-wife. Prosecutors claim Charlie Adelson paid for half of the implant surgery about three months after the murder. Garcia and Luis Rivera have been indicted on charges of murder in Markel’s slaying.
Hankinson said prosecutors could obtain records showing who paid for the procedure, how much was paid, and the dates of her visits to the doctor who did the surgery, according to the Tallahassee Democrat report.
A lawyer for Magbanua, Tara Kawass, said in court that the subpoena request was “a fishing expedition.” A lawyer for Charlie Adelson, David Markus, told the Tallahassee Democrat that the state’s bid for the medical records “exposes the utter absence of the state’s case in a pretty stark way and really shows how desperate the state is to make a case where none exists.”
Markel’s ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and other Adelson family members released a statement earlier this month saying they had nothing to do with the murder, and no evidence “supports this fanciful fiction that the Adelsons were involved.”
Above the Law links to an additional story on the ruling by WCTV.
