Katie Magbanua, the person convicted of being the go-between connecting the hired guns who murdered Florida State law prof Dan Markel with the people who hired them, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, plus 60 years. The people who used her to hire the killers were - authorities believe - Donna Adelson and Charlie Adelson, the mother and brother of Dan's ex-wife Wendi Adelson. They wanted Dan out of the way so Wendi could get sole custody of their two sons. The actual killers were convicted some time ago, and one of them has turned state's evidence. Charlie Adelson is scheduled to go on trial next year.
Prosecutors have long sought to get Magbanua to testify against the Adelsons. They now have the maximum leverage they are ever going to get. Making a deal for a lighter sentence is probably the only way Magbanua can now avoid spending the rest of her life in prison. It will be interesting to see if she now does try to make a deal. Obviously, her credibility as a witness will be dubious, given that she spent two trials (the first ending in a hung jury) claiming she is innocent, and had nothing to do with the murder-for-hire plot.
