The third day of the trial for FSU Professor Dan Markel who was shot down in his driveway is taking place today at Leon County’s Courthouse. Wendi Adelson is Dan Markel’s ex-wife. Jeffrey Lacasse, who she was dating around the time of the murder, testified today. Many contradictions were noticed between what he and Wendi Adelson who testified Friday had to say.
Wendi Adelson and Jeffrey Lacasse became a couple in September of 2014. Lacasse says things became more serious in their relationship, he met her family and specifically Charlie Adelson, and visited his home.
He says that’s when he learned he hung out with people who were up to no good.
"And then when he’s off work he’s going out he’s hanging out at the gym with less savory people?" asked Chris DeCoste, Sigfredo Garcia's attorney.
"Yeah, that was sort of his characterization I was sort of repeating what he said," stated Lacasse.
"In your words, less savory individuals," mentioned Decoste.
"Well not less savory - gritty. I don’t remember his exact words but gritty something like that. But yeah that’s how he presented himself in that hot tub. It seemed to be a braggadocios type of thing, like look at me I’m on both sides," explains Lacasse.
He says also while at the house he saw Charlie Adelson’s car collection.
"Well Wendi used to talk about Charlie having a Ferrari. I mean that was she would say my brother’s a character he has a Ferrari; he has an undercover cop car; he a nice Benz in addition or some luxury car," said Lacasse.
"So she knew what a Ferrari was?"asked Saam Zangeneh, Garcia's attorney.
"Sure," responded Lacasse.
This contradicts what Wendi said Friday when testifying about her brother’s cars.
"I knew he had a fancy car I just don’t remember if it was Porsche or if it was a Ferrari, it was something fancy," said Adelson.
That’s not the only contradiction either. On Friday, she said she was relieved she had to stay in Tallahassee. Lacasse, however, says she complained often about not being allowed to relocate.
"She didn’t talk directly about relocating because she knew that was no longer a possibility," said Lacasse. "But the other side of that coin, how unhappy she was and how frustrated she was by the child custody, were issues that came up if not every day, every week. They came up very frequently."
He also says that when they met at RedEye Coffee on Thomasville Rd. to speak about their relationship and where it was headed, her mind was on a different subject.
“On July 13th, 2014, Wendi and I were speaking and she asked if she could share something with me confidentially. I told her sure," said Lacasse. "She mentioned or she said that Charlie had explored all options to take care of the problem and that he had looked into having Professor Markel killed. It would cost about 15 thousand dollars. I later talked to Investigator Isom and I told him it could’ve been 50 thousand, they sound an awful lot alike.”
He says that was the same day she asked to take a break from the relationship. Dan Markel was killed 5 days later.
