Prosecutor questions Florida dentist’s claim he was extorted, not a murder-for-hire mastermind

By BRENDAN FARRINGOTN
Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida dentist on trial in his ex-brother-n-law’s slaying says he never explained to authorities that he was a victim of extortion rather than the mastermind behind a 2014 murder-for-hire plot because no one asked him to reveal the truth. Prosecutors contend Charles Adelson paid to have Florida State University law professor Dan Markel killed after Adelson’s sister lost a bitter custody battle. At his trial on Friday, Adelson admitted that he paid the killers money after the fact — but only because he was being threatened. He said he didn’t say anything because he thought he would be killed too, and authorities never asked him to testify when three others were convicted in the slaying.