The matriarch of a wealthy South Florida family was scolded in court after she was found guilty of plotting the murder of her former son-in-law – a prominent law professor who was locked in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife when he was gunned down in 2014.
Jurors returned guilty verdicts in the weekslong trial of Donna Adelson, 75, on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the death of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel.
The case had riveted attention in Florida for more than a decade amid sordid details of a messy divorce, tensions with wealthy in-laws and custody fights leading to the killing.
When the judge announced that the jury had convicted Adelson of first-degree murder, the defendant exclaimed, ‘Oh!’ and started shaking and crying.
The jury was then taken out of the courtroom and Florida Second Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen Everett gave Adelson a two-minute break to collect herself.
‘Mrs. Adelson, control yourself,’ he told her warning her that he would remove her from if she did not, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
‘While this was not the outcome I´m sure that you desire, there will not be any further outbursts in front of the jury.’
Following the verdict, Ruth Markel, Daniel Markel’s mother, spoke about her profound sadness and grief she felt following her son’s untimely death.
Donna Adelson started shaking and crying as she was found guilty for plotting the murder of her son-in-law Daniel Markel on Thursday
Adelson was convicted of helping orchestrate Markel’s death as he was engaged in a bitter custody battle with her daughter, Wendi Adelson
‘We have lost a treasure. My son Dan’s life was cut tragically short at 41 years old,’ she said. ‘For 11 years we have been forced to a life filled with unimaginable pain and heartbreak.’
She then said she wanted a judge to impose the maximum sentence of life in prison, which she the heartbroken mother said is the ‘justice Dan’s life fully deserved.’
Daniel Markel and Wendi Adelson were divorced and shared custody of their two children, but she had wanted to move them more than 370 miles from Tallahassee to South Florida to be closer to the rest of her family. A judge ruled, however, that Wendi Adelson couldn´t move the children, and Markel refused to relocate.
Prosecutors had argued at trial that Donna Adelson helped orchestrate Markel´s killing after he stood in the way of letting her daughter and two young grandsons make the move south.
The judge said sentencing would come ‘at a later date,’ but scheduled case management for Oct. 14.
Adelson was the fifth person put on trial for what prosecutors cast as a murder-for-hire plot to kill Markel. Among those already serving a life sentence for the killing is Donna Adelson´s son, Charles Adelson.
Wendi Adelson denied involvement in the killing and has not been charged.
At trial, prosecutors had painted Donna Adelson as the calculated and controlling matriarch of an affluent South Florida family with the means and motive to orchestrate the killing of the ex-son-in-law she ‘hated.’
Defense attorneys insisted the state didn´t have sufficient evidence to link the aging grandmother to the murder plot, instead emphasizing the roles played by others and casting suspicion on two of Adelson´s adult children.
Charles Adelson is serving a life sentence, as is his ex-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua. Prosecutors said Magbanua served as the go-between for the two men hired to carry out the killing, Sigfredo Garcia, who was sentenced to life in prison, and Luis Rivera, who is serving a 19-year sentence after cooperating with the state.
