Jury Convicts Murder Matriarch On All Counts As Judge Yells, 'Mrs. Adelson, Control Yourself!'

Описание: “Mrs. Adelson, control yourself.”

A jury in Tallahassee, Florida, has convicted Donna Adelson of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder for the 2014 contract murder of her former son-in-law, Dan Markel.

Judge Stephen Everett read the verdict about 7:40 p.m. EST today (Thursday, September 4, day 9) in Leon County Circuit Court. The jury deliberated for about three hours.

02:30 "Mrs. Adelson, while this was not the outcome, I'm sure that you desired, there will not be any further outbursts in front of the jury. If you cannot control yourself, I am going to have to determine if you will be removed from the remainder of this process. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

06:46 "Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank you for your time and consideration of this case."

09:20 "We would request an opportunity to ensure that our client is okay before we proceed to sentencing."

10:59 Dan's mother, Ruth Markel, speaks

Case background:

Donna Adelson, 75, is accused of orchestrating the murder-for-hire of her former son-in-law because she wanted her daughter and grandchildren to move to Miami.

Adelson is accused of conspiring with her son Charlie Adelson more than a decade ago to hire hitmen to kill Dan Markel, who was a Florida State University law professor and the father of her two young grandsons.

Her defense is that she had no knowledge of what hitmen Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia were going to do, and that prosecutors are only focusing on her hatred for Markel to show she had a motive to want him murdered, when there's no evidence she was actually involved.

Rivera, a former gang leader, is serving a 19-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and testifying against Garcia, who fired the fatal shots, as well as the woman who linked Garcia to the victim: Katherine "Katie" Magbanua, who was Garcia's on-again, off-again girlfriend and also was in a relationship with Adelson's son Charlie Adelson.

Garcia was convicted in 2019 and Magbanua in 2022.

Rivera also testified in Charlie Adelson's trial in 2023, and Adelson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. After their son's trial, Donna Adelson and her husband, Harvey, bought one-way tickets to Vietnam. Police arrested her on the jetway at Miami International Airport on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder.

Her trial is expected to go through Sept. 5 in Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Florida.

Donna Adelson's lawyers are Josh Zelman and Jackie Fulford of Tallahassee. Assistant State Attorneys Georgia Cappleman and Sarah Kathryn Dugan are prosecuting.

The judge is Stephen Everett, who is the chief judge of Florida's 2nd Judicial Circuit.
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