The matriarch of a wealthy South Florida family was convicted Thursday of murder in the killing of her former son-in-law, a prominent law professor originally from Toronto, 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 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the killing of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel in Tallahassee where he taught. 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.
“While this was not the outcome I’m sure that you desire, there will not be any further outbursts in front of the jury,” he told her.
In an impact statement after the verdict, Daniel Markel’s mother, Ruth Markel, spoke about her profound sadness and grief after her son’s death.
“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 live a life filled with unimaginable pain and heartbreak.”
Daniel Markel and Wendi Adelson were divorced and shared custody of their two children, but she had wanted to move them nearly 600 kilometres 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.”
Defence attorneys insisted the state didn’t have sufficient evidence to link Donna Adelson 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 co-operating with the state.
