After just over three hours of deliberation, a Florida jury returned a resounding verdict Thursday, finding 75-year-old Donna Adelson guilty of orchestrating the 2014 murder-for-hire plot that claimed the life of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel.
The conviction makes Adelson the fifth individual tied to Markel’s killing. Prosecutors argued she conspired to eliminate her former son-in-law amid a bitter custody dispute between Markel and her daughter, Wendi Adelson, who had been seeking to relocate from Tallahassee to Miami with the couple’s two young sons.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the plot connected Adelson’s family directly to the murder through hired hitmen, a middleman, and her son Charlie Adelson, all of whom have already been convicted.
When the guilty verdict was read, the courtroom fell silent before Markel’s grieving parents addressed the court with emotional victim impact statements.
“We have lost a treasure,” Ruth Markel said. She urged the court to impose the harshest penalty, calling it “justice Dan’s life fully deserves.”
Her husband, Phil Markel, offered his own somber reflection: “For Donna, I wish her to live to 120, alone, in her jail cell.”
Adelson was convicted on all three counts: first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation, WCTV reported. A mandatory life sentence accompanies the murder conviction, with formal sentencing expected at a later date.
Her downfall came almost two years after she attempted to board a one-way flight to Vietnam, just days after her son Charlie Adelson’s conviction in the case. Federal agents intercepted her before departure, citing her as a flight risk.
In addition to Donna and Charlie Adelson, several others are already serving time. Charlie’s ex-girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua, along with hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, were previously convicted for their roles in the plot.
Dan Markel, a well-respected law professor, was found shot to death in the garage of his Tallahassee home on July 18, 2014. His killing shocked the legal community and drew national attention, not only because of its brutality but because it revealed a tangled web of family conflict, wealth, and betrayal.
With Donna Adelson’s conviction, prosecutors say justice has finally come full circle, though for Markel’s family, the pain remains permanent.
