Donna Adelson's defense lawyers try to disqualify judge presiding over Dan Markel cases
The defense lawyers for Donna Adelson, an alleged mastermind in the murder-for-hire of Dan Markel, tried to get the presiding judge kicked off the case.
Adelson's attorneys, Jackie Fulford and Josh Zelman of Tallahassee, filed a motion under seal on April 11 asking Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett to be disqualified and replaced with a new judge.
On April 14, Everett denied the motion in a terse, one-page order.
'The motion is legally insufficient and therefore denied,' he wrote.
That same day, Adelson's lawyers filed a sealed amended motion again asking for Everett to be disqualified. He denied that order, too, on April 15.
The defense's legal argument is unknown because its motions to disqualify are not open and the lawyers haven't commented. Everett did not go into any details about their requests in his orders, which became publicly available on the Clerk of Court's website April 21 after the Tallahassee Democrat inquired about why the records were marked confidential online.
Donna Adelson is accused of plotting with her son, Charlie Adelson, to arrange the contract killing of Markel, their former in-law amid a bitter court battle with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson. Markel, a Florida State University law professor, was fatally shot in the garage of his Betton Hills home on July 18, 2014.
The request to remove Everett marked a twist in a case that has seen several of Donna Adelson's defense lawyers disqualified over conflicts of interest.
Her first attorney, Dan Rashbaum of Miami, was forced to withdraw last year on the same day jury selection was to begin in her trial because of conflicts involving his previous representation of her son.
Later, attorneys Alex Morris, who had worked with Rashbaum on the case, and Adam Komisar, both of Tallahassee, were disqualified.
Charlie Adelson was convicted at trial in 2023 and sentenced to life in prison by Everett. He is serving his sentence at a South Dakota prison, where he was transferred over security concerns. Three others, including the two hit men, were convicted earlier in the case.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Dan Markel murder: Donna Adelson lawyers try to disqualify judge
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