As jury selection looms, last-minute hearing held in Donna Adelson murder trial
The hearing was held Aug. 18 on the eve of jury selection in Donna Adelson's trial. She is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 contract killing of Dan Markel, Wendi Adelson's ex-husband and the defendant's former son-in-law.
Prosecutors contend that after Wendi Adelson and Markel's acrimonious divorce, the Adelson family wanted him out of the way so she could relocated to South Florida with their two children.
Both the state and the defense subpoenaed Wendi Adelson for her testimony at trial. Her attorney, John Lauro of Tampa, wrote in an Aug. 13 motion that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights and not testify at all were it not for the state subpoena, which grants her immunity from prosecution based on any testimony she might give in court.
Lauro asked the court to quash the defense subpoena because it doesn't issue such immunity. He also asked to allow Wendi Adelson to place a statement on the record before her testimony, which Everett also granted.
Jackie Fulford, one of Donna Adelson's attorneys, argued that Wendi Adelson should be allowed to answer certain questions by the defense that she wouldn't be "taking a chance on" or that wouldn't place her in legal jeopardy.
"She's the daughter of our client," Fulford said.
But Lauro said the defense was making the same argument that had been made in previous trials involving Markel defendants and that Circuit Judge Robert Wheeler and the 1st District Court of Appeal had ruled against it.
"I indicated to the court then, as I do now, that Ms. Adelson will assert her Fifth Amendment rights with respect to any relevant question asked by the defense," Lauro said.
Donna Adelson's son, Charlie Adelson, was convicted in 2023 for the same three crimes prosecutors say she committed. He is serving a life sentence in South Dakota, though he was transferred recently to the Leon County Detention Facility under a state subpoena to testify. Three others have also been convicted in the notorious murder.
After ruling on Wendi Adelson's subpoena, Everett took up different trial matters during a closed-door hearing. One of the matters may involve a defense motion to suppress testimony from a jailhouse snitch who was in conversations with Donna Adelson and others at the Leon County Detention Facility.
Tallahassee police, the FBI and prosecutors investigated allegations starting last year that Donna Adelson had offered to pay for witness testimony in her trial. The defense is trying to block testimony from one of the witnesses, Drina Bernhardt, because she allegedly acted as an agent of the state when she went beyond listening to conversations with Adelson to asking questions about the case.
GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE:
The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Donna Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on Tallahassee.com and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Donna Adelson trial: Judge settles fight over daughter's testimony
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ghanaian music star Shatta Wale detained over Lamborghini purchase
Popular Ghanaian musician Shatta Wale has been detained in an investigation linked to his purchase of a luxury car, the Ghanaian authorities have said. Wale's yellow Lamborghini was seized earlier this month at the request of the US, which alleged that the vehicle was tied to the proceeds of a criminal enterprise. Ghana's Economic and Organised Crime Office (Eoco) said Wale voluntarily entered custody on Wednesday and was subsequently questioned over the car. Wale's management did not mention the US' allegations in their statement, saying instead that the artist was detained over "tax obligations". The 2019 Lamborghini Urus was identified by the FBI and US justice department as being linked to "a $4m ($3m) crime involving one Nana Kwabena Amuah, a Ghanaian who is currently serving jail in the USA", Eoco said on Thursday. Wale has denied knowing or being connected to Amuah, who received a seven-year sentence for fraud in 2023. Shatta Wale: Why Ghana's 'dancehall king' is trying Afrobeats He said he was a "third-party owner" of the $150,000 (£110,000) car and that he did not know who had shipped it to the country. Wale, real name Charles Nii Armah, is one of Ghana's best-known musicians. He has built a hugely successful career on Jamaica's dancehall sound, and boosted his global profile by collaborating with Beyoncé on her 2019 song Already. After being questioned, Wale was granted bail of 10,000,000 Ghanaian cedis (£910,00; £675,000), Eoco said. It added that the musician would remain in custody until the agency confirms that the sureties specified in the bail could be met. Meanwhile, a small crowd of Wale's fans gathered outside Eoco's offices in the capital city Accra on Wednesday to show solidarity with the musician. Eoco previously said Wale's Lamborghini would be returned to the US to aid in the restitution of Amuah's victims. Amuah and his co-conspirators had impersonated vendors to defraud nearly 70 public and private organisations across the country, US court records show. On Wednesday, Wale's management urged fans to remain calm and avoid speculation while the musician remained in detention. "We want to assure all fans and the general public that his legal team is fully engaged and actively working with the authorities to resolve this matter," the statement said. The seizure of Wale's car is part of a broader operation - Ghana has been working with the US to dismantle an international fraud network that targets Americans. This month, the FBI and US Justice Department extradited and arrested three Ghanaian nationals alleged to be the masterminds of a $100m fraud scheme, which involved romance scams and phishing attacks. You may also be interested in: WATCH: Why do so many catfishing scams come out of West Africa? Ghana's love affair with reggae and Jamaican Patois 'I was duped into leaving London for school in Ghana - but it saved me' Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Africa Daily Focus on Africa
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
A law professor was stalked and killed by hit men. His former mother-in-law is now on trial for the 2014 contract killing
More than a decade after two hit men stalked and killed a law professor in Florida, the alleged mastermind of the murder-for-hire plot is now on trial – the victim's former mother-in-law. Donna Adelson, 75, once accustomed to a life of luxury in Miami, faces a first-degree murder charge as well as conspiracy and solicitation to commit first-degree murder for the 2014 death of Dan Markel, who was fatally shot twice in the head while in his car in his Tallahassee garage. Markel, 41, a Harvard law grad, was a prominent Florida State University professor who shared custody of his two toddlers with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, in an ongoing custody dispute after their messy 2013 divorce, according to court documents. Donna Adelson's trial comes after four other co-conspirators, including her son, were convicted in the scheme that prosecutors allege the 'overbearing matriarch' put in motion. Adelson has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, and her attorney indicated in a recent pretrial hearing that she'll take the stand. She faces life in prison if convicted on all counts. The subject of a true-crime podcast and television specials, the complicated case has unfolded over the years in the form of four trials and a plea deal. Adelson's trial is among this summer's criminal cases of intrigue, highlighted by the Karen Read and Diddy verdicts, Bryan Kohberger's guilty plea and the ongoing Luigi Mangione saga. Prosecutors in Adelson's case will seek to prove she tasked her son Charles Adelson with handling the logistics and she helped fund the plot, which cost over $100,000. Adelson counted on Charles to solve problems, including her daughter's ugly custody battle, prosecutors allege. Adelson, who lived with her husband in a luxury Miami condo, had the means to fund a murder plot with their son, who worked with them at the family's thriving dentistry practice, according to court documents. The two hit men who carried out the killing were arrested in 2016, but it took years and an FBI undercover sting operation encircling the Adelson family before Charles Adelson was arrested in 2022. Donna Adelson was arrested in November 2023 on a jetway at the Miami International Airport just days after her son's conviction. Adelson and her husband obtained rushed visas after the conviction and booked one-way tickets to Vietnam – a country without an extradition agreement with the US, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in her case. Shortly before her arrest, she was caught on a recorded jail phone line discussing with Charles her research into countries without extradition agreements, the affidavit says. Wendi and her father have not been charged in connection with Markel's murder. In 2013, after the divorce was finalized, Wendi Adelson, an attorney herself, hoped to relocate her sons to South Florida to be near her brother and parents. But a judge barred her from moving the kids away from Markel, who was based in Tallahassee, according to the affidavit. Florida prosecutors say Donna Adelson was the architect of a plan to remove Markel from the equation, determined to have her daughter and grandsons near her. In emails around the time of the divorce, Donna Adelson suggested that Wendi Adelson offer her ex-husband $1 million to let the kids relocate. Donna said she'd split the cost with Wendi and her brother Charles, who was also willing to chip in, according to records put in evidence at Charles' trial. Wendi testified at the trial that she never offered Markel the money, nor did her family, as far as she knew. About four months before Markel's death, Markel filed a motion in civil court to bar Donna Adelson from having unsupervised visits with her grandsons. Markel claimed that his former mother-in-law 'disparaged' Markel to his kids, writing in the motion that the kids said, 'Grandma says you're stupid … she says you're trying to take her sunshines away from her,' and, 'Grandma says she hates you.' Markel was murdered before the motion could be resolved, and Wendi moved with her kids to South Florida days after his death, according to court records. Wendi told investigators during her initial interview the day Markel was shot that her parents were angry with her ex-husband, court records show. And before Markel's death her brother Charles had joked about hiring a hit man to kill him, she confirmed on the stand during the trial. Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman told the jury at Charles Adelson's trial that he was 'the person that Donna Adelson relied on to solve her problems, and this was a big, big problem for Donna Adelson, and she made it (Charles') problem to solve.' Charles Adelson had an ex-girlfriend he knew had ties to the Latin Kings gang: Katherine Magbanua, who he was dating in 2014, ultimately was convicted in 2022 for her role in facilitating the murder plot. Her children's father, Sigfredo Garcia, was convicted of killing Markel. He had help from his longtime friend Luis Rivera, a known Latin Kings gang member, who took a plea deal in 2016 for charges tied to the murder plot and ultimately helped law enforcement tie Garcia, Magbanua and Charles Adelson to the crime, according to the probable cause affidavit. The night of the murder in July 2014, text message records show Donna Adelson had texted her son, 'outside your house,' the affidavit says. A short time later, Magbanua went to Charles Adelson's home to pick up the money she'd split with Garcia and Rivera. Charles told Magbanua that night that his parents had just dropped off the money before she arrived, according to court records. Magbanua testified at Charles' trial that he told her at the time his mother had 'washed' the money that was still damp and moldy as if it was physically washed. According to financial records, Magbanua received paychecks from the Adelson's family dentistry practice for more than a year after the murder, which were handwritten and signed by Donna Adelson. Magbanua also testified that she never actually worked for the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics & Implant Dentistry, but consistently received those checks until April 2016, around the time the FBI conducted an undercover operation to gather evidence against the Adelson family. The probable cause affidavit against Donna Adelson describes the FBI sting operation when an undercover agent approached her in person and followed up in a mailed letter and by phone, purporting to threaten Adelson with information about the murder-for-hire plot on behalf of Rivera, who was already in prison for another crime. The FBI also tapped phone calls and surveilled meetings of Charles and his mother – who was extremely upset by the confrontation – as well as between Charles and Magbanua, capturing conversations between Charles and the two women in which they'd reference the situation in code and considered whether to pay the person $5,000 for his silence, according to court records. The operation led to Magbanua's arrest in October 2016. Charles wasn't arrested until 2022 when investigators used new technology to clarify surveillance audio of one of his meetings with Magbanua revealing incriminating statements linking him to the murder plot, prosecutors have said. All four convicted co-conspirators – Charles Adelson, Magbanua and the two hired hit men – are expected to testify in the prosecution's case at Donna Adelson's televised trial. Wendi Adelson and her other brother are also expected to testify for the state, according to the witness list, though the judge ruled this week that Wendi won't have to be called by her mother's defense team to testify again in her mother's defense.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
A law professor was stalked and killed by hit men. His former mother-in-law is now on trial for the 2014 contract killing
More than a decade after two hit men stalked and killed a law professor in Florida, the alleged mastermind of the murder-for-hire plot is now on trial – the victim's former mother-in-law. Donna Adelson, 75, once accustomed to a life of luxury in Miami, faces a first-degree murder charge as well as conspiracy and solicitation to commit first-degree murder for the 2014 death of Dan Markel, who was fatally shot twice in the head while in his car in his Tallahassee garage. Markel, 41, a Harvard law grad, was a prominent Florida State University professor who shared custody of his two toddlers with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, in an ongoing custody dispute after their messy 2013 divorce, according to court documents. Donna Adelson's trial comes after four other co-conspirators, including her son, were convicted in the scheme that prosecutors allege the 'overbearing matriarch' put in motion. Adelson has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, and her attorney indicated in a recent pretrial hearing that she'll take the stand. She faces life in prison if convicted on all counts. The subject of a true-crime podcast and television specials, the complicated case has unfolded over the years in the form of four trials and a plea deal. Adelson's trial is among this summer's criminal cases of intrigue, highlighted by the Karen Read and Diddy verdicts, Bryan Kohberger's guilty plea and the ongoing Luigi Mangione saga. Prosecutors in Adelson's case will seek to prove she tasked her son Charles Adelson with handling the logistics and she helped fund the plot, which cost over $100,000. Adelson counted on Charles to solve problems, including her daughter's ugly custody battle, prosecutors allege. Adelson, who lived with her husband in a luxury Miami condo, had the means to fund a murder plot with their son, who worked with them at the family's thriving dentistry practice, according to court documents. The two hit men who carried out the killing were arrested in 2016, but it took years and an FBI undercover sting operation encircling the Adelson family before Charles Adelson was arrested in 2022. Donna Adelson was arrested in November 2023 on a jetway at the Miami International Airport just days after her son's conviction. Adelson and her husband obtained rushed visas after the conviction and booked one-way tickets to Vietnam – a country without an extradition agreement with the US, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in her case. Shortly before her arrest, she was caught on a recorded jail phone line discussing with Charles her research into countries without extradition agreements, the affidavit says. Wendi and her father have not been charged in connection with Markel's murder. In 2013, after the divorce was finalized, Wendi Adelson, an attorney herself, hoped to relocate her sons to South Florida to be near her brother and parents. But a judge barred her from moving the kids away from Markel, who was based in Tallahassee, according to the affidavit. Florida prosecutors say Donna Adelson was the architect of a plan to remove Markel from the equation, determined to have her daughter and grandsons near her. In emails around the time of the divorce, Donna Adelson suggested that Wendi Adelson offer her ex-husband $1 million to let the kids relocate. Donna said she'd split the cost with Wendi and her brother Charles, who was also willing to chip in, according to records put in evidence at Charles' trial. Wendi testified at the trial that she never offered Markel the money, nor did her family, as far as she knew. About four months before Markel's death, Markel filed a motion in civil court to bar Donna Adelson from having unsupervised visits with her grandsons. Markel claimed that his former mother-in-law 'disparaged' Markel to his kids, writing in the motion that the kids said, 'Grandma says you're stupid … she says you're trying to take her sunshines away from her,' and, 'Grandma says she hates you.' Markel was murdered before the motion could be resolved, and Wendi moved with her kids to South Florida days after his death, according to court records. Wendi told investigators during her initial interview the day Markel was shot that her parents were angry with her ex-husband, court records show. And before Markel's death her brother Charles had joked about hiring a hit man to kill him, she confirmed on the stand during the trial. Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman told the jury at Charles Adelson's trial that he was 'the person that Donna Adelson relied on to solve her problems, and this was a big, big problem for Donna Adelson, and she made it (Charles') problem to solve.' Charles Adelson had an ex-girlfriend he knew had ties to the Latin Kings gang: Katherine Magbanua, who he was dating in 2014, ultimately was convicted in 2022 for her role in facilitating the murder plot. Her children's father, Sigfredo Garcia, was convicted of killing Markel. He had help from his longtime friend Luis Rivera, a known Latin Kings gang member, who took a plea deal in 2016 for charges tied to the murder plot and ultimately helped law enforcement tie Garcia, Magbanua and Charles Adelson to the crime, according to the probable cause affidavit. The night of the murder in July 2014, text message records show Donna Adelson had texted her son, 'outside your house,' the affidavit says. A short time later, Magbanua went to Charles Adelson's home to pick up the money she'd split with Garcia and Rivera. Charles told Magbanua that night that his parents had just dropped off the money before she arrived, according to court records. Magbanua testified at Charles' trial that he told her at the time his mother had 'washed' the money that was still damp and moldy as if it was physically washed. According to financial records, Magbanua received paychecks from the Adelson's family dentistry practice for more than a year after the murder, which were handwritten and signed by Donna Adelson. Magbanua also testified that she never actually worked for the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics & Implant Dentistry, but consistently received those checks until April 2016, around the time the FBI conducted an undercover operation to gather evidence against the Adelson family. The probable cause affidavit against Donna Adelson describes the FBI sting operation when an undercover agent approached her in person and followed up in a mailed letter and by phone, purporting to threaten Adelson with information about the murder-for-hire plot on behalf of Rivera, who was already in prison for another crime. The FBI also tapped phone calls and surveilled meetings of Charles and his mother – who was extremely upset by the confrontation – as well as between Charles and Magbanua, capturing conversations between Charles and the two women in which they'd reference the situation in code and considered whether to pay the person $5,000 for his silence, according to court records. The operation led to Magbanua's arrest in October 2016. Charles wasn't arrested until 2022 when investigators used new technology to clarify surveillance audio of one of his meetings with Magbanua revealing incriminating statements linking him to the murder plot, prosecutors have said. All four convicted co-conspirators – Charles Adelson, Magbanua and the two hired hit men – are expected to testify in the prosecution's case at Donna Adelson's televised trial. Wendi Adelson and her other brother are also expected to testify for the state, according to the witness list, though the judge ruled this week that Wendi won't have to be called by her mother's defense team to testify again in her mother's defense.
