11-05-2025
Mysterious new investigation in Donna Adelson case may delay her murder trial again
Donna Adelson's murder trial, which has already been marked by major delays, could get pushed back again — this time over a mysterious side investigation launched by the state.
The investigation — the apparent topic of a series of recently filed motions under seal — came up during a hearing Wednesday, April 30, before Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett.
Adelson's defense lawyers, Jackie Fulford and Josh Zelman, asked Everett to delay the trial, which had been set for early June, because of the new investigation, which involves an informant and new wiretapped communications.
Everett said he would rule on that motion later. He did, however, agree to a defense request to push back deadlines for pre-trial motions from April 30 to May 16. A final pre-trial hearing that had been set for May 16 will be rescheduled.
The big news out of the hearing was the side investigation into alleged criminal activity by unknown parties who are involved in the Adelson case.
'What has come out about three weeks ago is the state conducted this additional investigation into allegations,' Zelman said. 'As part of that, they obtained additional records.'
Zelman alluded in court to the possibility that Adelson's defense lawyers' communications were subject to the wire tap. He also said that the allegations themselves have proven to be "false."
'Even if the state isn't going to use the information, we still need to know the extent to which they violated, they intercepted and monitored attorney-client communications, and communications that are protected by the ... attorney-client privilege,' Zelman said.
Assistant State Attorney Sarah Kathryn Dugan told Everett that prosecutors got a 'lead' last fall that led to 'this new discovery' in the Adelson case.
'We conducted this investigation and followed that investigation to its conclusion,' she said. 'That obviously has resulted in some new discovery in these wire calls.'
Dugan added that the wiretap "went down" on Feb. 21 and that law enforcement intercepted about 30 phone calls.
'The state likely likely plans to use maybe one or two at trial and believes that the two months that the defense had from the time it was discovered to the time of trial in June should be sufficient to prepare for that portion of the trial.'
Zelman countered that more than 32 hours of calls were captured by the wiretap and that the defense hasn't had time to review even two hours of the calls.
'There's not enough time for us to analyze this new information, synthesize it and prepare appropriate motions,' he said. 'We've spent the last three weeks dealing with this, as opposed to finalizing motions in limine.'
Everett asked Dugan whether the state would suffer any prejudice were the trial to be delayed.
"We would not suffer any prejudice, judge," Dugan said. "We're just ready for trial."
Adelson, 75, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 contract killing of FSU law professor Dan Markel, her former son-in-law. She was supposed to go on trial in September 2024, but that proceeding blew up on the first day of jury selection.
Her attorney then, Dan Rashbaum of Miami, bowed out over conflicts involving his previous representation of her son, Charlie Adelson, who was convicted in 2023 on the same charges his mother faces and sentenced to life in prison.
Everett later disqualified two other attorneys from representing Adelson. The June trial date was set after Adelson hired her current lawyers, Fulford and Zelman of Tallahassee.
During Wednesday's hearing, Zelman also said the defense is wading through more than 100,000 Adelson-related emails that it received over the past few weeks.
Dugan said those emails consist of 'redacted privileged communications' between Adelson and her previous attorneys and that they have never been seen by prosecutors and won't be used at trial.
But Zelman said some of the emails could pertain to Donna Adelson's decision to try to fly to Vietnam in 2023 shortly after her son, Charlie Adelson, was convicted in Markel's murder. Adelson was arrested at Miami International Airport as she tried to board the flight with her husband, Harvey Adelson.
Dugan mentioned during the hearing that the state had subpoenaed Harvey Adelon's account on Zelle, a mobile app for transferring money.
Tim Jansen, a noted Tallahassee defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said the new investigation marked a significant development in the case and would likely lead to a continuance.
'This is big,' Jansen said. 'At some point, an informant or someone gave the state information that there was maybe obstruction, tampering with a witness or other crimes involved. That's what they're fighting over.'
He noted that a judge signed off on the wiretap after prosecutors filed affidavits explaining that they couldn't get the information any other way. As part of the wiretap process, privileged attorney-client conversations are supposed to be filtered out.
'Because of all this other stuff, the judge is going to have no choice but to give a continuance,' Jansen said. 'Because when (the defense) tells the judge we can't be prepared and we can't file motions, that's a lack of due process for the defendant.
In other developments, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled against the defense in its attempt to boot Everett off the case. The defense last month filed motions in state court to disqualify Everett, which he denied.
Last week, the defense appealed that decision to the 1st DCA. The appellate court on April 28 ruled against a motion to determine confidentiality, calling it 'overly broad.' The court allowed the defense to file an amended motion, which it did on April 30.
Everett, meanwhile, signed an order during Wednesday's hearing to unseal documents and recordings from the wiretap for the limited purpose of the state providing those items to the defense through discovery. The records will remain sealed for all other purposes, Everett wrote.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@ or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: New investigation in Donna Adelson case may delay murder trial again
