Florida matriarch Donna Adelon, convicted of murder earlier month, is seeking a new trial.
According to AP News, Adelson’s lawyers claimed juror misconduct happened after the 75-year-old’s murder trial in Tallahassee.
As previously reported by CrimeOnline, Adelson has become the fifth individual convicted in the murder case of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. Markel was involved in a contentious custody dispute with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson—Donna Adelson’s daughter—as she sought to relocate from Tallahassee to Miami with their two young children.
The two hitmen, a middleman between the Adelson family and the hitman, and Donna Adelson’s son Charlie Adelson were previously convicted.
On Tuesday, Adelson’s legal team submitted a new motion, alleging that two jury members made public statements about the case. One juror is said to have posted a video on TikTok, while the other appeared on the “Surviving the Survivor” podcast.
Her defense team also contended that Circuit Judge Stephen Everett, who oversaw the trial, demonstrated partiality towards the prosecutors. The motion claims the prosecution’s case rested on circumstantial evidence.
Defense attorney Jackie Fulford asserted in her closing arguments, “There’s no evidence of it. It’s their theory, that’s all it is. You can’t convict someone based on theory; you have to have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
In the motion, Adelson’s lawyers argued that no concrete evidence exists that would show her as culpable in Markel’s murder.
Her legal team stressed, “Where is the evidence Mrs. Adelson agreed; conspired; combined; or confederated with anyone else that Mr. Markel be killed? There is none.”
They maintained that “The State’s entire case is premised on speculation, impermissible stacking of inferences and theory. Without the speculation, theory and impermissible stacking of inferences, there was no evidence Mrs. Adelson ever agreed for Mr. Markel to be killed.”
The attorneys also argued that Everett failed to admit Adelson’s entire 2014 and 2023 planners into evidence, choosing only to admit certain portions of it.
Meanwhile, while speaking with the Tallahassee Democrat, State Attorney Jack Campbell said he didn’t notice anything in the motion that would legally provide Adelson a new trial.
“As soon as I saw the jurors were talking, I knew that they would probably complain about that,” he said. “And we’re going to continue to fight their motions for a new trial and all their defenses until the end of time.”
Adelson is currently behind bars in the Leon County Detention Facility. A case management conference has been set for October 14.
[Feature Photo: Dan Markel/FSU College of Law faculty biographies; Donna Adelson/AP]
