Family matriarch Donna Adelson was reprimanded by a judge on Thursday for crying in the courtroom after being found guilty of planning a 2014 murder-for-hire scheme targeting her former son-in-law, a respected law professor at Florida State University.
Adelson was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation in the death of Daniel Markel more than ten years ago. Markel was fatally shot in his Tallahassee driveway in what prosecutors described as a calculated family conspiracy to release her daughter, Wendi Adelson, from a contentious custody dispute following a turbulent divorce.
Adelson exclaimed, “Oh my God!” and started sobbing and trembling after Florida Second Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen Everett announced the jury’s verdict of first-degree murder, as shown in courtroom footage from the Tallahassee Democrat.
“Mrs. Adelson, control yourself,” Everett ordered the 75-year-old grandmother as she openly wept.
“We have lost a treasure,” his mother, Ruth Markel, expressed in a victim impact statement following the announcement of the verdict. “My son Dan’s life was tragically cut short at the age of 41. For 11 years, we have endured a life filled with unimaginable pain and sorrow.”
The judge said sentencing for Donna Adelson would come “at a later date” but scheduled case management for Oct. 14.
