A Florida jury deliberated for just over three hours on Thursday before finding Donna Adelson guilty of organizing a murder-for-hire scheme against her former son-in-law in 2014.
Adelson, 75, becomes the fifth person convicted in the murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, who was in the midst of a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife — Donna Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Adelson — as she tried to relocate from Tallahassee to Miami with the couple’s two young sons, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
The two hitmen, a middleman between the Adelson family and the hitman, and Donna Adelson’s son Charlie Adelson were previously convicted.
After the guilty verdicts were read and the jury dismissed, Markel’s parents read victim impact statements to the court.
“We have lost a treasure,” Ruth Markel said.
“For my family there is no such prospect of escape,” she said, asking for the court to impose the maximum sentence, which she said as the “justice Dan’s life fully deserves.”
Phil Markel noted that there’s a Jewish saying where one wishes another that they live to 100.
“For Donna, I wish her to live to 120, alone, in her jail cell,” he said.
Adelson was found guilty on all three counts with which she was charged — first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation, WCTV reported.
She faces a mandatory life sentence for the murder conviction. The judge said a sentencing hearing would be scheduled for later on.
Adelson was arrested nearly two years ago as she boarded a one-way flight to Vietnam in the wake of Charlie Adelson’s conviction.
in addition to the Adelsons, Charlie Adelson’s ex-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua and hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera have been convicted in connection with the case, as CrimeOnline reported.
Markel was found shot to death in his Tallahassee garage on July 18, 2014.
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[Feature Photo: Dan Markel/FSU College of Law faculty biographies; Donna Adelson/AP]
