Kit Roberts
A Florida grandma masterminded a 'murder-for-hire' plot against her ex-son-in-law after a ten-day trial involving FBI stings and wire-tapped calls.
Donna Adelson, 75, was found guilty of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder over 10 years after a hired assassin shot dead Florida State University law professor Dan Markel outside his own home.
Adelson was arrrested at Miami International Airport in November 2023 while she and her husband, Harvey, were trying to board a one-way flight to Vietnam.
Lasting twelve days, the trial heard evidence including FBI sting operations, wiretapped phone calls, prison informants, and people accused of being her co-conspirators.
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After hearing all that evidence, jurors deliberated for just a few hours before returning a guilty verdict in a hearing at a Tallahassee courtroom on September 4, 2025.
When the verdict was read out, Adelson, who chose not to testify in her own defence, broke down in court letting out three words.
Sitting in court, the 75-year-old grandmother and family matriarch could be heard audibly weeping, and cried out 'Oh, my God' as she heard the verdict.
The judge reprimanded the defendant, telling her 'Mrs Adelson, control yourself,' before threatening to have her removed from the court if she did not calm down.
Through the course of the trial, jurors listened to the details of the murder for plot, involving an acrimonious divorce, fights with in-laws, and a bitter custody battle.
Prosecutors painted a horrifying picture of Adelson as the “domineering” mastermind behind the plot, hiring a hitman to kill her former son-in-law.
Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman described how the defendants in the trial had all sought to blame each other in an effort to save themselves.
“The defendants in this case have all attempted to point fingers at each other,” she said.
“Despite their efforts to insulate themselves and distance themselves from their co-conspirators, they made enough mistakes to get themselves caught and held accountable for their respective roles.”
Her defence team denied her role in the plot, instead shifting the focus over to her son, Charlie Adelson, who was convicted for his part in the plot in 2023.
Jackie Fulford, defending, told jurors that while Adelson did 'get involved in their divorce,' she did not plot the murder, saying: “She’s a meddler, not a murderer!”
Adelson's husband Harvey Adelson and her daughter Wendi Adelson both denied any involvement and no charges were brought against them.
Four people, including Adelson's son Charlie, his girlfriend at the time Katherine Magbanua, and hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, have already been jailed in connection with the murder.