Lucy Devine
A grandmother has been found guilty of hiring a hitman to kill her daughter's former husband.
Donna Adelson, 75, was found guilty of murder after the shooting of her daughter's ex, who was killed by hitmen over a decade ago.
Adelson was arrested in November 2023 at Miami International Airport while attempting to leave for Vietnam with her husband, Harvey.
She was convicted on Thursday (September 4) of first-degree murder and conspiracy after Daniel Markel, 41 was shot in his garage in Tallahassee in July 2014.
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His death came amidst a divorce and custody battle with Adelson's daughter, Wendi.
Alongside Adelson, her son Charles Adelson and his former girlfriend Katherine Magbanua have already been handed a life sentence. Hitman Luis Rivera, who already had a 12-year federal prison sentence, is serving seven years - concurrently with his other sentence - as part of a plea deal for the crime.
The other hitman involved, Sigfredo Garcia, ex-husband of Magbanua, is serving life.
As the guilty verdict was handed to Adelson, she could be heard crying out and weeping in the dock.
"I wish her to live to 120, alone in her jail cell," said Markel's father, Phil Markel.
"I wish that every day of her remaining days she thinks about the harm she has caused so many."
Mother Ruth Markel added: "For 11 years we have been forced to a life filled with unimaginable pain and heartbreak.
"I am most proud of the devoted father Danny was to his two sons, Benjamin and Lincoln... Dan was the boys' hero and they have been forced to grow up without a father.
"She plotted, planned and paid for his murder.
"At its core, this was a murder of convenience so that one grandmother could live closer to her grandchildren. She killed their father and ripped the children from the other grandparents' lives."
Prosecutors argued that Adelson plotted the murder after Wendi planned to move 300 miles away with their children to be closer to her parents and the rest of the family, following the divorce.
Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman told jurors that there was 'no smoking gun' in the case, 'because she was too smart for that'.
“Don’t let the way she thought she’d get away with this be the way she gets away with this," she told the jury.
Adelson's husband, Harvey and daughter, Wendi have denied any involvement in the murder and have not been charged.
Adelson will now face life in prison, with her sentencing expected to take place within the next couple of months.