- 2 days ago
Law Professor Dan Markel was shot dead as he pulled into the driveway of his Tallahassee, Florida home. The killers were hit men from the Latin Kings drug gang, but in a shocking twist, detectives discovered they had been hired to kill Markel.
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00:16Surveillance video as a Florida law school professor leaves his gym.
00:20He was, doesn't seem there was any urgency on his part.
00:24Unaware, two members of the Latin King's drug gang are waiting for him in this car.
00:30It was obvious that they were stalking him.
00:33Minutes later, Professor Dan Markell was found shot in the head.
00:37The driver's side window was all bashed in and he's got blood all over his head.
00:43I think you need to hurry.
00:44Your husband, your ex-husband, he's not going to survive.
00:49I don't want to do something like this.
00:53Everybody was wondering what the Latin Kings had to do with this.
00:57So we immediately suspected that these killers were hired to kill him.
01:02But it would take more than a decade to solve the mystery of who hired these men and why.
01:299-1-1-1-C address for your emergency.
01:32You can send an ambulance in a hurry.
01:34It came in as a shooting.
01:36This was very unusual for this part of town.
01:39The driver's side window was all bashed in and he's got blood all over his head.
01:44He's not responding to me.
01:46I think you need to hurry.
01:48The victim was a law school professor at Florida State University, Daniel Markell.
01:54I went to the residence of Dan Markell.
01:58The car was still parked in the garage.
02:02Mr. Markell had already been transported to the hospital.
02:09I'm Craig Isom, retired investigator with the Tallahassee Police Department.
02:15We determined that it was not a home invasion.
02:20Markell's wallet and money were still on his body.
02:23The doors to the house were locked.
02:25So pretty quickly we determined that someone specifically targeted Dan Markell.
02:32The nearest next of kin was Markell's recently divorced wife, Wendy, now using her maiden name, Adelson.
02:40There was a shooting.
02:41Your husband, your ex-husband, excuse me, Daniel, has been taken to the hospital.
02:49He's not going to survive.
02:51Oh my God.
02:52Okay?
03:09She started crying.
03:11She started wailing.
03:13At some point she asked why or who or how.
03:17What happened?
03:18Well, before we get into everything, I have to establish where you were and who you were with and so
03:27forth.
03:28Okay.
03:28Okay?
03:29And then once we've established all that, I can give you more details.
03:32Okay.
03:33Do you understand why I wanted you to come here before I discuss this?
03:35No, I'm not.
03:45I'm sorry.
03:46It's okay.
03:47No, you don't have to be sorry about it.
03:48I just said, I just said, I just said, I just said, I just said, I just said.
03:57Our second speaker is Dan Markell.
04:00Dan Markell was an intellectual giant.
04:05He was a Harvard-educated lawyer.
04:07This is Prosecutor Georgia Kaepelman's first interview since the cases wrapped up.
04:12He was a specialist in several legal areas and was called upon to speak all over the country.
04:19The paper is about the tissue connecting democratic citizenship with retributive justice.
04:24Dan had met his wife Wendy on a Jewish dating site and had been married for seven years before the
04:29divorce.
04:30He was described as a devoted father of their two sons, aged three and five at the time of the
04:36murder.
04:36Their first child was Benjamin and then Lincoln.
04:39He did want to have very much a family life that had culturally experienced some Jewish roots.
04:47The professor's mother, Ruth Markell, initially thought her son was murdered because of his legal views.
04:54He was very well known.
04:56He had very strong opinions.
04:58The professor's students and colleagues were also possible suspects.
05:03The rumor mills were flying.
05:05There were students that didn't like him and maybe they did this.
05:08There were other professors that didn't like him.
05:10Maybe they did this.
05:12Do you know anybody that would have a beef against your ex-husband?
05:26He's, um, oh God.
05:29I hate to ask it now, but I have to do it now.
05:31You understand, right?
05:32I understand.
05:33Um, he, I mean, he had friends.
05:42He was, um, he always meant well, but he would sometimes rub people the wrong way.
05:46Okay.
05:47Um, but not, I don't know, do something like this.
05:51Okay, all right.
05:52All right.
05:54Oh my God, I'm so intense.
05:58Oh my God.
06:12I know a lot of people just really love him, but I don't know what he would do to do
06:16something like this.
06:17Detectives got a big clue right away.
06:20The clue was the neighbor.
06:22He looks out his window.
06:24He sees a silver, light-colored Prius backing out of his neighbor's driveway.
06:31A Prius matching that description showed up in the surveillance footage at Dan Markell's gym,
06:36where he had arrived after dropping off his two sons at school.
06:40We saw his car come into the parking lot.
06:44Followed closely by the silver Prius.
06:4620, 30 seconds behind.
06:48And so then he parked, goes, walks in the gym.
06:54The Prius moves a couple of different times.
06:56No one gets out of the Prius.
06:58It was obvious that they were stalking him.
07:01The Prius was absolutely essential to the investigation.
07:05If the neighbor hadn't gotten up to take a look outside, it might have been a very different investigation.
07:12After about an hour, Markell walks out of the gym, clearly unaware he was being followed.
07:19He was, doesn't, doesn't seem there was any urgency on his part.
07:24Then gets in his car and heads home.
07:27The Prius follows.
07:31That was all we had for a very long time.
07:34Months and months and months we had a Prius.
07:38We were looking for a Prius.
07:39And then they found one when detectives pulled surveillance video from the city's bus line
07:44and spotted a Prius near Markell's neighborhood.
07:48We could only tell that the driver on the driver's side was very dark.
07:53Whoever the passenger was at that time was wearing white, a bright white top.
07:58And they were very animated.
08:00They were moving around quite a bit in the passenger seat.
08:04The disappointing part was that we couldn't get the tag.
08:08It could not be, could not be seen, could not be captured.
08:12But they could see that the car had a SunPass toll road transponder device for the Florida turnpike.
08:18We got the toll records from SunPass.
08:23Detectives would spend more than a year using the transponder to track down the vehicle
08:28through tens of thousands of SunPass toll records belonging to Priuses.
08:33And that led to the transponder being associated to a company that rented hybrid cars in South Florida.
08:47We got records from them, rental records.
08:50And the name of the man who had rented the car, Luis Rivera,
08:53plus a phone number for a man he called his brother, who it turned out was Sigfredo Garcia.
09:01Detectives soon had bank video of them at a South Florida ATM drive-thru shortly after the murder.
09:08Rivera driving, Garcia in the passenger seat.
09:11They're taking a withdrawal out on their way back from Tallahassee.
09:15And we have them.
09:17And sure enough, Sigfredo Garcia is wearing a white shirt,
09:22sitting in the same passenger seat, like the video of the bus.
09:26And it just came together like that.
09:30Both were career criminals.
09:32And Rivera was the leader of a violent Miami drug gang, the Latin Kings.
09:36Everybody was wondering what the Latin Kings had to do with this.
09:41It just didn't make sense.
09:42You have a law professor, Harvard grad, living in the middle of Tallahassee.
09:50There was no evidence to suggest that Dan Markell could have been linked to these guys
09:56through any type of nefarious activity.
09:59So we immediately suspected that these killers were hired to kill him.
10:05Who hired the hit?
10:08That's the million-dollar question, right?
10:18Wheel of Fortune!
10:26Years before the murder of their son-in-law, the Adelson family's time in the spotlight
10:31was limited to this TV game show appearance by Donna Adelson.
10:35And we now meet Donna Adelson from Coral Springs, Florida.
10:38I want to hear all about you, Donna.
10:39Let's go.
10:40I'm a domestic coordinator.
10:42A domestic coordinator?
10:43Yes.
10:43I'm responsible for the activities, classes, and lessons of my son, Robert, who was 16,
10:49Charlie, who was 12, Wendy, who was 10, my husband, Harvey, who's in the audience.
10:55Since then, their eldest son, Robert, had become a doctor in New York.
10:59Charlie had become a dentist.
11:00And Wendy, a lawyer, had married and then divorced Dan Markell.
11:05So when we pulled the divorce documents,
11:08we learned that there had been a nasty divorce between the two of them.
11:12And that led to an initial suspicion by detectives that the Adelson family,
11:16especially Wendy's mother, Donna, was somehow involved.
11:19And you start to realize there is a big family feud here.
11:23This is everybody against Dan.
11:26Wendy told detectives the issue involved custody of their two sons.
11:30After we got divorced, I wanted to move to South Florida.
11:33And I filed a petition to relocate in the court.
11:36And the court said no.
11:38Because of kids.
11:38Because, I mean, yeah, so you can always leave.
11:41You just can't leave with your kids.
11:43So she was stuck here in Tallahassee.
11:47So that was not a good ruling for her.
11:50And it was also a decision that was very upsetting to her mother, Donna Adelson.
11:57It was viewed as life and death to her.
12:00You know, all bets were off if Wendy and the boys couldn't move to South Florida.
12:07Detectives recovered a series of emails sent by Donna to her daughter.
12:11And they revealed Donna Adelson sending quite a few suggestions to Wendy
12:17how she could strong arm or manipulate or get leverage against Dan Markell,
12:22including a bribe, a million-dollar bribe.
12:26And suggestions sure to inflame Markell, who she called Jebbers, about using their two sons.
12:32Wendy should threaten to convert the boys to Christianity.
12:37She should dress them up in Hitler youth uniforms,
12:41all to let Dan Markell see those things.
12:47My parents are, you know, very angry towards him.
12:52But even when they're around my kids, they would never say a bad word about my kid's father.
12:57They're really, really careful about that.
13:00They just like him, but they know he's the father of my kids.
13:04They would never, they would never do that.
13:07I don't know who would be angry enough with him.
13:10Well, that's what I have to find out.
13:11To do something like this.
13:16Danny didn't treat me very well.
13:18And I'm so scared that maybe someone did this.
13:23Not because they hate Danny, but because they thought this was good somehow.
13:29Oh, are you saying that you think maybe one of your friends would have done something like this?
13:33Why would I do this?
13:34I don't know.
13:35That's why, that's why you're here.
13:38And that's why we're talking.
13:46Would you ever ask someone to do something like this?
13:49Not a million years.
13:51Okay.
13:52Do you think someone would do this for your benefit without asking you?
13:55No.
13:57There was a pause and she had like a solemn moment where she wanted to reflect that her brother makes
14:05a lot of bad jokes.
14:06The one, his name is Charlie, the one I'm really close to, he makes a lot of jokes and bad
14:12taste.
14:12And it was a joke he made.
14:13He bought the TV for me this morning that got broken.
14:17And I was talking to him about whether it made sense to pay to fix it or whether I should
14:22get a new one.
14:23And it was always his joke that like, he knew Danny treated me badly and it was always his joke.
14:29He said, I, I, you know, I looked into hiring a hitman and it was cheaper to get you this
14:33TV.
14:34So instead I got you this TV.
14:37I got my, my hairs up on the back of my neck because I was thinking, okay, well, you know,
14:43there's, there may be something to this.
14:46Um, I mean, he would never, he's my big brother and he's been taking care of me since I was
14:54little, but he would never.
14:56And I, I said, I told that to the repair guy this morning.
15:00Right.
15:01Brother said it's cheaper than a hitman.
15:03It was my divorce present.
15:05Okay.
15:06I certainly did not take that as a joke.
15:10I'm sure it would have been a funny joke if Dan Markell was alive and well and still with us.
15:14But not so funny in light of the, the circumstances.
15:18The next big break in the case came when one of the suspected hitmen, Luis Rivera, already in prison on
15:24another charge, agreed to cooperate to get his sentence reduced.
15:29He indicated that the job was $100,000 in total.
15:33Describing how Markell was killed.
15:36Garcia jumps out, goes around the car, where he's driving.
15:42I think Markell was on the phone that day.
15:45Shot him twice.
15:47Out of my car.
15:48We left.
15:50Case driving.
15:52And then the hitman revealed the missing link to the Adelson family.
15:56It was his partner, Sigfredo Garcia's former girlfriend and mother of two of his children, Katie Magbaniwa.
16:04And Catherine Magbaniwa, at the time of the murder, was dating Charlie Adelson, the former brother-in-law of Dan
16:12Markell, who joked about hiring a hitman to kill him.
16:15Prosecutors found these checks made out to the girlfriend from the family dental business, signed by Donna Adelson.
16:22I was thinking what I already suspected, which was that the Adelsons had something to do with this murder.
16:31There still wasn't enough evidence to go after anyone in the Adelson family.
16:35But the prosecution's strategy was to start with the hitman and his girlfriend.
16:40The police called it for a murder for hire, right?
16:42This was the theory.
16:45The first person arrested was Sigfredo Garcia, and he was charged right away.
16:52And he was considered the shooter.
16:54And prosecutors used Rivera's testimony to first implicate Sigfredo Garcia.
17:00Sigfredo Garcia, we the jury find this defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.
17:05And then, after an initial mistrial, to implicate Katie Magbaniwa.
17:10The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.
17:14Now, the prosecutors set their sights on Charlie Adelson and his mother, Donna.
17:35As detectives tried to build their case on Donna Adelson, they put her under surveillance,
17:41watching as she took her two grandsons to school and went about her day,
17:45unaware she and her son Charlie were now the prime suspects.
17:50Verify she's approaching the cross now at the corner.
17:55And unaware that her other son, Robert, now a doctor in New York and estranged from the family,
18:01had become a confidential informant for the FBI.
18:05Right after the murder, his mother called him and said, don't talk to the FBI.
18:10To which he replied, I already have.
18:13Why wouldn't I talk to the FBI?
18:15And she basically said, like, well, you don't know anything anyway.
18:18And hung up.
18:18He thought his brother and mother were involved.
18:23And now, in hopes Donna would incriminate herself, detectives set up a sting operation,
18:29sending in an undercover FBI agent, the man with the beard.
18:33Excuse me, Mrs. Adelson?
18:36How you doing?
18:37Just want to give you this.
18:39Listen.
18:40You're going to be scared.
18:41You're going to be scared.
18:42The FBI was posing as a blackmailer, bumping into Donna Adelson,
18:48trying to get money from her as a friend of Luis Rivera.
18:52And I want to let you know that my brother, he's incarcerated.
18:56He helped your family with this problem you guys had up north.
19:02Well, this will explain it.
19:04And he handed her a note with a newspaper clipping about the murder and a demand for $5,000.
19:12What you would expect is for her to immediately call law enforcement.
19:16But that's not what she does.
19:22Hey.
19:24She calls Charlie Adelson.
19:26It was exactly what detectives had hoped she would do.
19:30Charlie's phone was under a court-ordered wiretap.
19:33She tells him she's being blackmailed for $5,000.
19:36Does it involve me or other people?
19:39Well, probably both of us.
19:43What's that?
19:45Probably the two of us.
19:47So you probably have a general idea what I'm talking about.
19:51I think that piece of evidence is probably the most compelling piece of evidence against
19:56Donna Adelson because it's a confession.
19:58And it can only be one thing.
20:00It's the murder.
20:01It's the murder of Dan Markell.
20:02All right.
20:04If it's something serious, you know I'm going to recommend going to the police.
20:06Oh, no.
20:07I know.
20:07That's what I'm trying to do.
20:09And then the case got stronger when Katie McBanua, convicted of murder, who had remained
20:15silent about any connection to the Adelson family, agreed to cooperate, hoping to get
20:20her life sentence reduced.
20:22This is your side of the story.
20:24Yes.
20:24You tell us the truth of what happened.
20:27McBanua indicated that she was, in fact, hired by Charlie Adelson.
20:31Yeah, so they needed to be taken care of for him, for Dan Markell.
20:38And that Charlie provided the cash, more than $100,000.
20:42They would be, like, Charlie's like, oh, they're going to be taken care of, that they're going
20:46to be taken care of.
20:48A bombshell in the Dan Markell murder case as U.S. Marshals arrest his brother-in-law
20:53in the murder-for-hire plot eight years later.
20:57Charlie Adelson arrested at his home in South Florida this morning after a Leon County grand
21:02jury indicted him last night.
21:04Did he hire the hitman in this case?
21:06Yes, it's alleged that he hired the hitman, and that's his role as a principal to the
21:11murder, the conspiracy, and the solicitation.
21:14Prosecutors thought it would be easier to prove the case against Charlie than his mother,
21:18Donna, and that more would be needed to charge her.
21:21I have a very high burden of proof, and I only have one shot at Donna, so I wanted to
21:25make
21:25sure I had what I needed to do that, and I didn't feel we were there yet.
21:34Charlie's trial was wild.
21:37There would be the testimony of the go-between, Charlie's former girlfriend.
21:42Charlie's trial was the first time that we had Catherine McBanaw on the witness stand for
21:45the state.
21:46And Adelson's sister, Wendy, was given immunity to testify against her brother, all to the
21:52dismay of her mother, who later talked about it in a jailhouse phone call with Charlie.
21:57My daughter, whom I love, is doing this.
22:00I don't get it.
22:01I don't get it.
22:03I said to Harvey, I swear to God, our family was cursed.
22:06And then Charlie Adelson decided to take the stand himself.
22:11Please raise your right hand.
22:12Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give?
22:16We'll be the truth.
22:17Now, do you recall making a joke that buying her a TV was cheaper than hiring a hitman?
22:25Something to that effect.
22:26What happened was when I gave her the TV said it was a divorce present, stupid is the stupidest
22:31thing I ever said in my life.
22:33And I said, you know, I was going to get you a hitman, but the TV said it was a
22:37lot cheaper,
22:37so I went with the TV said instead.
22:39And I said it as a complete joke and it was stupid, but I do that a lot.
22:44Charlie, did you have anything to do with the murder of Professor Dan Markell?
22:50Absolutely not.
22:51Did you solicit anyone to murder him?
22:54Never.
22:56Charlie's lawyer told the jury his girlfriend, Katie, had acted on her own.
23:02You will learn that Katie heard the hitman joke and she got some ideas in her head.
23:07The state itself has called Catherine Magbanawa the mastermind.
23:17And that's exactly what she was.
23:19The jury came back after only a few hours.
23:24Verdict.
23:25Count one.
23:26We, the jury, tried as follows as to count one of the indictment.
23:30First degree murder.
23:31The defendant is guilty of first degree murder.
23:35Charlie Edelson was sentenced to life in prison, but prosecutors felt that he wasn't the real mastermind.
23:42I think Charlie did love his sister.
23:44I think Charlie really loved his mom.
23:46I think Charlie's mom wanted this done and Charlie wanted to please his mom.
23:51This is a prepaid collect call from Charlie.
23:54An incarcerated individual at the Leon County Jail.
23:57After the conviction, state's attorney investigator Jason Newland was monitoring the recorded phone calls between Charlie and Donna.
24:05You're going to be okay.
24:07And then the call seemed to cut out.
24:10Can you hear me, Charlie?
24:11You can't hear me again, right?
24:13Charlie.
24:14Charlie.
24:15Can you hear me?
24:16And I hear Donna talking and she doesn't realize that it's still being recorded and the call never terminated.
24:23We've been looking it up over and over.
24:25Things change if there is extradition from Vietnam.
24:29And so Donna is having a conversation in her house about fleeing the country.
24:36Because we've looked at all the places.
24:38I mean, I could go to Korea and China, but there's no extradition.
24:42But we're looking for places where there's no extradition.
24:45And within hours, the FBI got notified that Donna Edelson and her husband had booked one-way tickets to Vietnam.
24:53We get notified, hey, looks like she's jumping on a flight tomorrow.
24:57So a team of FBI agents and U.S. Marshals headed to the Miami airport, armed with an arrest warrant
25:05for Donna for murder.
25:21When law enforcement approached her, she did not want to give up her cell phone.
25:27I don't want to give it to you.
25:30She's under arrest.
25:32That wasn't going to work.
25:35She was under arrest and the property was going to be seized.
25:39By trying to leave the country, Donna had forced the prosecution's hand.
25:43So now, ready or not, they would have to go to trial.
25:55The trial of Donna Edelson is moving forward.
25:58Donna Edelson in court this afternoon.
26:00The case garnered a ton of media attention.
26:03There were bloggers and talking heads, day and night, commenting on every aspect of the case.
26:10She has worn a red suit.
26:13Down to my outfits and you name it.
26:17This is my favorite, this blue jacket that she's got on.
26:21Donna definitely played little old lady in the courtroom.
26:25At times, using headphones to hear better.
26:28I'm wearing these little granny cardigans.
26:31On one side of the courtroom, Dan Markell's parents, Ruth and Phil.
26:36On the other side, Donna's husband, Harvey, who was never charged in the case.
26:40Donna Edelson is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder,
26:46and solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
26:49And prosecutors knew it was going to be a challenge to prove the necessary aspect of premeditation.
26:56There was no smoking gun.
26:58There was no pre-murder email where she said, I'm going to have this guy killed.
27:03This murder was set into motion because back in 2014, this defendant's family had a big problem.
27:10And the big problem was Dan Markell.
27:13And the prosecutor took the jury through the back and forth in the contentious divorce and custody battle over the
27:19two boys.
27:20Including this defendant, a woman who vowed to never, never, never, never give up on getting her daughter and grandsons
27:28to Miami.
27:29You will see that this defendant conspired with her son, Charlie Edelson, who solicited his girlfriend, Catherine McBanois, to get
27:39this murder done.
27:41And these acts make her guilty as a principal to first-degree murder, just as if she was the one
27:48pulling the trigger in the garage herself.
28:01And you heard an awful lot about why they think Donna Adelson has the motive to kill Danny Markell.
28:11But not a single piece of evidence was discussed that shows that Donna Adelson planned this, hired anybody to do
28:26this, or intended that this happen.
28:29Donna's lawyer told the jury that just because her son and others were involved in the murder did not mean
28:35that Donna was guilty.
28:36They put her at the top of this pyramid, she's the matriarch, she's the matriarch mastermind behind Danny being killed,
28:47and they don't have evidence of that.
28:49And at the end of the case, we're going to ask you to find her not guilty of every single
28:54count.
29:05Please state your name and spell your name.
29:08Wendy Adelson.
29:10Wendy was not charged with any crime, but was given immunity for her testimony against her mother, used to explain
29:16the family dynamics.
29:18She saw the best for me as not being in Tallahassee, yes.
29:21That's right. She referred to being in Tallahassee, that you were a hostage and a prisoner, right?
29:29Yes, she did.
29:30Did your mom ever call Dan Markell any disparaging names around this time frame?
29:36She did.
29:38Okay, including piece of s***?
29:40Yes.
29:41S***?
29:42Yes.
29:43A narcissist?
29:45Yes.
29:45A bully?
29:46Yes.
29:47A bastard?
29:48Yes.
29:49And she testified that she had not spoken with her mother since her testimony at her brother Charlie's murder trial.
29:56She was hoping I would be supportive of my brother.
30:00Do you know what her thoughts were afterwards?
30:03I do.
30:04She was devastated.
30:05She didn't feel you were supportive?
30:07No.
30:08Were you in any way involved in the plot to kill your ex-husband?
30:12No.
30:14Was part of the plot to kill your ex for you to have plausible deniability or to know very little
30:23about it?
30:24I was not involved in any plot to kill Danny.
30:28On cross-examination, Donna's defense lawyer drilled down on the bad names Donna had called Dan Markell.
30:35She said ugly things about him.
30:37Yes.
30:38But not one single time did she ever suggest in writing or to you personally that Danny deserved to be
30:44harmed, did she?
30:45Never.
30:46Never said he needed to be killed.
30:48Never.
30:48And you testified that anybody in your family that had anything to do with it should be held responsible.
30:54Isn't that correct?
30:55Yes.
30:55And that includes you, doesn't it?
30:57Anyone.
30:58Anyone who's responsible.
31:04And next was the prosecution's surprise witness, Donna Adelson's eldest son, Robert, whose role as a secret FBI informant was
31:14about to become public.
31:23Could you tell us your name and spell your name for our court reporter, please?
31:27Sure.
31:27Robert Todd Adelson.
31:29How do you know the defendant in this case, Donna Adelson?
31:33Actually, my mother.
31:34Rob had been an informant on the case since its inception.
31:38It was a moment of high drama as Rob's mother, Donna, and his father, Harvey, watched their firstborn reveal his
31:46role as an FBI informant.
32:01Based on your personal observations throughout your life of your parents and of your siblings, who is the leader in
32:10the family?
32:10Who tends to run the show?
32:12I think my mom.
32:14Okay, so Donna Adelson?
32:15Yes.
32:17Would you describe Donna Adelson's personality as being more controlling or more laid back?
32:23I think more on the controlling side.
32:26How did Donna Adelson feel about Dan Markell in 2014?
32:32I mean, she hated him.
32:34Did Donna Adelson tell you that Wendy Adelson was trying to get permission to relocate to Miami?
32:40Yes.
32:41And did Donna Adelson tell you about the million-dollar bribe she wanted to offer Dan Markell?
32:46Yes.
32:48Who cared more about Wendy Adelson's divorce from your conversations?
32:53Was it Donna or Charlie?
32:55Donna.
32:56So how did you first hear about Dan Markell's murder?
32:59It's one of those moments that, you know, you'll just remember forever.
33:02She said, you know, so we just want to let you know that Danny's been shot, and they took him
33:08to the hospital, but he didn't make it.
33:12And, I mean, it just didn't make any sense.
33:16Was she crying in that conversation?
33:18Not in that conversation.
33:20Sir?
33:20No, she was not.
33:21It was very matter-of-fact.
33:23She said that, you know, someone went to the front door and said, are you Dan Markell, and then shot
33:29him.
33:31And then I said, well, how could you know that?
33:35Who's telling you that?
33:36And she said, well, that's just what they're telling us.
33:38Did you end up talking to law enforcement and letting them, answering their questions, letting them know what you knew?
33:44Yeah, they came to my office the next day with two agents, and we had an interview.
33:51After that conversation with the FBI, did Donna Adelson ever say anything to you about having talked to law enforcement
33:59or the FBI?
34:00She called me and said, you know, I just want to let you know, you know, if the police come
34:02around, you know, don't talk to them.
34:06Okay, so she told you not to talk to law enforcement.
34:08Correct.
34:09Did you let her know that you already had talked to law enforcement?
34:12I said, I already did.
34:14What did she say to that?
34:15She said, oh, well, you don't know anything anyway.
34:17You don't know anything anyway?
34:18Correct.
34:19It ended up being a lot more important than I anticipated it would be.
34:23So it was tough, but I do think it was important.
34:25After the murder of Dan Markell, did Donna Adelson seem curious about who killed Dan Markell?
34:32No.
34:35Was there a complete lack of curiosity?
34:38Yeah, nobody seemed curious.
34:40This was getting a lot of notoriety, and I said, you know, what do you guys think happened?
34:47And she had said, you know, I don't know and I don't care.
34:50It doesn't concern me.
34:51This was like national interest, and nobody had any curiosity about, you know, who did this to Danny.
34:59What would your mom, Donna Adelson, do if you did try to, like, ask her any more about Danny's murder
35:06after that?
35:07It wasn't a subject for discussion.
35:09You know, it would be rerouted or, you know, it was just not a subject to discuss.
35:13Donna's son then described her reaction when the news broke that the two hitmen had been arrested.
35:19There's no response, and I said it, you know, at least two or three times that, you know, they made
35:25an arrest.
35:26They got the guy who killed Danny.
35:29And then her response was, you know, I've got to go.
35:32And then did she hang up the phone after that?
35:34Yes.
35:36And did you ever talk to her about it again ever after that?
35:40No.
35:41That was the last time I spoke to her.
35:42Okay.
35:42That's all.
35:47I think he did really well.
35:48I think he was very credible.
35:50I think the jurors really responded to his testimony, and I think it was very important.
35:58At this point, I do need a decision.
36:00Mrs. Adelson, please rise.
36:07Concerning those rights as to whether you will remain silent or whether you will testify.
36:12Have you made a decision concerning this matter?
36:17I have until I'm not prepared to make that decision.
36:21This decision affects the rest of my life.
36:23I don't have to choose.
36:25I was hoping I would have some time to speak to my attorneys.
36:27This is already in the sky.
36:28The judge had already given her days to decide, and now gave her five more minutes to make her decision
36:34that would, as she knew, affect the rest of her life.
36:39I absolutely thought Donna would testify.
36:42So ready.
36:45Chomping at the bit, as they say.
36:53Mrs. Adelson, the question remains.
36:56As it relates to your right to remain silent and your right to testify, what is your decision concerning these
37:05two rights?
37:13This time I don't want to testify.
37:16Thank you very much.
37:26Well, this is Dan Markell.
37:30He's the victim in this case.
37:33A son, a professor, a friend, but most of all a father.
37:40You have learned about this conspiracy and how it has unraveled over the last 11 years.
37:47Since Dan Markell's death.
37:49And then the prosecutor played the video of the undercover FBI agent approaching Donna Adelson, what the FBI called the
37:56bump.
37:57How you doing? Just want to give you this.
38:01The bump and the wire were designed to expose the co-conspirators and their roles in this conspiracy, and it
38:08did.
38:09And she didn't go to the police.
38:13Nice, normal, Jewish grandmother approached on the street about a murder and an extortion attempt.
38:28She didn't go to the police?
38:31Why not?
38:32It's true, but she did not pull the trigger.
38:36She's guilty of first-degree murder as a principle.
38:39Render a verdict that does justice.
38:41Find her guilty.
38:48So my client is hanging out there trying to support her daughter, and now she's sitting in a court of
38:53law charged with murder because of what she wrote in emails.
38:56She called him a royal jackass, a piece of s**t, a f**k, crazy, a bastard, and she called him Elvis.
39:03That's why we are sitting here today.
39:07That is hatred for somebody.
39:09That proves they wanted to have him killed.
39:12Are you serious?
39:15You call somebody some bad names, and that means you wanted him dead?
39:20There's not a lick of evidence in here that they submitted of what she did prior to July the 18th,
39:262014, where she said not a single word that she wanted him killed.
39:31She was planning to have him killed.
39:32She was going to find somebody to kill him.
39:34She was going to pay somebody to kill him.
39:36She was going to kill him.
39:38She was glad he was dead.
39:39That's not in here.
39:40That is not proof of somebody having somebody killed.
39:44And all this circumstantial evidence isn't really circumstantial evidence.
39:48It's argument about what it could mean, what it possibly mean.
39:52Could it have been?
39:54That's not beyond a reasonable doubt.
39:59The jury was out for three hours.
40:02If the jury foreperson could please rise.
40:08Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?
40:11We have.
40:11If you please can hand the verdict form to the bailiff.
40:18We, the jury, find as follows as to count one of the indictment first-degree murder.
40:28The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.
40:32Mrs. Adelson, control yourself.
40:38Count two.
40:39The defendant is guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
40:45Count three.
40:46The defendant is guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
40:51Mrs. Adelson, while this was not the outcome I'm sure that you desired,
40:55there will not be any further outbursts in front of the jury.
40:58If you cannot control yourself, I am going to have to determine
41:03if you will be removed from the remainder of this process.
41:10Do you understand what I'm saying to you?
41:26My name is Ruth Markell.
41:28I am the mother of the late Dan Markell.
41:31Danny's murder was orchestrated by his former mother-in-law,
41:36Donald Don Adelson,
41:37and other co-conspirators,
41:40and is a crime of cruelty.
41:41She killed their father
41:43and ripped the children from the other grandparents' lives.
41:54Mrs. Adelson has decided she would like to make a numbers-born statement to the court.
41:59Thank you for letting me speak.
42:02My son-in-law Dan Markell was a fine and decent man.
42:07They claimed that I, this grandma, was the mastermind behind the murder.
42:13With not one iota of actual evidence,
42:17the state convinced the Tallahassee jury
42:20that I solicited and conspired with other people to have Danny killed.
42:27And Mrs. Adelson, you certainly can continue.
42:31However, the court can take into consideration
42:33the utter lack of remorse that you are displaying.
42:39Please proceed if you desire to do so.
42:42There are two crimes here.
42:44The first was Danny being viciously murdered.
42:49The second one is taking my life,
42:52the life of an innocent woman.
42:54Your Honor,
42:55I was not involved in any way with Danny's murder.
43:01I was not.
43:02Donna Adelson was sentenced to life in prison.
43:05And in Florida, there is no parole.
43:08You're the only one who fucked up
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