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The Adelson family matriarch who is accused of plotting the murder of her former son-in-law put on a show in court as she shook her head and shrieked “Oh my God” when claims were made about her alleged plot to kill herself.
Donna Adelson, 73, appeared in a Leon County, Florida courtroom for her arraignment on Monday in the 2014 shooting death of FSU law professor Dan Markel.
Her jaw dropped when a jail official explained to the judge that she was in solitary confinement because she allegedly made comments that she “wanted to die” and also made suicidal statements on jailhouse calls.
Ms Adelson shook her head several times and smirked at the jail official’s comments before Judge Stephen Everett decided he had enough of Adelson’s commentary.
“Ms. Adelson, please keep your comments to yourself,” Judge Everett said. “Let your lawyer [Marissel Descalzo] argue on your behalf.”
Ms Adelson was arrested in November at Miami International Airport one week after her son Charlie Adelson was convicted for his role in the hitman murder.
The 47-year-old dentist is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday morning. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The jailhouse calls involved Ms Adelson telling her son that she was “getting things in order, creating trusts, and making sure her grandchildren are taken care of.”
“Donna discusses plans for a suicide, but also discusses plans to flee to a non-extradition country,” according to the affidavit.
“Donna Sue Adelson has considerable financial resources to accomplish this,” the affidavit continued. “On Nov. 7, 2023, Donna and Harvey Adelson booked flights to Vietnam with a stop in Dubai.”
Ms Adelson has been in jail for just over two weeks but claims she has been subjected to “cruel and inhumane conditions” at the facility and she wants out, preferably in time for Christmas.
(Leon County Jail)
Her attorney Marissel Descalz filed a motion last week requesting that Ms Adelson be moved from solitary confinement into the general population at Leon County Detention Facility or be placed on house arrest.
Ms Descalz wrote in the motion that some jail staff have treated her with “cruelty,” including denying her blood pressure medication and preventing her from showering for days at a time and has been allowed to call her husband, Harvey Adelson, only once.
The judge denied the request to be moved from solitary to house arrest and set her next court date for 9 January.
Ms Adelson was arrested on 13 November at Miami International Airport as she and her husband were attempting to board a flight with one-way tickets to Vietnam. She was apprehended and then transported to Tallahassee where she was booked on 20 November.
She is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the murder-for-hire killing of Dan Markel.
Prosecutors argue that the Adelsons conspired to get rid of Markel after a bitter custody dispute between Markel and his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, Donna’s daughter.
Wendi, who has denied involvement with the murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not been charged. Neither has her father, Harvey Adelson.
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