TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Court TV) — Donna Adelson wants her upcoming murder trial moved out of Tallahassee.
Citing intense pretrial publicity and coverage in recent days of details about a closed-door hearing involving her estranged son, Rob Adelson, the matriarch is seeking a change of venue. Donna’s attorneys, Tallahassee-based Josh Zelman and Jackie Fulford, filed their request Monday.
Donna Adelson appears in court for a final pretrial hearing ahead of her murder trial. (Court TV)
Donna, 74, faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation related to the death of her ex-son-in-law, Dan Markel. She has pleaded not guilty.
A June 3 trial date is set for Donna, and her lawyers stated that they were going to wait to request a change of venue, but had no choice but to speed up the process when the Clerk of Court “failed to seal” the transcript from a September hearing involving Rob. Rob’s opinions at that hearing were ruled inadmissible, but Donna’s defense alluded to the fact that a son testifying against his mother is a bad look for their client, and equated the information that got out with a bell that no one can unring.
Rob is listed as a State’s witness, although he distanced himself from his family after the murder. He is currently a physician in upstate New York. Rob’s September 6, 2024 testimony was briefly unsealed so that Zelman and Fulford could transcribe it when they took over the case after defense attorney Dan Rashbaum stepped down.
Court TV obtained a copy of the now-sealed deposition while it was briefly public. In it, Rob referred to his mother as very sharp, and not someone who is gullible or could have the wool pulled over their eyes easily. Rob also made mention in his deposition of an unnamed racial slur that Donna made. Rob also stated that if there’s anyone who puts their own interests ahead of everybody else’s, it’s Donna.
Donna’s defense attorneys don’t want those details to reach potential jurors. They argue that the only statements from Rob that could come into play at trial are very narrow ones that must have a direct tie to Markel’s homicide. Those include direct observations about Donna made by Rob, as well as exact statements of Donna’s that Rob could recall. Donna’s defense maintains that Rob’s personal opinion of his mother should not matter at trial.
FILE – Dan Markel (Florida State University)
Donna is the fifth person to be tried for the 2014 murder of Markel, 41, a law professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Markel was gunned down while pulling into his garage on July 18, 2014. Those previously tried and convicted in the case are: Sigfredo Garcia, Luis Rivera, Katherine Magbanua, and Charlie Adelson. Under Charlie’s instructions, Magbanua recruited hitmen Garcia and Rivera to physically carry out the shooting. The slaying was allegedly at the behest of Donna, who was distraught because a judge refused to allow her daughter, Wendi Adelson, to move to the Miami area with her two young sons to be closer to her.
READ MORE | Guilt. Graves. Ghosts: Adelson saga a modern-day Shakesperan tragedy
Donna’s attorneys, who are vehement that their client cannot get a fair trial in Leon County, asserted that another reason why they were seeking a change of venue was because the Idaho judge presiding over Bryan Kohberger‘s murder trial granted a change of venue in that case based on security and other concerns. Kohberger is accused in the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students.
Wendi has not faced charges related to her ex-husband’s death, and it’s still unclear if she will. Same goes for Wendi’s father and Donna’s husband, Harvey Adelson. Harvey was a prominent South Florida dentist prior to his retirement. Charlie, a wealthy periodontist, had purchased his dad’s practice prior to his arrest. It is unclear how much, if anything, Wendi and Harvey knew about Donna and Charlie’s alleged murder plot.
READ MORE: FL v. Adelson: Dentist Mastermind Murder Trial
Rob rarely speaks publicly about growing up Adelson, but he did offer a little insight when he appeared as a guest on the “Over My Dead Body” podcast. He recalled that his family nicknamed him “Honest Abe” after he got too much change in a transaction and returned the extra money. In other words, they made fun of him for doing what was, arguably, the right thing.
Donna’s next court appearance is a case management set for February 11.
