On Monday, October 13, 2025, 75-year-old Donna Adelson was sentenced to life in prison following her conviction last month. She was found guilty of her role in the 2014 murder-for-hire plot against her former son-in-law, Daniel Markel.

Murder-For-Hire Plot

In July 2014, the Florida State University law professor was gunned down in his car outside of his Tallahassee home and shot twice in the head at point-blank range. He had just finished dropping his children off at preschool when he was met by two men, who were later found to be hired by his in-laws. He was transferred to the hospital, where he died 14 hours later.  

Markel and his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, were in a strenuous custody battle at the time of his murder. They were granted joint custody, and a judge ruled against Wendi relocating her and their children to South Florida, where her mother lived. The prosecution concluded that this denial was Adelson’s motive for plotting the murder of Markel.

Donna Adelson Sentenced

Adelson was first arrested for the crimes in November 2023 when she was found fleeing at the Miami International Airport. She pleaded not guilty and had been awaiting a trial date. On September 4, Adelson was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder in the for-hire killing. She appeared in the Tallahassee courtroom yesterday, shackled in a purple jumpsuit, awaiting her fate. She remained calm and collected as the verdict was read, attempting to show her innocence.

Before she received her sentence, she read a statement in court, maintaining her innocence and accusing the state of its inability to pin the mastermind title to the correct person. “If I had become aware of this plan before Danny was murdered, I would have stopped it,” Adelson said. “What happened to Danny is unforgivable. But I am an innocent woman convicted of this terrible crime without evidence.” She concluded her statement, swearing that she was not involved in Markel’s murder in any way.

Circuit Judge Stephen Everett was not buying any of her words. He accused Adelson of showing no remorse for the crime and said, “You certainly can choose to deny your involvement and maintain innocence. The court finds the evidence in this case is clear.”

Adelson was given life without the possibility of parole and an additional 30 years for the other two counts to which are to be served consecutively. She has already pledged to appeal the verdict, citing, “What happened to Danny is unforgivable. But I am an innocent woman convicted of this terrible crime without evidence.”

A Family Affair

Adelson is not the only one who has been convicted of the murder of Markel. She and several others, including her son, Charlie Adelson, and his former girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, were convicted and sentenced to life for their involvement. In addition, the two hitmen, Latin Kings gang Leader Luis Rivera, was sentenced to 19 years, and his partner Sigfredo Garcia was given life in prison. 

Magbanua and Rivera had a previous romantic relationship, and the prosecution used this to tie the family to the murder. They alleged Charlie and Magbanua hired the two men to kill Markel, and they stalked him the morning of July 18, 2014, before confronting him and pulling the trigger. They also painted Adelson to be a controlling matriarch of her family and described her motive as pure hatred for her ex-son-in-law. According to prosecutors, she orchestrated the hit and had her son, and his former girlfriend carry out her dirty work.

However, defense attorneys insisted there was not sufficient evidence to link her to the murder-for-hire and attempted to pin it all on her family. They put the blame on her adult children, but Wendi has denied any involvement in the crime and has not been charged.