'Beyond Angry': Jury Sees Divorce Custody Filings & Link To Donna Adelson

Video Description

Jason Newlin, the chief investigator in the Office of the State Attorney 2nd Judicial Circuit of Florida, which includes Leon County, testified in Donna Adelson's murder-for-hire trial today (Monday, August 25, day 2). Investigators obtained emails by subpoenaing the Gmail account Adelson shared with her husband, Harvey. Newlin's testimony detailed the divorce filings and related emails to try to show jurors how involved Donna Adelson was in the custody battle between her daughter, Wendi, and her ex-husband, murder victim Dan Markel. 03:45 1st divorce filing in 2012 07:30 "I have been upset about this move since it happened in 2005 referring to having to live in Tallahassee," Wendi says in a filing 10:50 "This is Wendi Adelson attempting to move the children to another part of the state, to Coral Springs, right?" "That is correct." 16:18 "And did he say that she was misusing access to the children as pawns?" 21:40 The most important part of your divorce is relocation," Donna tells Wendi. 29:26 "Does Donna here send Wendi a detailed accounting for every trip that Dan Markel has taken since the birth of their first child?" 33:10 "If I sound angry, it's because I am. We're all very upset and cannot believe the outcome. Sorry, I didn't mean to respond this way, but I'm beyond angry," Donna Adelson writes. 50:10 Cross-exam from Adelson's lawyer Josh Zelman Case background: Donna Adelson, 75, is accused of orchestrating the murder-for-hire of her former son-in-law because she wanted her daughter and grandchildren to move to Miami. Adelson is accused of conspiring with her son Charlie Adelson more than a decade ago to hire hitmen to kill Dan Markel, who was a Florida State University law professor and the father of her two young grandsons. Her defense is that she had no knowledge of what hitmen Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia were going to do, and that prosecutors are only focusing on her hatred for Markel to show she had a motive to want him murdered, when there's no evidence she was actually involved. Rivera, a former gang leader, is serving a 19-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and testifying against Garcia, who fired the fatal shots, as well as the woman who linked Garcia to the victim: Katherine "Katie" Magbanua, who was Garcia's on-again, off-again girlfriend and also was in a relationship with Adelson's son Charlie Adelson. Garcia was convicted in 2019 and Magbanua in 2022. Rivera also testified in Charlie Adelson's trial in 2023, and Adelson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. After their son's trial, Donna Adelson and her husband, Harvey, bought one-way tickets to Vietnam. Police arrested her on the jetway at Miami International Airport on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder. Her trial is expected to go through Sept. 5 in Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Florida. Donna Adelson's lawyers are Josh Zelman and Jackie Fulford of Tallahassee. Assistant State Attorneys Georgia Cappleman and Sarah Kathryn Dugan are prosecuting. The judge is Stephen Everett, who is the chief judge of Florida's 2nd Judicial Circuit. ****************************************************************************** Become a member of Meghann's YouTube channel to show your support: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOHIOF-rFAeLOnH0ri5F62g/join Subscribe to Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff: https://www.legalaffairsandtrials.com/subscribe Support Meghann on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MeghannCuniff BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/meghanncuniff.bsky.social Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meghannmcuniff Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghanncuniff/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meghanncuniff Threads: https://www.threads.net/@meghanncuniff Venmo: MeghannCuniff