Donna Adelson's Ex-Lawyer Testifies About Her Distraught Threats & Vacation Hope

Video Description

Marissel Descalzo, a criminal defense attorney since 2003, represented Donna Adelson in 2022 She testified as a defense witness in Donna's murder-for-hire trial today (Wednesday, September 3, day 8) about Adelson's mental state during her son's trial in October and November 2023. *** If you or someone you know is considering self harm, please seek help. The national hotline is 988. *** 02:30 "Her husband agreed that this would be good for her mental state. And so we discussed a potential vacation." 04:42 Assistant State Attorney Sarah Kathryn Dugan on cross-examination ."..the suggestion that you said that she'd take a vacation." "I don't believe I suggested it. I believe that that's something that was being discussed..." This testimony touches on the defense that the Adelsons were merely looking to vacation in Vietnam, not flee there permanently. 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 Leon County Circuit Court. ****************************************************************************** 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