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A Florida grandmother has been convicted of murder in the shooting death of her daughter's ex-husband, who was killed by hitmen amid a bitter divorce and custody battle more than 11 years ago.
Jurors found Donna Adelson guilty on Thursday, Sept. 4, of murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy in the shooting death of 41-year-old Daniel Markel, her former son-in-law and a law professor at Florida State University killed in his Tallahassee driveway on July 18, 2014.
Adelson, 75, cried out when the first guilty verdict was read and wept as the other verdicts came in. She continued sobbing as Markel's parents eviscerated her and asked the judge in the case to sentence Adelson to a maximum of life in prison for having their beloved son killed.
"I wish her to live to 120, alone in her jail cell," said Markel's father, Phil Markel. "I wish that every day of her remaining days she thinks about the harm she has caused so many."
Then he posed a question to Adelson: "Was it worth it?"
His wife, Ruth Markel, said that Adelson "blames external forces for her family's curse ... but she is the curse."
Here's what you need to know about the case.
Who is Donna Adelson?
Donna Adelson, 75, is the matriarch of an affluent South Florida family. She was accused of orchestrating an elaborate plot to hire hitmen to kill her son-in-law, Daniel Markel, in a case that became infamous in Tallahassee and beyond.
Prosecutors argued that Adelson wanted Markel killed after his divorce from her daughter, Wendi Adelson, and as the couple fought over custody of their two children. Markel was getting in the way of Wendi's efforts to move with the kids more than 300 miles away to South Florida to be closer to Donna Adelson and other family.
Adelson was accused of masterminding the plot and enlisting the help of her own son, Charles Adelson, to carry it out. Charles Adelson is already serving a life sentence in the case, as is his former girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, who set up the deal, and one of the hitmen, Sigfredo Garcia. The other hitman, Luis Rivera, was sentenced to seven years in prison as part of a plea deal in exchange for his testimony in the case.
Verdict comes after 12-day trial
Donna Adelson's jury reached a swift decision just a few hours after attorneys on both sides delivered their closing arguments on Thursday, Sept. 4.
Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman apologized to jurors that "there's not a smoking gun" in the case against Adelson. "But she was too smart for that."
She urged them to find Adelson guilty: “Don’t let the way she thought she’d get away with this be the way she gets away with this."
Adelson's attorney, Jackie Fulford, told jurors that prosecutors lacked much evidence and that Adelson was innocent.
She acknowledged that Adelson had called Markel "ugly names" but that didn't mean she hated him, she said.
"That proves they wanted him killed, are you serious?" Fulford said. "You call somebody some bad names and that means you wanted him dead?"
More from Dan Markel's parents
For nearly 15 minutes directy after Adelson was found guilty, Dan Markel's parents told the court just how much their lives were shattered by the death of their son, a scholar who studied at Harvard and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Emmanuel College in Cambridge.
"For 11 years we have been forced to a life filled with unimaginable pain and heartbreak," Ruth Markel said about her son's murder. "I am most proud of hte devoted father Danny was to his two sons, Benjamin and Lincoln ... Dan was the boys' hero and they have been forced to grow up without a father."
She called the murder seneless and insensible
"She plotted, planned and paid for his murder," she said. "At its core, this was a murder of convenience so that one grandmother could live closer to her grandchildren. She killed their father and ripped the children from the other grandparents' lives."
Her husband Phil talked of the "deep and irreparable damage" of everyone involved in the killing, but particularly Donna Adelson.
"For anyone to commit such a cold-blooded, unprovoked act of murder is horrific," he said.
When will Donna Adelson be sentenced?
Adelson faces up to life in prison when Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett sentences her. Her sentencing has not been scheduled but Everett set a case management hearing for Oct. 14.
Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donna Adelson found guilty in hired hit of daughter's ex-husband in Florida
Reporting by Amanda Lee Myers and Jeff Burlew, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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