Sources: Donna Adelson Considering Reduced Sentence To Testify Against Her Own Daughter Wendi Adelson
Donna Adelson, 75, reacting to the verdict being read on September 4th, 2025
Sources: Donna Adelson's Legal Team Trying To Negotiate Reduced Sentence Deal
The matriarch of a once wealthy and respected South Florida family learned her fate on Thursday September 4th, 2025.
Donna Adelson,75, the former mother in law of slain FSU law professor Dan Markel, screamed, 'Oh My God' as she heard the verdicts in her murder trial being read by
Florida's 2nd Judicial Court Judge Stephen Everette. Adelson who was arrested in November of 2023, at Miami International Airport before she boarded a plane to
Vietnam on a one way ticket with her husband, retired Miami dentist Harvey Adelson. Markel who was once married to Adelson's daughter Wendi Adelson, was
shot in his head in the garage of his Tallahassee Florida home on July 18, 2014. He died the following day in a Tallahassee hospital, he was 41 years old. Markel a law
professor at FSU left behind two young sons aged 4 and 5. The state's legal theory has been, the murders happened due to Wendi and her family and their desire to be
able to move back to South Florida to be close to her family. Adelson and Markel legally divorced in 2012, but were still engaged in ongoing custody issues when the
murder occurred. One hitman Luis Rivera cut a deal with the state to testify in all trials related to the case, and serve a sentence of seven years for his role in the
murder. He was already in custody in 2015 for federal charges. He had a 19 year federal sentence he was serving when his legal team approached the state for a
deal regarding the Markel matter. He will serve his sentence for the murder of Markel concurrently with his federal sentence. He could be eligible for release within
the next three years. His childhood friend Sigfredo Garcia the trigger man, was convicted of first degree premediated murder on October 11th 2019. He was
sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The mother of his two children Kathrine Magbanua, stood trial with Garcia at the same
time in 2019. The jury was hung on Magbanua's charges and the judge declared a mistrial for her.
Magbanua stood trial again in 2022 and found guilty of first degree murder, for her role in the murder for hire plot. Her ex boyfriend, the older brother of Wendi Adelson
Charles Adelson, hired Magbanua to hire the hitmen to carry out the murder. Magbanua and Garcia's two children, Caylee and Ethan Garcia are being raised
by Francis Magbanua, Katie's older brother in Central Florida. Charlie Adelson, a one time periodontist was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida home on April 21,
2022. Magbanua approached the state ahead of Adelson's trial to offer testimony, she testified against her former boyfriend, Adelson during his trial. She for the first
time admitted on the stand that she acted as the 'middle man' between the Adelson's and Garcia and Rivera. She was hoping for a reduced sentenced, but
was not promised anything specifically for her testimony.
Donna Adelson In Court circa 2025
Two Different Sources Claim Donna Adelson Is Working On A Proffer For A Reduced Sentence
Donna Adelson,75, was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to convict murder and solicitation of murder on September 4,2025. The top charge of first-degree
murder, carries a mandatory life without parole sentence in Florida. The judge in Adelson's case was prepared to sentence Adelson to life without parole shortly
after the verdict was read into the record. Adelson's attorneys requested that Adelson be sentenced at a future date. Two reliable sources are saying that was
a very calculated move by Adelson's legal team. One source an Adelson family associate and another, a Leon County jail employee.
According to one source who requested anonymity said 'Donna and her lawyers are working on the details of her offer to testify against her daughter, Wendi Adelson.
Wendi Adelson, has long been suspected of being a co-conspirator in her ex- husband's murder, however she has never been charged. The younger Adelson
moved from Miami Beach, Florida with her two sons and a boyfriend to Austin, Texas. Within the last 14 months, she relocated again to Denver, CO. Donna is
facing a mandatory life without parole sentence when she will be sentenced later this year. According to a family associate, "one of the conditions of the proffer or
offer to testify is that her husband Harvey Adelson,81, not be charged with any crimes." The associate continued. "Donna's loyalty is to her husband only, she feels
her daughter threw her out to dry, when all of this was done on her behalf." The Leon County employee said, "I overheard conversations relating to Donna
testifying, at this point she has nothing to lose, and she believes Wendi will be arrested and charged with her testimony or without it. So she may as well try
to shorten her sentence and be able to spend her last days with her husband. Anything less than time served would not be worth her while at her age, so it
is not anywhere near set in stone, as to what the state will or not agree to. Even a ten year sentence, would not be worth her testifying, it is going to be an all or nothing
type equation." The family associate, says "Donna has no hope that any type of appeals will change anything, her only way out is to testify, and because Wendi
has done nothing to help her or her brother Charles Adelson, she feels testifying against Wendi, is her only option."
