The choose presiding over Donna Adelson’s murder case indicated he wouldn’t block prosecutors from questioning her daughter Wendi Adelson a few ebook she wrote earlier than her ex-husband Dan Markel was murdered.
Throughout a Thursday listening to in Tallahassee, Circuit Decide Stephen Everett stated the ebook could possibly be used for impeaching Wendi Adelson’s testimony because it has in earlier trials.
However he additionally stated he would give the protection request extra consideration earlier than ruling. He famous that impeachment is usually obtainable to indicate when a witness is being untruthful or inconsistent with earlier statements.
Leon County Circuit Decide Stephen Everett reacts throughout a movement listening to for Donna Adelson on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
“That is largely going to depend upon what Wendi Adelson truly testifies to,” Everett stated. “If she testifies in a fashion that’s inconsistent together with her trial testimony … she may be impeached on these subjects, whether or not they be the ebook or another matter.”
Prosecutors have lengthy drawn parallels between Wendi Adelson, whom they contemplate an unindicted co-conspirator within the homicide, and one of many characters in her novel, “This Is Our Story,” a lawyer named Lily caught in a small city due to her husband’s job.
Nevertheless, Wendi Adelson has downplayed any connections between herself and the character. In 2023, when she testified during her brother Charlie Adelson’s murder trial, she claimed the character was “primarily based off of a good friend of mine” quite than herself.
Donna Adelson, who’s charged within the 2014 contract killing of regulation professor Dan Markel, speaks together with her protection legal professional Jackie Fulford earlier than a movement listening to on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
Markel, a famous regulation professor at Florida State College, was fatally shot within the storage of his Trescott Drive house on July 18, 2014, by one among two employed hit males. Prosecutors contend that Donna Adelson and her household wished him out of the image in order that Wendi Adelson may relocate to South Florida with their two kids, which a choose had denied.
Final yr, Everett denied the same request by Donna Adelson’s earlier attorneys to stop questions in regards to the ebook. Earlier this month, her new attorneys, Jackie Fulford and Josh Zelman of Tallahassee, filed a movement renewing the request, saying further information weren’t beforehand identified or addressed.
Throughout Thursday’s listening to, Zelman argued that the ebook was not autobiographical and that the Lily character differed from Wendi Adelson in quite a few methods. For one, he stated, the fictional character had a miscarriage, leaving her unable to have kids and prompting her to undertake.
Donna Adelson’s protection legal professional Josh Zelman argues Wendi Adelson shouldn’t be questioned about her ebook throughout a movement listening to on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
He additionally stated that on the finish of the ebook, the Lily character thanked her husband for bringing her to the fictional North Florida city the place the story was set. Studying from the ebook, Zelman stated Lily was grateful to him “for bringing me to this place, for giving me wings to strive one thing new and for all of the unpredictable experiences which have adopted.”
Zelman additionally famous that the ebook was revealed in 2011, before the Markels’ bitter divorce and two years earlier than a choose dominated in opposition to Wendi Adelson’s request to relocate with their kids.
Assistant State Lawyer Eddie Evans argued that her movement for relocation indicated she was “caught in Tallahassee” and that she had emailed mates about how necessary it was for her to maneuver south, the place her household resided.
Leon County Circuit Decide Stephen Everett listens to Assistant State Lawyer Eddie Evans throughout a movement listening to for Donna Adelson on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
“I believe it’s related,” Evans stated. “I believe it’s not an remoted assertion and we take the whole lot in context. I believe it’s admissible.”
Donna Adelson is the fifth particular person to be charged within the murder-for-hire of Markel. Charlie Adelson was convicted within the homicide in 2023, following earlier convictions of the 2 hit males and an confederate.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This text initially appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Judge in Donna Adelson case hears arguments about Wendi Adelson book
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