The murder trial of Donna Adelson is set to begin with jury selection on Tuesday Sept. 17 in the Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee.
The trial will take place over ten years after the brutal murder of FSU Law Professor Dan Markel and ten months after her arrest at the Miami International Airport as she was fleeing the United States to Vietnam, a country which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
This trial is the fourth criminal trial involving the south Florida conspirators who allegedly conspired and or participated in the murder of Professor Markel in his driveway.
The key convicted players in the trial
The evidence in the previous trials involved the active participants that took identifiable steps in the planning, organizing, execution and payment for the execution style murder.
- Sigfredo Garcia was the alleged shooter that killed Markel.
- Louis Rivera was the co-conspirator who did surveillance and assisted Garcia in locating, identifying, and following Professor Markel to his residence for Garcia to kill Markel. Rivera also drove the get a way car as the killers fled back to south Florida.
- Kathryn Magbanua , the mother of Garcia’s children, acted as the broker for the murder plot between the killers and Charlie Adelson. She also provided money and photos of Markel to Garcia and Rivera. She was also paid by the Adelson to keep quiet about the crime.
- Charlie Adelson directed Magbanua, who was his girlfriend, to kill his ex-brother in-law so his sister, Wendi and her children could relocate to south Florida. Charlie provided Magbanua money for her to pay the hit men. He also convinced Magbanua to keep quiet after the police began to target the perpetrators.