TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — More than a decade after a hired hit man shot her former son-in-law in the head in his Tallahassee garage, 75-year-old Donna Adelson is now on trial for helping orchestrate the 2014 murder of Daniel Markel, the Florida State University law professor who at the time of his death was locked in a bitter child custody fight with his ex-wife and Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Adelson. The couple had been married seven years before finalizing their divorce in 2013.
Donna Adelson faces charges of first-degree murder as well as conspiracy and solicitation to commit first-degree murder, in a trial that is expected to extend into September. If convicted, Adelson could spend the rest of her life in prison.
After three days of questioning, Florida Second Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen Everett seated a panel of 12 jurors and two alternates on Thursday, who he said could approach the case fairly and impartially. That’s no small feat in a case that has riveted Florida’s capital for more than a decade, as sordid details emerged about a messy divorce, tensions with wealthy in-laws and custody battles that culminated in the murder of a prominent local professor…