TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Donna Adelson, a 73-year-old Florida grandmother, has been sentenced to life in prison for her role in the murder-for-hire plot that killed her former son-in-law, Dan Markel, a Florida State University law professor.
Adelson received the mandatory life sentence on Monday afternoon, nearly a decade after Markel’s death outside his Tallahassee home. The judge also added 30 years to her sentence for related conspiracy and solicitation charges.
Life Sentence for Orchestrating the 2014 Murder
Markel, 41, was shot to death in his car on July 18, 2014, as he pulled into the garage of his Betton Hills home. Prosecutors said the killing was ordered and financed by Adelson’s family, who paid hitmen $100,000 to end Markel’s life amid a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, Donna’s daughter.
In court Monday, Judge James Everett confirmed the life sentence and agreed to recommend that Adelson be housed near Miami, where her husband Harvey Adelson resides…