TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Court TV/Scripps News Tallahassee) — The attorneys representing Charlie Adelson made an eleventh-hour request to move the trial, even as jury selection is underway in Adelson’s murder trial.
Charlie Adelson, left, is set to stand trial next month in the 2014 murder of his former brother-in-law, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, right. Authorities allege Adelson arranged the killing so his sister could move with the couple’s children.
Adelson is accused of hiring a hitman to kill his ex-brother-in-law in 2014 so that his sister, Wendi, could relocate with the couple’s children. The victim, Dan Markel, was gunned down in the driveway of his home in Tallahassee, Florida.
Adelson’s attorney, Josh Dubin, argued the case should be moved to South or Central Florida, arguing that jury selection has demonstrated that too many people have knowledge and opinions due to local and national news coverage. Judge Stephen Everett denied the motion.
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By Tuesday afternoon, attorneys had 55 jurors for the last round of selection and needed at least five more to move on to the final round.
Three people have already been convicted in Markel’s murder, including Adelson’s former girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua, who was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder in 2022. The trials’ publicity has prompted the court to pull a larger-than-usual pool of jurors, summoning 900 people.
Everett previously said that jury selection could last until Thursday and that he expects the trial to last approximately three weeks.
Scripps News Tallahassee’s Kendall Brandt sat in for the questioning of 19 potential jurors. One of the potential jurors was excused because they had served on the jury for Magbanua’s trial. Another was let go for posts he had made about Adelson on social media.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Tallahassee, an E.W. Scripps Company.
