TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Scripps News Group/Court TV) — Charlie Adelson’s attorney pushed for a new trial on Tuesday at the First District Court of Appeal.
Adelson was convicted in 2023 of first-degree murder, solicitation, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2014 killing of former FSU Professor Dan Markel. In January 2025, the First District Court of Appeal denied a motion by Adelson’s team seeking to relinquish jurisdiction to the trial court.
Charlie Adelson looks over his shoulder at the courtroom gallery before his sentencing Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat/Pool)
Judges Rowe, Winokur, and MK Thomas heard arguments on Tuesday morning; Adelson was not present at the hearing but was represented by his attorney, Michael Ufferman.
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Ufferman focused most of his arguments on the idea that Judge Stephen Everett erred when he denied a change of venue in the case. Ufferman said that the jury seated to hear Adelson’s murder trial was inherently biased because of pervasive media exposure.
The Judges hearing the appeal pushed back on the idea, noting that in Florida, the defense must submit a formal written motion to change venue after the jury is seated but before they are sworn in. Ufferman argued the defense never waived its objection to the jury, but offered that if the judges were to believe the defense had waived the objection, then they should consider that waiver as fundamental error, which would then be considered for the case to be overturned.
Charles Lee, representing the State of Florida, fired back in his arguments that the defense waived the issue by accepting the jury without voicing an objection; Lee argued that whether that failure to voice an objection was a structural error was moot, since it was not raised in the initial appeal brief.
The panel of judges did not immediately render an opinion; its rulings are generally administered within 60 to 90 days.
