TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Court TV) — A juror in the high-profile murder-for-hire trial of Donna Adelson is speaking out on social media just days after a Florida jury found the 75-year-old matriarch guilty of killing her former son-in-law.
The juror, who appeared in a TikTok video under the username “laceywithaj,” gave a rare, behind-the-scenes look at her thought process during the trial and the deliberations that led to a swift conviction for first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation in the 2014 death of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel.
She stated that she remained neutral throughout the proceedings, took extensive notes on all the evidence presented, and followed the judge’s instructions to presume Donna innocent until proven guilty.
Donna Adelson is escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs after being found guilty for the murder of Dan Markel on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.
In the video, the juror pushed back against any suggestion that she had already decided the outcome before heading into the deliberation room, but that the jurors were unanimous within the first hour and a half that Donna was guilty.
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“As the foreperson, you need to be looking at the different body language…who may be unsure of something,” the juror said. When she saw that some people may have been confused, she insisted that the panel go over each of the charges and evidence point-by-point. She added that she was diligent in her duty to weigh the arguments from both the prosecution and the defense.
“We went over everything several times, because this is a big decision. This is serious, and we all took our duty very seriously. This isn’t just fun and games.”
MORE | Donna Adelson to face sentencing for murder on Monday
The case against Donna captured national attention, detailing a bitter intrastate custody dispute that prosecutors argued was the motive for murder. Donna’s daughter, Wendi Adelson, was in a contentious divorce with Markel, who had won a court ruling preventing her from moving their two young sons 500 miles away from Tallahassee to South Florida, where the Adelson family lived.
Prosecutors convinced a jury that to solve this “problem,” Donna and her son, Charlie Adelson, orchestrated a plot to hire hitmen to kill Markel. On July 18, 2014, Markel was shot and killed in his garage.
The swiftness with which the juror spoke out publicly is a modern phenomenon driven by social media, a move that offers a unique insight into a process typically shrouded in secrecy.
MORE | Attorney testifies Dan Markel’s post-divorce filings were hostile
After a nine-day trial, the jury deliberated for just over three hours before finding Donna guilty on all counts. She is the fifth person to be convicted in connection with the murder plot, following Charlie, who was found guilty in 2023, and the three people who carried out the killing: Katherine Magbanua, Sigfredo Garcia, and Luis Rivera.
The juror said on social media that she expects to see other members of the family charged as well, going so far as to say she believes that Wendi was “100 percent involved.”
Donna Adelson is currently awaiting sentencing.
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