TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Court TV) — Less than 24 hours before Donna Adelson stands trial for masterminding the murder-for-hire of her former son-in-law, her daughter’s attorneys fought to quash a subpoena from her defense.
Wendi Adelson, the ex-wife Florida State law professor Dan Markel who was shot and killed in 2014, looks at a photo displayed on a projector in the courtroom before answering a question asked about the image.
Donna’s daughter, Wendi Adelson, was in a contentious custody battle with her ex-husband, FSU law professor Dan Markel, when he was gunned down in his driveway in 2014. While Wendi has never been charged, she has been brought in to testify at the trials for two other defendants who have been convicted in the case, including her brother, Charlie Adelson.
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At each trial, Wendi has testified under an agreement with prosecutors that offered her use and derivative use immunity; that means anything she says in court or evidence found as a result can’t be used against her in any future proceeding. The immunity agreement prevents Wendi from claiming her Fifth Amendment right to self-incriminate, but that same protection does not extend to the subpoena from the defense. Because the immunity only applies when prosecutors call her to the stand, Wendi filed a motion asking Judge Stephen Everett to quash the subpoena.
Donna Adelson testifies during a Feb. 26, 2025 bond hearing about an incident in October 2024 when she claims another inmate assaulted her. (Court TV)
Wendi was previously successful in quashing a subpoena filed during defendant Katherine Magbanua’s trial. Wendi’s attorney noted in the motion that the appeals court upheld the trial court’s ruling after Magbanua appealed it.
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Judge Stephen Everett granted Wendi’s motion to quash the subpoena and told her attorney that he would be permitted to place a statement on the record prior to his client taking the stand.
While Donna wants her daughter to testify at her trial, she has asked a judge to suppress statements from a fellow inmate who said Donna referred to her as “her jail daughter.”
Donna’s defense motion to suppress says fellow inmate Drina Bernhardt has been working with investigators and feeding them information she’s learned behind bars. But the motion says that because Bernhardt didn’t just listen, but actively asked questions, she was acting as an “agent of the state” and thus her statements should be inadmissible. The motion alleges a third inmate, Mickey Easterwood, told law enforcement that “Bernhardt questioned and manipulated Adelson” and said “it was very obvious that she was trying to get information out of her, out of Donna.”
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After hearing the motion from Wendi, the Court went into a closed-door meeting to resolve other issues ahead of trial.
Jury selection in Donna’s murder trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 19.
