Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - RAGING MOTHER-IN-LAW ORDERS HIT ON LAW PROF SON-IN-LAW TO WALK FREE BC "JUROR MISCONDUCT?"

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

After nearly three weeks of testimony, a jury takes just three hours to find 75-year-old Donna Adelson guilty of all three charges levied against her. Adelson is convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit killing, and first-degree murder in the hit on her former son-in-law Dan Markel. Now, Adelson has filed a motion for a new trial, claiming multiple instances of jury misconduct, bias from the judge, and a lack of evidence to support the verdict. The 18-page motion comes just two weeks after Adelson’s conviction and includes a request to interview two of the jurors who decided her fate. Adelson accuses the jury foreperson, juror number seven, of failing to follow the judge’s instructions on speaking about the case. Adelson claims Jacey Maxen Walker posted a TikTok about her selection to the jury on the third day of trial, then deleted the post. Adelson writes that Maxen Walker then went viral for her posts discussing details of the case immediately after the verdict. Joining Nancy Grace today: Philip Dubé- Former Court-Appointed Counsel, Los Angeles County Public Defenders: Criminal & Constitutional Law, Forensics & Mental Health Advocacy: X: PhilipCDube, IG: PhilipDube, YouTube: PhilipDube3922 Dr. Judy Ho - Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychologist, Author of 'The New Rules of Attachment'; and 'Stop Self-Sabatoge;' IG & X: @drjudyho; FB: doctorjudyho  Robert Crispin - Private Investigator with “Crispin Special Investigations," Former Federal Task Force Officer for the United States Department of Justice, DEA and Miami Field Division and Former Homicide and Crimes Against Children Investigator; Facebook: Crispin Special Investigations Inc.  Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University) Evan Higginbotham - Juror #6 in the Donna Adelson trial Gigi McKelvey - Journalist, Host of the Podcast “Pretty Lies and Alibis;" Facebook, IG, TikTok: @PrettyLiesAndAlibis/ X: @PrettiesLiesAlibi See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A raging mother-in-law orders a hit on her law professor's son-in-law, and she's convicted now to walk free because she alleges juror misconduct. And, oh, yes, TikTok is involved. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. I want to thank you for being with us. So you're saying his head is bloody now? Yes, it's been bloody. I mean, it's, the window shattered. I don't know if he's tried to shoot himself.

I don't know what the situation is. He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of rolling around. Okay. Is he conscious? Well, I can't tell. I'm talking about the killer mother-in-law, Donna Adelson, who is so incensed. that her son-in-law refuses to let his children move seven hours away from his home where he teaches law school to be closer to her, the grandma, that she orders a hit and has him executed? Really? Okay, listen to this. One, once the address of your emergency application, okay, tell me exactly what happened.

We heard, looked in, the garage door was up, and I thought the gentleman was backing out, I went back to my house, but he never backed out, and I came back over, and his driver's side window is shattered. He's moving his head around, but he's not responding. I've called his name. Ask what's going on, not call his name, but asking what's happening. He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of rolling around. Okay. Is he conscious?

Well, I can't tell. Okay. Is he breathing? I can't tell that. I'm assuming he's breathing if he's not. moving his head around. Did you ever hear him talk or anything? No.

Okay. You said he's sitting in the car, right? Correct, in the driver's seat. You know what that means? And shortly I'm going to go to a renowned medical examiner on this. Professor Dan Markell was actually alive. Was he seeing his life flash before him in his own garage? There he is with his ex-wife, Wendy Aidelson.

Practically, the only one left in the family that hasn't been charged with the murder And now, just so you know, when you don't know a horse, look at her track record, this killer mother-in-law has already tried to get out of jail claiming she had ear wax. And because the food sucks. Their words, not mine. Really? Get used to it, woman. Get used to it. We're going straight to the scene.

Joining us now in Miami, we're now a renowned private investigator, Robert Crispin, of Crispin, of Crispin, Special Investigations, former Federal Task Force officer for U.S. DOJ. Joining us, Robert Crispin. Robert, can we just clarify the problem? The so-called killer mother-in-law Donna Adelson had. Her son-in-law, Professor Dan Markell, comes home. And by the way, I had heard of him in legal circles as being brilliant, all right, when he was alive. So she, the wife, no, let me start with him.

Markell comes home from work to find the furniture gone, his wife gone, and most important, his little boys gone. Then Wendy Adelson's family aggressively hides his children from him. And Wendy Adelson is a lawyer. How she allowed this to happen? I don't know. but then wanted to move the children from where he was

I guess around Tallahassee all the way to Miami. How far of a drive would that be, Crispin? Every bit of eight hours. It's a long trek from Tallahassee all the way down here to Miami, at least. Where are you? What is that behind you, Crispin? So I'm coming to you live, Nancy.

Right outside where Donna Adelson's multi-million dollar condo sits, perched on Key Biscayne overlooking the city of Miami skyline, all the cruise ships, and the entrance of the Rickenbacker Causeway out to Key Biscayne. Her view is insane in her multi-million dollar condo. She has traded for a jail cell. Well, that is quite a change in circumstances, is it not? Because now she's sitting in a jail cell, Crispin, with a cot in three huts, that we're paying for and whining about TikTok of all things and demanding a new trial.

You know what? Sometimes when money talks, justice walks, and I don't want to see that happening, these people are loaded, loaded. Did you hear about the wedding that Wendy Adelson had with Markell? I mean, over the top, I'm talking ice sculptures, five-star venue, the world. They are loaded. And now, hold on, you got to hear this. You've got to hear this, Chris. And again, when you don't know a horse, look at her track record. Now she's whining. She needs a new trial because of TikTok. Okay? She probably never even heard a TikTok. She was sitting in her jail cell. But this is her track record. Listen to this complaint. So I have a hearing issue. Okay. I have a problem. I evidently have very narrow. ear canals and so doing the wax builds up in my ears to the point that

I mean I have officers that say to me are you deaf Adelson when I don't respond to them it's because I don't hear them I mean really she wanted out from behind bars because of her ear

wax and I'm supposed to take her seriously because she claims Girard misconduct and TikTok, really have you ever in your life, and you've probably dealt with as many felons as I have, heard anyone complain they should be set free because of earwax? Well, that's probably the first one I've heard about is that one. But if you think about it, Nancy, according to law enforcement, perched up there on the 16th floor of her condo with this beautiful view is where she orchestrated this entire mastermind of having him killed. So it's pretty quiet up there. You know, isn't it true? Straight out to Gigi McKelvey

joining us, investigative journalists and host a pretty lies and alibis. Gigi, didn't she make another bid at Freedom claiming the food behind bars was making her fat? She did because commissary food is not healthy. It is just junk food. And she complained that she had gained a lot of weight since her incarceration, as a lot of inmates do, because they don't like the prison. and food, and they do have that option to buy a lot of foods that are high and fats and salt. That was another reason she thought she needed to be let out. Salt and high fat content. Okay, you know what?

That leaves me at a loss, what I'm trying to judge her complaint. She says TikTok has destroyed her life in one juror in specific. But you know what? Can I remind everybody? It's not about her earwax or her start. Archie food or Tick-Tock. It's about this. So you're saying his head is bloody now?

Yes, some bloody. I mean, it's window shattered. I don't know if he's tried to shoot himself. I don't know what the situation is. It's the driver's side window, correct? That's correct. He's still moving around, so he's alive. Okay.

Looks like I should have an officer coming up the roadway. Okay, well, we need EMT. Well, the officer's going to be there first. They're not going to come until we figure out what's going on, but they're on the way as well, okay? You better be if this guy's got a shot living. A Philip Dubay, joining us, veteran trial lawyer out of the California jurisdiction, tried a ton of cases. Philip DeBay, how can I take anything this woman says seriously when she's been complaining about the starchy food behind bars? Hey, she gets donuts, she gets breads, she also gets high protein like eggs, meat, vegetables.

But she's whining about Italian night, really? And the earwax in her ears. And now she wants me to believe she should walk free, walk free on a murder charge, not just a murder charge, not I'm mad at you bang. A long thought out and planned execution style murder because Markell would not go along with moving his children eight hours away from him. and now I'm supposed to pay attention to her Tick-Tock complaint. What can I tell you?

She was a tin pot dictator within the family. And the days of her forish glances and vodka are over. And she's going to be living on what we call the high fives, meaning the high fat, the high cholesterol, the high sodium, the high fructose corn syrup, and the high cholesterol. And she used to get used to it and make sure she has a doctor behind bars to keep her on statins and heart medication. because that is going to be her life, unfortunately. Now, having said that, it doesn't mean she doesn't have a post-trial motion regarding juror misconduct. It remains to be seen what the evidence is to show jury misconduct.

If it is a viable claim, then the court can actually grant the relief and order a hearing. And that's the end game here, is to get the hearing. So before you even get to a new trial, the court has to find that there was in fact misconduct. And much of it hinges on a credibility call. If the court actually believes the testimony of these TikTok jurors, then she doesn't get a new trial. She stands convicted and off she goes to prison to ensure her five highs. Straight out to Dr. Judy Ho, joining us, clinical forensic neuropsychologist, author of The New Rules of Attachment and Stop Self-Sabotage. You can find her at Dr. Judy Ho-H-O.com.

Dr. Judy, thank you for being with us. Could you just help me out because all I heard from Debe was a la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-le-le-le. Help me out. How can anybody take Donna Edelson anything she says seriously? Nancy, we can't. I mean, you even see her demeanor as she's trying to communicate, her struggles. And it's as if she has no self-awareness that this would sound ridiculous to pretty much everyone listening. her whole diatribe about the earwax and how much it's bothering her and how people are accusing her of being deaf, that that's one of her biggest problems.

Can we please focus on the core of the problem? Why are you there in the first place? Why are you incarcerated? Because you have been charged with first degree murder, the loss of another human life, a family member. You stripped your grandchildren of their father. And you're talking about your. earwax, Nancy, it was hard for me to have some compassion as she was talking about that. And you know I am someone who was supposed to have built my career on compassion. And it was still a struggle for me, Nancy. So maybe you have to help me today. You know, just you never hear anything from her about the death of her son-in-law and what this has meant to her grandchildren. There was a point, isn't this true? Sydney Sumner joining us, Crime Stories investigative reporter, that she

offered or suggested offering to Professor Markell a million dollars to let go of the children and let them move to be closer to her, the grandmother. And when that didn't work, she said, let's tell them, let's tell him that we have converted them to Catholicism and baptize them because they're devout Jews. I mean, what is wrong with her? Could you fill me in on those two attempts by Donna Edelson? I cannot believe how much this woman hated Dan Markell

just for wanting to be close to his children. This family had such a warped sense, a warped perception of what Markell was doing by just wanting to keep his children actively in his life every day.

I do not understand how someone can be pushed to murder someone. because they wanted to be an active father in their children's life. It's ridiculous. Here are the claims exactly that Donna Edelson, who is sitting behind bars, not in her Lux Condo, where you see Crispin standing in front of it, but in jail, where she belongs, according to a juror who is joining us shortly,

this is the crux of her claims. Edelson filed a motion for a new trial, claiming jury misconduct, bias from the judge, and a lack of evidence just two weeks after conviction, and includes a request to interview two of the jurors. Edelson accuses juror number seven. J.C. Maxen Walker posted a TikTok about her selection to the jury on the third day of the trial, then deleted the post. Adelson says they can provide a copy of the video. Adelson writes that Max and Walker then went viral for her post discussing details of the case immediately after the verdict. crime stories with nancy grace overall it took us about just over three hours to deliberate and reach our final verdicts right but within the first hour hour and a half i want to say everyone was agreeing that she is guilty everyone it was unanimous within the first hour hour and a half

Donna Adelson was found guilty on all three charges for killing her ex-son-in-law. I'm here to say that I was on the jury, and I got to be the foreperson. If you have questions, let me know because I could finally talk. That problem at Lacey with AJ on TikTok. I mean, come on. Robert Crispin, you've handled so many felony cases. Crispin is joining us right now outside while across the water, that beautiful view. mother-in-law from hell had.

I'd love to have a juror like that. She's proud she was on the jury. She's proud she was for a person. What's wrong with that? Not a thing. And with the new Gen Zs in TikTok and social media and all these platforms that are out there now, all these people are going to their own social media

and posting. And Nancy, they have a microphone. They're not being censored. They're not being edited. They're not ending up on the, on the floor of the editing room. They're telling what they want, when they want, when they can. I love it.

And get ready. There's a lot more of that coming out on cases to come. I mean, you're not kidding. DeBay, what's wrong with what she said? I don't see anything wrong with what Lacey with AJ on TikTok had to say. She was a foreperson. She's proud. Adelson asked for it.

She did it. She deserved it. She was convicted. Why? What's the problem? Yeah, of course it's a misconduct. particularly if it's going on during the trial. If she's going online commenting,

looking at social media in direct violation of court orders, not to follow the case, not to discuss the case until all jurors are sent to the jury room to deliberate, that is a contempt of court. And the remedy for that is the tin pot dictator gets a new trial. Wea, wah, wah. I think for a mistrial to be granted, you have to show that the error

It was so grievous that it would have warranted a new trial that it impacted the jury so much that a new trial would be warranted because there would have been a different outcome. Hold on. Let's hear more from Lacey with AJ. A lot of people are saying that I'm the reason an appeal is going to happen, which is just crazy because if you actually watched and really listened to anything I said, it's just, no words.

words um yeah i've said absolutely nothing that could hurt the verdict that we came up with okay like i'm not as far as people's concerns as to me being on social media and post some of my tic talks in the last week or two there was no rule of stating that we cannot be on social media the rule is provided by judge everett in this case okay we cannot seek out information about this case we cannot talk about the case with anyone we cannot listen to others talk about the case we cannot do the case during the trial. But now that I'm released as a juror, um, I have the freedom to say and do whatever. That again from at least with AJ on TikTok. You know, Dubay, I know you went to law school and you tried a lot of cases, but I think she's got you over the barrel. Guys, joining me

right now special guest, Evan Higginbotham is with us, aka juror number six. Can you believe it was just a few short days ago that you voted guilty. You did vote guilty, right, on Donna Edelson, correct? Yes, man. That's right. Okay. I was just a few days ago, and already she has hatched a motion for a new trial and to have her case completely reversed. And part of her claim is juror misconduct. How does that make you feel? You're a juror. Did you see any misconduct? I did not, but this doesn't surprise me at all. It would only make sense for her to look for something like this after the verdict was served.

Sounds like Donna Edelson didn't make a very good impression on the jury. And more. Now, here is Mitchell McKenzie. Aylson's your number five. There were certain witnesses that when they brought in, I was focused kind of on her reaction and body language. I really just wanted to see how she reacted to certain things. I wanted to see how she reacted to the information that was coming out. Not that I could use that against her during deliberations,

but, you know, it kind of gave me a sense of where her head was at, I think, during certain testimony. Now, that is a juror appearing on surviving the survivor. So Gigi McKelvey joining us, investigative journalist. The other claim is that that juror judged her, Adelson, on her reactions in court. What's wrong? with that? You know, they're asking these jurors not to be human. Of course, they're going to look at the defendant. And I've been in so many courtrooms, Nancy, where it's like a tennis match. The jury watches the witness, and they watch the defendant. And what I find funny, too, is that they had her

dressed like a granny. So they wanted the jury to look at her at certain times, but not when testimony was going on. It's a human thing to do. And so I think this is just a really moot point. I think it's grasping at straws and throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks, but he immediately says, I didn't take that in the jury room. There's no harm, no foul. So long story short, Dr. Judy Ho, how can you listen to the evidence, listen to the testimony, and look over at the defendant and pretend you don't see what you see? What is she talking about? Exactly, Nancy. And no matter what we do as human beings, given juror instructions, our feelings are going to be entangled in our decision making. We would love to.

to say that that's not going to be the case. That's just not true. We are emotional beings. That's how we're built. And so you're hearing the evidence. And then you're trying to piece this all together and say, all right, this person clearly doesn't even seem to show any remorse, any empathy towards her other family members who have been affected.

What do we do with somebody like this? Because they are going to be potentially a continued threat to the rest of society. And even now, as all of this is unfolding, there isn't still a clear remorse. And that does factor into juror decisions. I'm sorry to say it, but it just will. Guys, speaking of her reactions, watch her reaction when the jury hands down the verdict. We have a jury find as follows as the count one of the indictment first degree murder. The defendant is guilty of first degree murder.

Mrs. Adelson, control yourself. Count two, we the jury find as follows as the count two of the indictment. Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The defendant is guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. From our friends at Tallahassee Democrat, back to Dr. Judy Ho, joining us, clinical forensic neuropsychologist. Did you see the crying? Did you see that?

but nothing about Dan Markell, her dad's son-in-law. Nothing about him, but just her. The first time that she shows such extreme emotion is, of course, about her own welfare and well-being. And I would also argue that when someone has such an extreme reaction, even if it, of course, is a decision that's going to affect your life. This is why she was told to control herself. Most people are not going to actually look kindly on that because there is, a sense that perhaps that's put on whether that's true or not that is going to be someone's human intuition someone's red flags going off saying oh my goodness now she's really trying to

demonstrate that she is so emotional and so impacted where was this the rest of trial they're going to see the incongruency and it's going to be hard for them to have more empathy after that what about this i don't know if this is in your diagnostic manual but what about rich little old Miami Socialite, can't believe somebody called her on her BS. Watch this, Dr. Judy. Count three. We, the jury find as follows as the count three of the indictment, solicitation to commit first-degree murder. The defendant is guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

If you cannot control yourself, I am going to have to determine if you'll be removed from the remainder of this process. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Do you need a moment to collect yourself? Again from our friends at Tallahassee Democrat, daughter Judy Ho, did you see her between all the, she said something very angrily. Talk about lack of self-control, impulse control.

But she had plenty of time to call off the murder of her son-in-law. But she couldn't control herself, just like she can't control herself in the courtroom. Exactly. And this is why people are going to look at this, Nancy, and say, why should I feel any sympathy for this woman? No one's going to feel that sympathy for her, even as she is crying, bawling her eyes out because of the context and when she's actually shedding those tears. Adelson also cites courtroom environments when Everett ruled against the defense, the gallery laughed out loud, despite multiple warnings from Everett. Adelson claims that continued behavior eroded the defense's credibility in the eyes of the jury. Adelson also claims footage of the proceedings shows gallery members making faces at the jurors throughout the trial, distracting them from testimony.

Well, if the gallery, the peanut gallery, had disrupted the trial, I would have expected the judge to throw them out. out if this is true. Adelson complaining about the environment in the courtroom is what convicted her. Well, the evidence was overwhelming that she was involved in Markell's murder. Let's go straight back out to juror Evan Higginbotham. Evan, what was your first impression of Donna Adelson? My first impression, it's hard to say, because whenever I first came in, in for jury selection.

She's an older lady, so I wasn't certain who the defense attorneys were. They were all sitting behind the same desk. And it took until me walking back there and speak to the defense team and the prosecutors on the second day of jury selection for me to realize that she was defendant. And I had no opinion on her. Okay, wait. That's really funny. Funny odd.

And funny, I say predictable, because I believe it is harder for Girard. to convict a woman of a violent crime such as murder. Like you said, you came in, and it took your while to realize, oh, it's a little old lady that's being charged with murder. Because, for instance, I think of my own mother. And my mother raised me. She took care of me. She sacrificed for me.

It's really hard for me to imagine someone like my mother committing a murder or planning a murder. Now, tell me that again. How long did it take you to realize, oh, the older lady is the one charged with murder? I left the first day of jury selection, not sure who the defendant was. It took me coming back, and then after I finally got in there, and the defense attorney started asking to me, for me, they're like, okay, so she's the defendant. Dubei, that is the defense attorney's dream juror.

They can't, with the defendant sitting right in front of them, their might. can I grasp, she, the little old lady, is the one charged with murder. He just can't comprehend that. Well, that's why I always advise to be yourself at trial. You don't, I don't know why they clad her in an outfit looking like Grandma Walton because she really wasn't being herself. And I got to tell you, on a personal level, I don't agree with the judge the way he chided and castized her in open court. The lady just literally found out in a couple of words that whatever left of her life is over, as opposed to finding out that there's no Santa Claus anymore. It is ridiculous.

And it looks like she was really out of you. Yeah. You know what, do, Bay, that's falling flat with me. Because all that matters right now is, will there be a new trial? And this was already at the verdict phase. The trial was over. That did not affect the verdict when he said, get a hold of yourself, woman. Look, and all that is total BS.

She, you know what? To Robert Crispin joining us. He's been with the feds. He's been with the DOJ. Now he's running Crispin's special investigation, former homicide detective. She did it. And now she's looking around and going, oh, my stars, little old me is in jail. This can't be real.

How can I get out of here? Claw, claw, claw. That's what's happening. She did it. come on nancy how many juries have we sat in how many trials have we sat in the rubber hit the road for dana it hit the road the evidence was against her the gallery wasn't against her the jury wasn't against her the evidence was against her she never thought perched up on the 16th floor that she would ever ever ever get caught orchestrating and masterminding this entire murder

But guess what? That jury came back in such a short amount of time. And listening to some of the conversations from those jurors when they got out, they did an initial, are you guilty? Is she guilty or not when they were in their final deliberations? And they all came back guilty. So nobody convicted Donna but herself.

Not you, not me, not the peanut gowry, not the cops. Donna Adelson convicted herself. Hey, Crispin, which one of those buildings behind you was her high-rise? I guess the husband's still there, but which one is it? So look, there's those two green glass buildings right there.

The one with the white dome on it is the one that she lived in. And it's up there on the 16-09, 16th floor, multi-million dollars. Nancy, I'm telling you, it's got sprawling, insane views. insane views guess what she's not sitting in jail cell

for the rest of her life I guess some people are just so rich and so living in a bubble their rich bubble they think they can get away with everything Markell was just like a paper cup

you used it you squash it and you throw it in the trash and don't think about it again I mean this guy was a brilliant lawyer but more important a loving dad that did not want to be away from his children

He wouldn't take a million dollars, literally, to be away from them. It wasn't about money. It was about them. Them. That's all he cared about, Crispin. Yeah. Yeah, that was a brutal homicide. That was a great guy, a great father, a pillar in our community in the legal profession.

She masterminded this and took all that away from him, Nancy, all that away. And she traded all this in for her jail cell. So you know what? It is what it is. Okay, yeah, that's not a legal theory, but it's true. Joining me right now, an incredible medical examiner, Dr. Kendall Crowns. Talk about Save the Best for Last. Chief Medical Examiner, Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth.

He is a host of a brand new hit podcast, Mayhem in the Morg. He is an esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, and it goes on and on. But for my purposes, has performed. literally thousands of autopsies. Can we have a reality check from Donna Edelson in her earwax and her starchy food and her whining and crying about people that made fun of her?

Markell is dead and he died in a brutal fashion and he had long enough to know he was dying. It wasn't instantaneous. Was it Dr. Kendall Crowns? No, it was not. From the witness accounts

He was moving after he was shot, and based on the information we have, there was a survival time period. What the wounds were, as he had a gunshot wound of his face that entered into his cheek and another gunshot wound that entered into his forehead. Now, the one in his cheek potentially could not have hit vital structures that would have caused him to die instantly, and the one in his forehead potentially only encountered half of his brain. So if one half of your brain is hit, the other half is still able to function and you aren't going to die right away. But as you're sitting there from the damage done by the gunshot wound, your brain is going to swell and it's eventually going to pinch off your brain stem and kill you. So that's why when witnesses were there, they saw that he was still moving. He probably only had half of his brain compromised and it took him a little while to die.

The other thing is, is there's a mention of a gunshot wound of the forearm. So he did probably try to shield himself at one point before he got shot. And that's probably why the cheek wound isn't as severe as the forehead wound. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Join us tonight, a very special guest. Evan Higginbotham is with us, aka Gerard number six. Evan, thank you for being with us. Hey, thank you so much for having me.

Did you ever wonder why Professor Markell's wife, Wendy, wasn't charged? Because it seems like this whole murder plot, the whole murder, was so windy, then Markell, could take her children, the boys, and move to Miami. Did you ever wonder, well, wait a minute. How is she coming out smelling like a rose? I definitely was interested in trying to understand that at the beginning and at this point now after going through the whole trial and seeing it it makes a lot of sense as to why Wendy's at the back end of this

and hasn't been charged with anything yet I mean they did such a good job of insulating each other throughout this whole conspiracy from Siegfried of Garcia all the way to Ms. Aedelson You know what? Evan Higginbotham you're like a threat. You're like a double threat. You've got charisma and brains. The way you just said that, you ought to consider dumping out of electrical engineering and going to law school. Referring to

how every member of the murder plot insulated each other from getting caught. What do you mean by that? Well, you're absolutely right, number one. But what leads you to that observation? Well, there was very little overlap in communication between Siegfriedo Garcia to Catherine McVanelaw to from Catherine McVanelaw to Charlie and then from Charlie to Donna. There was very little overlap from that. So we didn't see very much contact at all, if any, from Ms. Adelson, Catherine McBanawa, vice versa, or even Charlie to Sigrato. And I think them setting it up that way and making sure that there was very little contact outside of just their ghost person. makes it you have to tie a connection further along to be able to make charges. Did any of the other jars wonder why the wife, Wendy, had not been charged?

I'm sure they have. I didn't speak to them very much about that in any very deliberation. We stayed very focused on just as they hope he was on trial with Donna. I'm sure that they're probably just as interested to see. the back end that I am about a Wendy's contribution to this. But I spoke very little to all the other jurors about anyone outside of this, Ms. Adelson and her part of this. That was wise. Okay, so you get in there, and what went through your mind when they called you to be

a juror one of the 12? My first thought was, I'm going to miss a lot of class. And then, since then, it was a great experience. I'm very grateful for being selected. But yeah, I was surprised to be picked, though. I thought that for sure me being a relatively young guy and being a student, I figured I would be probably sent away pretty early in the selection process.

What was the most difficult part of the deliberations? I don't. Honestly, it was going through the evidence again. There's a lot of evidence to go through. So anything that we specifically wanted to look at, we had to dig through and find specifically what part of what piece of evidence we wanted to go through. And that takes time to find. But as far as like any sort of friction between the jurors or anything like that, there was very little. We all worked very professionally.

Had pleasant discussion the entire time that wasn't any pickering or fighting. So I was very impressed by everyone. Did any fights break out? Did anybody ever fight over? the evidence? Or, you know, did recollections vary as to the evidence? There was no fighting whatsoever, which was surprising to me. I expected there to be at least some sassy bickering here and there, but there was none of that. There was different recollections for sure. Some of us were better nootakers than others, so there would be

things where someone would mildly misremember something and then we'd go back through the evidence and, okay, well, I was taken on that. But everything was very pleasant. Evan, you're describing a pretty peaceful deliberations. That's what I want to hear because dissension among the jurors and fighting leads to reversals. What do you believe was the strongest piece of evidence that convicted Adelson? That's the difficult question to answer because there's not, it's not a case where there's a smoking gun, so to say.

It's a lot of small bits of evidence that add up to create a picture where that shows her guilty. I'd say that some of the testimonies that really stood out were definitely Chris Corbett, as well as Rob Aedelson. I think we're very important to us coming to our conclusion. What specifically about those two? I think that Rob's testimony gives a lot of insight into character that you don't get from any of the other testimonies in being such an integral part of her life, being her oldest son. and then Chris Corbett the digital forensics from that placing the cell phones at certain areas

as well as being able to see the text messages and some of the phone calls at what period of time helps create help set up that picture and help you be able to see where the communication was at the time when she was speaking Charlie in regards to when the murder was happening what did you think about the sun I mean the maestro. Did you guys hear evidence about his vanity tag? Maestro. I did not hear that specifically within the case, but that doesn't surprise me.

After that day of us listening. Why do you say that? I'm talking about Wendy's, Wendy, the wife Wendy, who has not been charged, brother, who was right up in the middle of all this doing his mother's bidding. He's already been convicted, of course, had a vanity tag on his, What was it, Jack, a Lamborghini? Maestro, you know, the one that orchestrates everything. Trueer words were never spoken.

What did you think about him? I was hoping that we would get a testimony from him of some kind. That may not have been something that I wanted after he got up on the stand if that did end up happening. He was someone that did like a ramble for sure. I had my feel of hearing from Charlie after this was done that whole day of phone calls, like four hours' worth of listening to phone calls between Charlie and Donna. But that doesn't surprise me. He seemed like someone that was very verbose and had a pretty big, you know, so a tag like that

on his car is not surprising. It's hard to believe everybody in the family and all these people are involved and she knows nothing about it. But again, that said, she has not been named a suspect or a person of interest in this case. Question, Evan, how did the crime scene photos affect you? Which photos do you recall as being the most vivid? The one of Mr. Markell in the hospital was definitely a difficult one to look at. Outside of that, the other, the ones of the crime scene, luckily, were not too strong, I guess, would be the word I would pick there.

the one of him in the hospital bed with all of the tubes and life support hooked up film was definitely one that got some sort of reaction for me what did you make of the bump as it has been called where an L.E. law enforcement agent bumps in to Donna Adelson and asks for $5,000 to basically keep quiet about what he allegedly knows about the murder. What did you make of that? And the phone calls that she had with her son following the bump.

I think the bump operation was a really important part of this case because nothing about the way she reacted to that was ordinary. Anyone else you would expect to immediately read the paper to begin with. And so just sticking into your purse. And then would likely call the police if someone is threatening or blackmailing you. and then definitely not go and pick up your grandkids and then walk them past the exact same thought where that just happened.

So I think that definitely set the tone for her involvement. I mean, all I needed to hear is for people to say, don't call me, don't talk about this on the phone. Let's go outside where they're not any bugs. I mean, why would you say that? I've never said that in my whole life.

Yeah, definitely a strange behavior. The thought of the boys living their life without their dad I believe their last names have been changed now it's almost as if Dan Markell has been totally erased

yeah it's heartbreaking I feel terrible for those two kids because it's not just the loss of their father but it's the loss of any normal life for them because they're getting to the age now where they absolutely

have to be seeing some of the stuff that's floating around the internet in regards to their mother and all of their family, everything about their grandmother's trial, and that can't. And it's truly terrible because they're just the victims in this as well. We wait as justice unfolds and now we remember an American hero, Sergeant David Miller, Clark's full PD, Tennessee, killed in the line of duty after 20 years service. Leaving behind, grieving wife, Amy, and two children. American hero, rest in peace. Sergeant David Miller.

Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast.