GUILTY FL - FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Murdered by Hitmen #19

[jbc]

Charlie extorted her.
JMO.

Her defense: "Do you really think that I, an old Jewish grandma, would ever have agreed to murder?? No possible way. I thought that Charlie was arranging for him to be scared by the thugs, not murdered. No way."

 

[Montrealaise]

She went to UCF and SG followed her there. I often wonder what her life would have been like if she just got through school and he wasnt in her life. Once she had her first child with him while in school (not sure how she managed that) she was tied to him.
interesting to think that if he wasn't int he picture when she was 18, Dan Markel would still be alive today.
Or if CA found someone else, she would still probably be a free woman with a different life.
I grew up middle class but I lived close to a very affluent town and it is easy to be in awe of the wealth and seemingly ease of life of privileged families.
Charlie gave her a taste of what “the good life” was, and she probably forgot that she really was only being used and she would never have it, Kind of like a Cinderella story, but the shoe didn’t fit.
I’m sure Wendi was good at pretending Katie would now be “one of them”.

I am wondering if her appeal may be incompetent counsel who did not urge her to take a plea (twice).
If thats possible-I’m no lawyer

I remember that there was a lot of speculation on this board as to why she didn't take the plea deal she was offered (this was before her second trial and her conviction). I seem to recall that the deal was to have been that the prosecution would drop all charges against her in exchange for her telling them everything she knew, especially about CA's and DA's involvement. We were all wondering: did her lawyer advise her not to take the deal (?) or did the lawyer urge her to take it and she refused - and one of the reasons she might have refused, we speculated, was because she was being offered a great deal of money to refuse to cooperate with the prosecution. She's now saying it was to avoid testifying against SG but that makes no sense, since he had already been convicted and sentenced by the time her second trial came around.

 

[flay012995]

Charlie extorted her.
JMO.

Similar to Charlie's defense again? I doubt Donna will throw Charlie under the bus, she might put some Latin Kings again just like Charlie did

Edit: also Katie will be the mastermind again, just like Rivera said in Katie's trial. The defense attorney for Donna will be nice to him in the cross, just like Rashbaum did. Katie should be the state's star witness in this scenario unless Charlie decided to flip against her mom.

 

[LinasK]

i no longer see DA listed -

MDCR Inmate Search

Inmate Search

www.miamidade.gov

Maybe that means that she's on her way to Tallahassee in time for Thanksgiving!

 

[amicuscurie]

From what I understood, a neighbor said they saw two men behind DM's house, one tall (SG and one short, not LR but probably another King - King Anthony? I can't remember which name LR said he thought it likely was). I think there was the most detail about this during LR's testimony under cross during KM's retrial, as far as I can recall.

That was them, SG and LR. LR testified that they walked behind the house the day before.

 

[Weki]

Looks like Donna has a 1st appearance in Tally tomorrow? She’s on the move from Miami so I think that means once she’s in Tally’s jurisdiction she will need a 1st appearance in Tally.

 

[jennyjenny]

Okay jennyjenny, congratulations on the weddings....you've got my attention! Did you help your eldest son or your youngest daughter to find their prospective spouses on a religious/ethnic website? Or are you just happy if they are happy? Do you see DA's emails as very much over the top/helicoptering weird?
PS: I just stood on the sidelines with our daughter-in-law because I just didn't get all the falderal. The engagement party, the wedding date announcement party, the refrigerator magnets with their picture & wedding date (!), she even published an engagement book (I kid you not!!), the moving party, the shower party, the baby announcement party, the gender reveal party, the bi-weekly fb announcements & photos..."My baby is the size of a radish"..."My baby is the size of a rutabaga"... by the 3rd picture Hubby and I were convinced she was giving birth to a giant salad!
Oh well, in their eyes I suffer from "failure to participate syndrome."

Love this IQuestion!! Without doubt, I'm all too happy as long as they're happy!! And, definitely more of the non-participant type (But, my daughter loved "failure to participate syndrome!). I have endured 2 gender reveals with oldest daughter ... no party involved, just family. And was truly thankful that she didn't insist on a "Babymoon"
or a "Push Gift". I kid you not ... that is a thing!!

 

[amicuscurie]

Her defense: "Do you really think that I, an old Jewish grandma, would ever have agreed to murder?? No possible way. I thought that Charlie was arranging for him to be scared by the thugs, not murdered. No way."

Her defense will be that she knew nothing about it until Charlie came afterward and told her to put Katie on the payroll because she needed it to get health insurance for her kids. When the bump happened, she thought they were going to bust her for insurance fraud, hence the talking in code. That’s my best guess.

 

[jennyjenny]

What was this woman thinking? A septuagenarian elitist living in an ivory tower and lacking the basic respect for human life. Isn't it ironic she wrote to WA "you know his weaknesses...religion. money and control....the very same weaknesses that plague Donna!!

BBM septuagenarian elitist in an ivory tower ... spot on!

 

[Zedzded]

Her defense will be that she knew nothing about it until Charlie came afterward and told her to put Katie on the payroll because she needed it to get health insurance for her kids. When the bump happened, she thought they were going to bust her for insurance fraud, hence the talking in code. That’s my best guess.

Is there any good reason why she would plead guilty?

 

[Zedzded]

I was watching Jeff Lacasse's testimony and he was saying Wendi had a better TV that wasn't damaged, but she insisted they watch a movie on the smaller TV with a huge crack across the screen lol. She and the rest of the clowns would have been so smug thinking they had thought of everything, a foolproof plan! What a joke.

 

[jennyjenny]

I'll get a swanky bar cart and pose with a jeroboam!
Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words

When it's that big is it considered a box!! LOL
Thanks alexwood for the new word!

 

[amicuscurie]

Is there any good reason why she would plead guilty?

I don’t think she would do that, but that’s just my own personal opinion. I think they’ve had that defense about the insurance in reserve. She can say that’s what she thought the checks were for. That IS what they were for. In exchange for the murder, she got to be out on the payroll to get health insurance. I think that part is true. But it was a form of compensation for the murder.

 

[jennyjenny]

I was watching Jeff Lacasse's testimony and he was saying Wendi had a better TV that wasn't damaged, but she insisted they watch a movie on the smaller TV with a huge crack across the screen lol. She and the rest of the clowns would have been so smug thinking they had thought of everything, a foolproof plan! What a joke.

also said that it was not that great of a TV ... more like a TV you see in a dorm room!

 

[Weki]

Basically Donna’s defense will be exactly like Charlie’s. They fabricated that defense to cover both of them. Donna will have to get up there and say Charlie told her he was being extorted and to write checks to KM. She will say that she was worried for her son and her family’s safety so she went along with it. Just like Charlie, she will have to testify to get that evidence in. It’s the only way. Charlie can not come in and testify on her behalf since he would be in prison garb and doing so as a convicted murderer. The optics and the fact that another jury already didn’t believe the extortion bs would not be good for Donna. But anything is possible with this family! They may do that to avoid Donna taking the stand!

Also, Donna has to get up there and explain away all those emails which will look very BAD for her indeed. She’ll have to get up there with white hair, glasses, and her grandma sweater and start ACTING her behind off. Maybe Wendi can coach her!
JMO

 

[Zedzded]

Also, Donna has to get up there and explain away all those emails which will look very BAD for her indeed. She’ll have to get up there with white hair, glasses, and her grandma sweater and start ACTING like her daughter.

And the sweet ol' Granny routine won't fool the jury.

 

[flay012995]

I love how defendants start TESTIFYING on their own behalf. I thought it was not common for this to happen in every murder trial.

 

[B4igo2it]

Is there any good reason why she would plead guilty?

The Devil made her do it

 

[clearskies1]

Is Wendy's friend Jane on the phone with Donna here? Reason I ask is that it sounds to me like Jane says "Bye Donna" at the end of the call. At 3:02:50. JMO.

 

[Blue Shakehead]

Basically Donna’s defense will be exactly like Charlie’s. They fabricated that defense to cover both of them. Donna will have to get up there and say Charlie told her he was being extorted and to write checks to KM. She will say that she was worried for her son and her family’s safety so she went along with it. Just like Charlie, she will have to testify to get that evidence in. It’s the only way. Charlie can not come in and testify on her behalf since he would be in prison garb and doing so as a convicted murderer. The optics and the fact that another jury already didn’t believe the extortion bs would not be good for Donna. But anything is possible with this family! They may do that to avoid Donna taking the stand!

Also, Donna has to get up there and explain away all those emails which will look very BAD for her indeed. She’ll have to get up there with white hair, glasses, and her grandma sweater and start ACTING her behind off. Maybe Wendi can coach her!
JMO

I would be shocked if Donna's defense strategy is a redux of Charlie's extortion flop. Charlie's strategy was crafted because he had to explain his own words on Dolce Vita, his stapled money being used to payoff the actual killers and his gifts/love texts to Katie. Most of that evidence will be used in the Donna trial, but it doesn't have the same bite and she doesn't have to explain it all away.

If the State had pushed through with their investigative subpoena's in the weeks before Charlie's trial, they could have locked Donna and Harvey into a story. But as it stands, Donna's defense lawyers have a blank canvass unfortunately.

ETA: There is one small catch here for Donna. The Markel children have likely been fed the extortion lies as the truth. So if grandma's defense gets up there with a new theory, the grandkids will know the Adelson's are all lying and are responsible for murdering their father. That said, I think the grandkids perception of her is second to her own self interest, which would be crafting a defense strategy that has any chance of success.