FL - FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Murdered by Hitmen-Donna Adelson Upcoming Trial - *5 Guilty* #28

[Zedzded]

If she is a master manipulator, she's a wildly disorganized one

I think a lot of people forget we are not dealing with a happy, stable, well adjusted individual when we discuss WA hence the reason a lot of her behaviour makes no sense. She asked if she was a suspect 13 times when being interviewed. She threw her brother under the bus at the first opportunity. She was hysterical when she heard Dan was shot, but then stated "that's a game changer" when she was told he was still alive. Despite being a lawyer, she never asserted her 5th ammendment rights and has now incriminated herself with her bizarre interview behaviour.

I don't know if she was the master manipulator, but yeah she's someone who was wildly disorganized, erratic, impulsive, a complete trainwreck and a total liability. Which is why (IMO) the TV repair was organized. DA and CA were cognisant of WA being such a liability and organized the TV repair in order to prevent her from doing something silly like driving to the crime scene.

"Wendi telling Isom her family/brother probably did this is completely wild to me if she was actually in on the conspiracy/planning."

Why is it wild? Because it makes no sense right? I think a lot of people give WA too much credit. She was a parent and a lawyer. But I think she was barely functioning. Various people have stated she was on a cocktail of prescription medication, in therapy for years, had a drink problem and was being treated for depression and psychosis.

It is flawed to reason that, since a reasonable and rational innocent person would not behave or speak in such a manner, WA must therefore be innocent, as her conduct demonstrates that she is neither reasonable nor rational. "If she conspired with her brother why would she then throw him under the bus?? It makes no sense!!"

Exactly it makes no sense. Lets welcome Wendi Adelson to the stage.

 

[IQuestion]

SNIPPED FOR FOCUS WEKI, I apologize for laughing, but I just never expected the last line of your post.
"Jeff has already profiled Wendi and there is nothing there IMO to lead anyone to believe she is a master manipulator. Had Jeff, by his own admission, not been physically infatuated and desperate for a family, he would've never had a 2nd date with this crazy broad."
At some time in our lives, haven't we all made a decision we live to forget? Or live to regret? (reader's choice)
I smile when JL speaks....just like a social work professor. (His words are so accurately descriptive.)

 

[Going Rogue]

I think a lot of people forget we are not dealing with a happy, stable, well adjusted individual when we discuss WA hence the reason a lot of her behaviour makes no sense. She asked if she was a suspect 13 times when being interviewed. She threw her brother under the bus at the first opportunity. She was hysterical when she heard Dan was shot, but then stated "that's a game changer" when she was told he was still alive. Despite being a lawyer, she never asserted her 5th ammendment rights and has now incriminated herself with her bizarre interview behaviour.

I don't know if she was the master manipulator, but yeah she's someone who was wildly disorganized, erratic, impulsive, a complete trainwreck and a total liability. Which is why (IMO) the TV repair was organized. DA and CA were cognisant of WA being such a liability and organized the TV repair in order to prevent her from doing something silly like driving to the crime scene.

"Wendi telling Isom her family/brother probably did this is completely wild to me if she was actually in on the conspiracy/planning."

Why is it wild? Because it makes no sense right? I think a lot of people give WA too much credit. She was a parent and a lawyer. But I think she was barely functioning. Various people have stated she was on a cocktail of prescription medication, in therapy for years, had a drink problem and was being treated for depression and psychosis.

It is flawed to reason that, since a reasonable and rational innocent person would not behave or speak in such a manner, WA must therefore be innocent, as her conduct demonstrates that she is neither reasonable nor rational. "If she conspired with her brother why would she then throw him under the bus?? It makes no sense!!"

Exactly it makes no sense. Lets welcome Wendi Adelson to the stage.

Who knows Wendi better than Donna and Charlie? If Wendi is unstable, maladjusted, on a cocktail of prescription medication, in therapy for years, has a drinking problem, and was being treated for depression and psychosis, isn’t that precisely why Donna and Charlie would NOT plan a murder with her or even loop her in? Many argue there is no way they would do this without her approval – after reading your post, I’d say it supports the opposite argument – maybe there is no way they would dare seek her approval or even clue her in. I think you are on to something

 

[Zedzded]

And it's not

Who knows Wendi better than Donna and Charlie? If Wendi is unstable, maladjusted, on a cocktail of prescription medication, in therapy for years, has a drinking problem, and was being treated for depression and psychosis, isn’t that precisely why Donna and Charlie would NOT plan a murder with her or even loop her in?

Correct. She agreed to the plan, but was kept out of the planning as much as possible because:

- she was the infantilized baby of the family who needed protecting
- she was a complete trainwreck liability who would screw the plan up (which she did)

So the States case against her is difficult. They know she was involved, but inadvertently, the Adelsons actually did something right in this debacle of a murder, they managed to protect WA. Probably more of an accident.

They'll still get her, I'm just unsure of what the charge and sentence will be. I think there will be an attempt by Lauro to make a deal.

 

[Weki]

Who knows Wendi better than Donna and Charlie? If Wendi is unstable, maladjusted, on a cocktail of prescription medication, in therapy for years, has a drinking problem, and was being treated for depression and psychosis, isn’t that precisely why Donna and Charlie would NOT plan a murder with her or even loop her in? Many argue there is no way they would do this without her approval – after reading your post, I’d say it supports the opposite argument – maybe there is no way they would dare seek her approval or even clue her in. I think you are on to something

Georgia Cappelman basically taunts Charlie in her cross exam - aren’t you maaaad that Wendi drove by Trescott? Aren’t you maaaaad that Wendi brought your name up to detectives 20 pages into the interview? Didn’t Wendi eff this up for you?

And he has to SIT there and play nonchalant. No. No. Nothing to see here. Hahahaha…..

 

[Luna20]

BBM. This!!! That's why the name-change is so relevant. They weren't even divorced yet, nor did she have sole custody, or his parental rights terminated, nor was he abusive. Any of those reasons you could see for a name- change. This was about erasure of the victim.

Donna told Wendi to dress the boys up and stand in front of a Catholic Church to bribe Dan. I’m sure she was behind the name change. Erase, erase and erase.

 

[Knitpicker]

I think a lot of people forget we are not dealing with a happy, stable, well adjusted individual when we discuss WA hence the reason a lot of her behaviour makes no sense. She asked if she was a suspect 13 times when being interviewed. She threw her brother under the bus at the first opportunity. She was hysterical when she heard Dan was shot, but then stated "that's a game changer" when she was told he was still alive. Despite being a lawyer, she never asserted her 5th ammendment rights and has now incriminated herself with her bizarre interview behaviour.

I don't know if she was the master manipulator, but yeah she's someone who was wildly disorganized, erratic, impulsive, a complete trainwreck and a total liability. Which is why (IMO) the TV repair was organized. DA and CA were cognisant of WA being such a liability and organized the TV repair in order to prevent her from doing something silly like driving to the crime scene.

"Wendi telling Isom her family/brother probably did this is completely wild to me if she was actually in on the conspiracy/planning."

Why is it wild? Because it makes no sense right? I think a lot of people give WA too much credit. She was a parent and a lawyer. But I think she was barely functioning. Various people have stated she was on a cocktail of prescription medication, in therapy for years, had a drink problem and was being treated for depression and psychosis.

It is flawed to reason that, since a reasonable and rational innocent person would not behave or speak in such a manner, WA must therefore be innocent, as her conduct demonstrates that she is neither reasonable nor rational. "If she conspired with her brother why would she then throw him under the bus?? It makes no sense!!"

Exactly it makes no sense. Let’s welcome Wendi Adelson to the stage.

I’ve listened to every podcast Ruth has been on-and she regrets what she did in contacting the foster agency. I don’t believe WA has gotten away with convincing a jury that this was a valid reason for keeping the Markels from their grandsons for 6 years.
If she thinks she has in past trials, or will convince a jury at her trial, that this was warranted, I think she is deceiving herself.

Do you think Ruth will be called as a witness?
Or do you think Ruth wouldn’t want to do that for the boys sake?
Seems that at Wendi’s trial, the prosecution would need Ruth for much.

She admits she regrets contacting the agency bc of the consequences to that decision in hindsight. Her intentions were right, and it showed how LE must have wanted to arrest them all in 2016 ,for her to do what she did with the best intentions. It did backfire on her. And gave W a reason to take the markels out of the boys lives. (And probably bad mouth them as well)

 

[Going Rogue]

I’ve listened to every podcast Ruth has been on-and she regrets what she did in contacting the foster agency. I don’t believe WA has gotten away with convincing a jury that this was a valid reason for keeping the Markels from their grandsons for 6 years.
If she thinks she has in past trials, or will convince a jury at her trial, that this was warranted, I think she is deceiving herself.

Do you think Ruth will be called as a witness?
Or do you think Ruth wouldn’t want to do that for the boys sake?
Seems that at Wendi’s trial, the prosecution would need Ruth for much.

She admits she regrets contacting the agency bc of the consequences to that decision in hindsight. Her intentions were right, and it showed how LE must have wanted to arrest them all in 2016 ,for her to do what she did with the best intentions. It did backfire on her. And gave W a reason to take the markels out of the boys lives. (And probably bad mouth them as well)

Ruth has too much class to publicly state what she and the Markel family truly think about the backlash caused by their email to Georgia regarding foster care. What do they really think? In my opinion, they believe the Tallahassee DA’s office royally screwed up by making the email public. Objectively, the public disclosure of the email was gross incompetence by the DA’s office, one of many missteps by that office during that period.

To be very clear, I have no issue with the email itself. Based on the information the Markels had at the time (September 2016), it was written with good intentions, and they were genuinely concerned about the welfare of the boys. Georgia did a decent job explaining the Markels’ intent during her direct examination of Wendi. However, Wendi and her attorneys only had the content of the email to go on and were not privy to private conversations between the DA’s office and the Markel family. Objectively, the email can be interpreted as Wendi described in her testimony. Georgia provided additional context not present in the email, which Wendi and her attorneys did not have.

If you look at this objectively, you can understand why the email strained the relationship between Wendi and the Markels and can see both perspectives. I agree the email was sent with good intentions, but by reading the actual email, you can understand why Wendi and her attorneys interpreted it as an attempt to place the boys in foster care – there was no mention in the email of it being a contingency plan incase Wendi was arrested.

Here is the actual email:

Dear Georgia,

There are few words to express our appreciation that you really understood our concerns about the children. We thank you for moving the plea-bargaining process forward. We will sleep better at night. As the situation evolves we need a tight plan for emergency placement, due to arrests.

Please contact:

Sara Franco Executive Director

JAFCO

We will talk about other arrangements and issues in the next few weeks. Thank you again for all your work and support in this tragedy.

Ruth, Phil and Shelly

 

[BearWatcher]

I think Wendy was looking for any excuse. She would find something - she decided the care Ruth wanted for her grandchildren, in the case of an arrest of nearby family, should be by an organization she had vetted. Caring for others so angered the Adelson family that they choose to use that as ammunition. Caring for their family members should be a sign of compassion and they certainly did not want these two boys to learn compassion- look how Rob turned out! They might end up with these two boys rejecting them if they developed compassion for others and saw what their family members lacked! Who would want that? (sarcasm)

 

[Knitpicker]

Ruth has too much class to publicly state what she and the Markel family truly think about the backlash caused by their email to Georgia regarding foster care. What do they really think? In my opinion, they believe the Tallahassee DA’s office royally screwed up by making the email public. Objectively, the public disclosure of the email was gross incompetence by the DA’s office, one of many missteps by that office during that period.

To be very clear, I have no issue with the email itself. Based on the information the Markels had at the time (September 2016), it was written with good intentions, and they were genuinely concerned about the welfare of the boys. Georgia did a decent job explaining the Markels’ intent during her direct examination of Wendi. However, Wendi and her attorneys only had the content of the email to go on and were not privy to private conversations between the DA’s office and the Markel family. Objectively, the email can be interpreted as Wendi described in her testimony. Georgia provided additional context not present in the email, which Wendi and her attorneys did not have.

If you look at this objectively, you can understand why the email strained the relationship between Wendi and the Markels and can see both perspectives. I agree the email was sent with good intentions, but by reading the actual email, you can understand why Wendi and her attorneys interpreted it as an attempt to place the boys in foster care – there was no mention in the email of it being a contingency plan incase Wendi was arrested.

Here is the actual email:

Dear Georgia,

There are few words to express our appreciation that you really understood our concerns about the children. We thank you for moving the plea-bargaining process forward. We will sleep better at night. As the situation evolves we need a tight plan for emergency placement, due to arrests.

Please contact:

Sara Franco Executive Director

JAFCO

We will talk about other arrangements and issues in the next few weeks. Thank you again for all your work and support in this tragedy.

Ruth, Phil and Shelly

Ruth stated publicly that she regretted the email because it got back to Wendi. I have heard her state this.
I am sure she didn’t regret contacting JAFCO.

 

[Knitpicker]

I think Wendy was looking for any excuse. She would find something - she decided the care Ruth wanted for her grandchildren, in the case of an arrest of nearby family, should be by an organization she had vetted. Caring for others so angered the Adelson family that they choose to use that as ammunition. Caring for their family members should be a sign of compassion and they certainly did not want these two boys to learn compassion- look how Rob turned out! They might end up with these two boys rejecting them if they developed compassion for others and saw what their family members lacked! Who would want that? (sarcasm)

What other reason would Wendi have to keep the Markels away from their grandsons for 6 years?
She found a way-and it was through that email.
But the jury will see right through her deception.
That is why Ruth should take the stand.
Ruth for Wendi is what Rob was for Donna.

 

[Going Rogue]

Ruth stated publicly that she regretted the email because it got back to Wendi. I have heard her state this.
I am sure she didn’t regret contacting JAFCO.

I’m not debating what Ruth said publicly. I’d wager a large sum of $ that the fact that the email became public was VERY upsetting to the Markels and that is 100% the fault of the DA’s office… Ruth will likely never say that publicly. As I said, the public release of that ‘personal’ email was gross incompetence by the DA’s office and you can see why Wendi interpreted it the way she did as per her testimony… and yes, it gave her an excuse. We will never know if Wendi would have cut off the visitation if that email had not become public.

 

[Weki]

I’m not debating what Ruth said publicly. I’d wager a large sum of $ that the fact that the email became public was VERY upsetting to the Markels and that is 100% the fault of the DA’s office… Ruth will likely never say that publicly. As I said, the public release of that ‘personal’ email was gross incompetence by the DA’s office and you can see why Wendi interpreted it the way she did as per her testimony… and yes, it gave her an excuse. We will never know if Wendi would have cut off the visitation if that email had not become public.

Was the email considered discoverable? I'm assuming that's the only reason it was released? At the time the Adelsons weren't charged so I can see why that email would be relevant to counsel for Magbanua and Garcia.

 

[Going Rogue]

Was the email considered discoverable? I'm assuming that's the only reason it was released? At the time the Adelsons weren't charged so I can see why that email would be relevant to counsel for Magbanua and Garcia.

After the backlash, I know Georgia had stated it was not intended for public consumption so maybe I’m not being fair with the ‘gross incompetence’ critique. I guess it was discoverable, and in hindsight, the prosecution should have filed a motion to seal the email based on its sensitive nature… there would have been sufficient legal justification to have had that email sealed….. Easy for me to say because hindsight is 20/20…

 

[Knitpicker]

To be honest I'm still confused about the timeline of the art/photos being taken down thing. That never came out at any of the previous trials. So I wasn't prepared for it when it came out at Donna's trial and it seems like it was a blip in the trial. I guess I need to go back and watch that testimony again to refresh my memory.

Recall also, there was that bit about Jeff LaCasse saying that Wendi asked him about children's memory prior to the murder. That was quicky rescinded by the state when defense argued they were never given discovery on it.

It was the weekend before the murder. It seems Jeffrey would have taken that photo.

 

[Knitpicker]

I’m not debating what Ruth said publicly. I’d wager a large sum of $ that the fact that the email became public was VERY upsetting to the Markels and that is 100% the fault of the DA’s office… Ruth will likely never say that publicly. As I said, the public release of that ‘personal’ email was gross incompetence by the DA’s office and you can see why Wendi interpreted it the way she did as per her testimony… and yes, it gave her an excuse. We will never know if Wendi would have cut off the visitation if that email had not become public.

“Ruth has too much class to publicly state what she and the Markel family truly think about the backlash caused by their email to Georgia regarding foster care.”

I was responding to this comment you made.
She stated she regretted sending the email.
She didn’t say she regretted what the DA’s office did.

 

[opt]

We will never know if Wendi would have cut off the visitation if that email had not become public.

Why do you have any doubt? Doesn't the name change prove intent to erase Dan and his family?

No wonder you see reasonable doubt of Wendi's complicity.

 

[Going Rogue]

“Ruth has too much class to publicly state what she and the Markel family truly think about the backlash caused by their email to Georgia regarding foster care.”

I was responding to this comment you made.
She stated she regretted sending the email.
She didn’t say she regretted what the DA’s office did.

I think you may have missed my point?…. I’m not debating your claim she said she regretted sending the email. I’m saying she has too much class to place blame on the DA’s office for allowing her email to go public.

 

[Going Rogue]

Why do you have any doubt? Doesn't the name change prove intent to erase Dan and his family?

No wonder you see reasonable doubt of Wendi's complicity.

Actually, it was the murder that convinced me the Adelson family wanted to erase Dan…. I didn’t need the name change to convince me.

If you read Ruth’s email (which I posted so I assume you did), I stand by the point I made that it can be interpreted the way Wendi described it during her testimony…. so I don’t think my statement (the one you snipped) was outlandish. Just for the record. making that point doesn’t mean I support Wendi’s decision.

As far as my personal opinion on Wendi’s ‘potential’ involvement, I have no issues sharing my views and analysis, and I try to be fair and objective. Do you think people are fair and objective when discussing the case against Wendi... especially the strength of the case against her?

 

[Weki]

I'm sure Ruth thought she was communicating privately with the DA and never imagined her email would be seen by Wendi let alone released publicly. I doubt Ruth understood the intricacies of the discovery rules. Once Ruth understood about the discovery rules, I can't see her blaming the DA's office either. It's just one of those unfortunate circumstances based on ignorance of the rules. But it makes sense that she regretted sending the email.

I also think that the Adelsons were going to cut off the Markels no matter what. This email is just a convenient excuse that casts blame on the Markels. If Donna Adelson was willing to kill Danny to get the boys, there is no way she's agreeing to a visitation with the Markel grandparents. She wanted total control. That much is clear.

JMO