Misha Janice

Join me as I chat with Judy at ‪@aalegalfocus‬ about the Donna Adelson GUILTY verdict and what it might mean for Wendi Adelson. TODAY, 9/16/25 at 12:30pm EST! Hope to see you on the livestream

4 months ago | [YT] | 12

Misha Janice

Order on Donna's Motion for Change of Venue is out! Quick version: Judge Everett said "it's too soon to determine." Basically, Florida trial courts are required to evaluate "(1) the extent and nature of any pretrial publicity; and (2) the difficulty encountered in actually selecting a jury"; since a jury has not even been attempted to be seated, Donna's motion is not ripe.

Here are some quotable quotes from the 7 page opinion:

"Defendant would have this Court reject these binding precedents and turn this into a one-prong analysis. The Court declines to accept this invitation."

"Defendant's approach also ignores the longstanding principle that jurors with prior knowledge or even preconceived opinions as to the guilt of the accused can nevertheless serve on a jury if they can set aside their beliefs and render a verdict based solely on the evidence presented at trial....Defendant has provided no legal basis to forgo the essential task of asking prospective jurors whether they can be impartial despite any potential extrinsic knowledge about this case, along with other vital questions."

"Defendant has not shown how the local reporting that comprises her evidentiary hearing exhibits is any different from cases where a change in venue was not required."

"This also does not mean that defendant will be unable to raise the issue of venue following voir dire. It simply means it is too soon to determine whether a change in venue is justified under Florida Law."

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6 months ago | [YT] | 49

Misha Janice

Quick synopsis and notes from today's 18 minute motion hearing. Donna appeared alongside her counsel, sporting a shoulder length trim of her mostly salt and pepper hair.

Re: Defense motion to compel the state to provide the raw forensic extractions from all Adelson devices (Donna, Harvey, Charlie, Wendi) to verify the Cellebrite reports the State prepared. Before hearing this though, the Judge asked whether Donna realizes that receiving all raw data that may include Rashbaum related stuff (i.e. attorney client communications) may open the door to any conflicts. Zelman said he didn't discuss with Donna because he does not believe the raw data will open any doors to conflict.
The State had no objection but wanted a heads up on anything that might be used at trial
***Motion Granted, but if the raw data has any Rashbaum or Charles info, they will have to deal with conflict issues at that time. (A taint team was not ordered to go through the raw data first)

Re: Defense motion to extend deadlines. Judge- we've already extended deadlines twice. What is preventing you from filing motions by the deadline? Zelman: need to have a good faith basis to file the motions which will be based on depositions that still need to be taken. Judge: the defense proposed date is uncertain...it's a "moving piece of jello". Zelman: None of the 3 proposed motions will prevent the trial from starting on Aug 19th. 
The State had no objection but wanted leniency to respond to defense motions. There is a defense witness the state wants to depose and also a handwriting expert.
***Judge: Final pretrial hearing is Aug 8. All motions need to be filed by July 21. Any motion not filed by then, the subject of the motion may be deemed waived.

6 months ago | [YT] | 47

Misha Janice

Hi friends! 2 new motions in limine were filed by Donna's counsel yesterday. In the first, they try to exclude Stephen Webster, Dan Markel's divorce attorney, from testifying in Donna's trial arguing that statements made by Markel are hearsay and that he is not a family law expert able to opine on the Markel/Wendi divorce.

In the second motion, they seek to exclude Sara Yousef from testifying. An old friend of Wendi, Sara heard Donna state "They're talking about him like he was a beloved professor. But you know something? He was a jerk." This occurred at one of the Markel boy's birthday party at Donna's condo just after Wendi fled from Tallahassee. The defense seems to concede that the statement is relevant and admissible. However, they argue that Sara's other opinions (like " it was not all of the Adelsons, but that Donna, Charlie, and Wendi were guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and soliciting somebody to kill Dan") are inadmissible due to unfair prejudice and her "bias towards Phil Markel". They argue that since the state is going to call Wendi, any testimony from Sara about comments made by Wendi will be duplicative and Wendi is the better witness to call due to her personal knowledge of the case, which Sara does not have.

My prediction- both motions fail. Sara Yousef will testify and primarily about Donna's statement regarding Dan (a statement against interest). She may not be allowed to share her opinion of guilt but she will be able to share how she came to be a witness- that story alone should clue the jurors into her true feelings. Stephen Webster will testify but may have some limitation due to multiple levels of hearsay (my perimeno brain won't let me remember right now but I seem to recall this being raised in a prior motion- don't remember how it was resolved, sorry SMH). Regardless, the jury will get the gist that the divorce was incredibly vengeful and full of animosity (despite what Wendi testifies to under the penalty of perjury) .

8 months ago | [YT] | 80

Misha Janice

Donna Adelson's Motion to Change Venue will finally be heard on Friday, June 13th at 9am. Judge Everett reserved 2.5hrs for the hearing. Expect to see testimony from Truescope, the defense expert on the reach this case has garnered on social media, etc. I'd expect Donna to also be in the room (as opposed to appearing by Zoom).

8 months ago | [YT] | 64

Misha Janice

Try, try again... it's official! Fingers crossed that trial proceeds without additional hiccups. Let's get this done and dusted- another step forward for justice.

8 months ago | [YT] | 95

Misha Janice

HEARING SUMMARY: #DonnaAdelson This morning's hearing was not live-streamed/televised but I still have a summary for you! Thanks to ‪@pattysplayhouse‬ on X and ‪@SurvivingTheSurvivor‬! It was short and consisted of defense counsel giving reasons to support their motion for additional depositions (which is opposed by the state).

Basically, they argued that the Rashbaum conflict was so bad and ran so deep, they need to do their own depositions of certain key witnesses (namely, Pat Sanford, Corbitt, Magbanua) because they can't be sure that Rashbaum asked appropriate questions given his questionable loyalties, bias, etc.

Apparently, Judge Everett was annoyed (understandably) possibly because he knows that this un-conflicted defense team needs to be given leeway in order to avoid potential appellate issues down the road. I predict that all the depositions the defense team requests will be allowed.

We're still suffering the ramifications of the Rashbaum circus, y'all. I'm sure this won't be the last of it either.

8 months ago | [YT] | 60

Misha Janice

There will be a hearing on Donna Adelson's motion to take additional depositions, this Friday, May 9th at 9am. The motion was filed on May 1st under seal, so we don't know the basis of it or who they want to depose, but based on the last hearing, my assumption is that it is related to the "new" investigation that was recently conducted.

I'm hoping that on Friday morning we'll get a status of the redaction for the sealed documents. If you recall, Judge Everett is letting Zelman and crew redact certain info before unsealing those documents.

Donna will attend the hearing by Zoom.

9 months ago | [YT] | 59

Misha Janice

As expected, Donna Adelson's trial has been continued bc 1) "the Court MUST afford the defendant an adequate opportunity to investigate and/or prepare a defense." and 2) the State won't suffer prejudice by moving the trial date. Keep the faith and stay patient, y'all....her day is coming.

ETA: NEW TRIAL DATE IS TBD. Mrs. Stephen Everett and the Judge are reviewing their calendars *wink*

9 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 59

Misha Janice

HEARING SUMMARY: In this afternoon's hearing, Donna Adelson's counsel argued for a continuance of trial (currently scheduled to start 6/3/25) based on a dump of 100K Donna's emails as well as additional material they've received related to a more recent investigation. The recent investigation resulted in wire recordings- per the state, only about 30 calls were deemed "pertinent" by law enforcement and the state wouldn't use more than 2-3 of the calls in the upcoming trial. Zelman argued that they have not even listened to 2 hours of the wires, in part because they've been focused on trying to open and review the 100K emails and have had to retain a outside company to assist in the process.

We also know that additional discovery includes surveillance video from LDC and Harvey Adelson's Zelle records.
The State admitted that it would not suffer any prejudice if a continuance was granted and Judge Everett seemed to be open to the idea. When asked, Zelman said it would be hard to propose a new trial date before seeing all the new discovery but 2-3 months out would be realistic. The Judge is reserving ruling but I would not be surprised if trial was moved to Fall 2025.

Also, all the recent pleadings that have been filed under seal, Judge Everett ruled that they be unsealed, however he's allowing the defense to redact certain confidential information contained in them. So we should know soon a bit more of what's going on in the background and more details about the recent investigation re: Donna. The Judge asked the state whether a superceding indictment was going to be filed and Ms. Dugan replied "not to my knowledge."

9 months ago | [YT] | 99