Juror's TikTok post during Donna Adelson trial didn't constitute misconduct, judge rules
A juror who posted a TikTok video during the murder trial of Donna Adelson did not commit misconduct, a judge in Leon County, Florida, ruled last week in an order denying defense motions following their client’s conviction in the death of her former son-in-law.
In a Sept. 25 order, Judge Stephen S. Everett of Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit denied a motion for a new trial and denied a motion for interviews of juror No. 7, the TikTok juror, and juror No. 5, who had commented on Adelson’s reactions to testimony when he was interviewed on a podcast after the verdict.
Adelson was convicted Sept. 4 in the July 2014 murder-for-hire slaying of former Florida State University College of Law professor Dan Markel, her former son-in-law. Prosecutors said Adelson helped plan the murder, so that her daughter Wendi Adelson, Markel’s ex-wife, could move from Tallahassee, Florida, to South Florida with the couple’s two children.
Juror No. 7 had posted on TikTok during the trial that she had been selected as a juror, Adelson’s lawyers said in a new trial motion. But Everett said the juror did not reveal the parties in the case, the attorneys, the alleged crimes, whether it was criminal or civil, or even the location of the trial. As a result, she did not communicate “about this case” as banned by jury instructions, he concluded.
The text displayed over juror No. 7’s video had said, “When I told God I needed a break, and he makes it so I am selected to serve on a jury for a two week trial… won’t he do it,” and included a happy face. A caption read, “No work, no kids (for most of the day) yk what… heaven yeah.”
Juror No. 7 had also posted videos after the trial that dubbed Adelson the “matriarch mastermind” while speculating about the possibility of charges against others. Everett did not address those videos.
The defense sought to interview juror No. 5 because he said on the podcast he considered Adelson’s reactions to testimony during trial. But juror No. 5 also said he did not consider Adelson’s reactions during jury deliberations, the defense acknowledged.
Everett noted the concession and said it isn’t impermissible for jurors to observe the defendant during trial.
The defense had also argued that there is no evidence that Adelson committed acts or uttered words in furtherance of the plot before the murder. At most, they argued, she was an accessory after the fact.
But Everett said evidence showed Adelson’s connection to payments to co-conspirators, and the conspiracy didn’t end until they received their payments.
“Stated succinctly,” Everett wrote, “there is evidence in the record demonstrating overt actions by the defendant in furtherance of the murder-for-hire scheme.”
Adelson is the fifth person convicted in the scheme. She was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. Other convicted include Adelson’s son, Charlie Adelson, who was accused of hiring two triggermen through a go-between, a woman he had been dating.
The Tallahassee Democrat, via How Appealing, is among the publications reporting on Everett’s decision.
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