Donna Adelson Trial — Georgia Cappleman’s Closing Argument: “Follow the Evidence, Find Her Guilty”

Donna Adelson Trial — Georgia Cappleman’s Closing Argument: “Follow
the Evidence, Find Her Guilty”


Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman
delivered a forceful summation urging jurors to “follow
the evidence” and convict Donna Adelson
for orchestrating the 2014 murder-for-hire of law professor
Dan Markel. Cappleman framed motive around a
yearslong push to move Wendi Adelson and the children to South
Florida, arguing Donna treated relocation as
non-negotiable—and when the courts wouldn’t
deliver, the family turned to crime. She walked through the
state’s through-line: bitter post-divorce conflict, suggestive
language in calls and texts, coordinated timing across
communications, and money the prosecution says flowed through
Charlie Adelson to the hitmen.

Cappleman hammered credibility and common sense:
“Innocent people do not talk in code.” Jurors
were asked to weigh phrasing and timing across messages they saw
during the trial—evidence the state says shows Donna as the
matriarch who helped plan and fund the hit via
Charlie (already convicted). The prosecution emphasized how these
discrete pieces interlock: motive (control and relocation),
method (coordination through family channels), and meaning
(language and timing that, in the state’s view, reveal
intent).

Visually, Cappleman kept the jury anchored with clear, memorable
beats, using attention-grabbing demonstratives before returning
to the timeline and exhibits. Her point, she argued, wasn’t
flair; it was to keep jurors focused on how each exhibit supports
the next—calls setting up meetings, messages lining up with cash
movement, and the broader context of a family dispute that
prosecutors say escalated past the boundaries of the law.

She closed by centering Dan Markel as a devoted
father and asked jurors to render a verdict that does
justice. The state’s message: when legal avenues failed,
Donna Adelson allegedly chose a criminal solution—and the
totality of the evidence proves it beyond a reasonable doubt. The
defense has countered that Donna is a “meddler, not a
murderer,” arguing there’s no direct link between her
and the trigger. Cappleman told jurors they don’t need a smoking
gun when the pattern itself is unmistakable.

Why this clip matters: It’s the state’s
road map in one sitting—motive, method, and
meaning distilled into a narrative the jury will carry into
deliberations. If jurors see the pattern Cappleman describes, the
prosecution gets its conviction. If they see gaps, the defense’s
refrain may resonate instead.

#hashtags #DonnaAdelsonTrial #GeorgiaCappleman #DanMarkel
#ClosingArguments #TrueCrime #Courtroom #MurderForHire
#Tallahassee #LegalAnalysis #JuryDeliberations

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