Donna Adelson Trial Opening Statements & Gunmen Luis Rivera Testifies! | Case Brief

The Emily Show

Baker Media, LLC.

True Crime, Entertainment News, News

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Watch the full coverage of the live stream on The Emily D. Baker YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/live/Q2sgVWyygnQ Join us for a comprehensive recap of Day 1 of the Donna Adelson murder trial, which kicked off Friday, August 22nd, 2025, in Florida. Judge Everett is pushing for a swift trial, aiming to have the case to the jury by September 5th! Discover the state's powerful argument outlining Donna Adelson as the "relentless driving force" behind the murder of Dan Markel. We delve into their claims of motive (hatred for Dan Markel, desire for relocation of her grand children), alleged bribes (including a $1 million offer), and threats. We analyze the defense's strategy, which surprisingly focused heavily on praising Dan Markel as a loving father and professor, while arguing that there is "not a single piece of evidence" directly linking Donna Adelson to planning, hiring, or intending the murder. Their core theme: "It wasn't me." Luis Rivera took the stand and confirmed that he was hired to participate in the murder of Dan Markel. He testified that he had no direct contact with "the dentist" (Charlie Adelson) or any other member of the Adelson family. He confirmed that "everything went through Katie." He also stated he knew nothing about "the lady in Tallahassee whose kids who needed her kids" (presumably referring to Wendi Adelson). RESOURCES Donna Adelson Trial Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsbUyvZas7gL0_OPy2AliqyEjGcI8QzBu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.2	Welcome back. It's time for a case brief, keeping you in the loop with the cases you care
0:34.0	about most, just more briefly. If you want the full coverage, it's linked in the description below. But for now, let's get into it. It's day one of the Donna
0:42.9	Adelson trial in Florida. It's Friday, August 22nd, 2025. Do most judges start a trial on a Friday?
0:50.7	No. But Judge Everett is ready to get this case. ZoomZuman. They worked till well after
0:57.2	6.30 local time, which is Eastern last night, to finish selecting a jury. They seated a jury
1:03.5	of 14, 12 plus two alternates. They had wanted three alternates. They didn't get three
1:08.0	alternates. They got two. And they're like, we're good. We're rolling with it. Let's go. And that's exactly what they did. So when we go to court today,
1:17.5	we are in day one of trial after three days of jury selection. What does that mean for us? Well,
1:23.8	it means that they are ready to rock. And it means that the jurors were only there for
1:30.5	like a half day and then a full day for the final day of jury selection and they're ready to go
1:34.9	and that the judge expects evidence today. So when we go to court, that's what we're looking for.
1:41.2	So Law nerds, are you ready? I'm ready.
1:45.3	This murder was set into motion because back in 2014, this defendant's family had a big
1:51.7	problem.
	...

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