Donna Confessed? Donna's "Jail Daughter" wasn't following the 'script' | Case Brief

The Emily Show

Baker Media, LLC.

True Crime, Entertainment News, News

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2025

⏱️ 32 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://youtu.be/Biij9nLHQjc Day 6 of the Donna Adelson trial happened on August 29, 2025 and we heard the infamous recorded jail call where Charlie was disconnected, and Donna continued talking to people in the house with an open line. Her exchanges with Wendi about getting her affairs in order and taking a one-way flight, expressing concern about not being able to leave in time, were very revealing. This seemed to be a clarified version of the call, with a transcript provided. Following this, Donna was arrested at the airport. After Agent Sanford was excused and the jury left for lunch, the court took the unusual step of swearing in Donna Adelson. This happened after an off-the-record sidebar discussion. The court asked if she was on board with the defense's strategy for cross-examining two witnesses: the jailhouse informants. Donna, under oath, confirmed her agreement with the defense's cross-examination strategy and its impact on her rights. The court's unusual requirement for a sworn statement on defense strategy, typically seen only when a defendant testifies or not, highlights potential concern for protecting the record. Today was packed full of testimony that is potentially devastating to the defense. Following the lunch break, testimony was heard from two jailhouse informants. One of the informants, Patricia Byrd, revealed that Donna admitted to her that she committed the crime in order to “keep her grandkids, but it wasn’t supposed to go that far”. Drina Bernhardt, another informant, revealed that Donna provided an alleged script that she was instructed to redo in her own handwriting. The day ended with the state resting their case, Donna’s defense will present their case beginning on Tuesday, September 2, 2025. RESOURCES Donna Adelson Road So Far - https://youtu.be/rlN7cBdTikw Donna Adelson Trial Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsbUyvZas7gL0_OPy2AliqyEjGcI8QzBu Donna Adelson Trial Daily Case Briefs - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFdNnRZUqH62ToyQCgLbRavztmRy0ohXN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back. It's time for a case brief, keeping you in the loop with the cases you care about most.
0:04.0	Just more briefly. If you want the full coverage, it's linked in the description below.
0:07.7	But for now, let's get into it.
0:10.6	It's August 29th. We're at the end of the month. It's a long weekend for everyone here in the U.S.
0:18.5	There is much to do today, but it is time.
0:21.2	It is day six of Florida versus Donna Adelson.
0:26.3	What did Donna do?
0:27.6	That's the question that I am waiting to see if the jury answers,
0:32.3	because we have been going through quite a lot of wiretap calls.
0:36.1	And for those of you that are like, why are the wiretap calls needed? This is a conspiracy. It is a conspiracy to commit murder charge. It is a solicitation of murder charge. And it's a murder charge. But at the heart of it, it's a conspiracy charge. And you need to show what the different conspirators are doing. And you need to show the conspiracy, the agreement to do the thing.
0:56.8	You need to show that agreement. And then you show what each member of the conspiracy is doing.
1:02.6	And so the train cars is the prosecution called them that are bumping from Donna back to Charlie, Charlie back to Katie, Katie back to Sikfredo, who we know was the gunman.
1:13.2	That starts to show you what Donna knows and what she's doing.
1:18.4	And honestly, do you think Charlie's a little salty that it was Donna who completely made
1:24.5	the wire and the bump operation?
1:27.3	Like at one point, Donna's like everybody else is saying they're going to get it done.
1:30.0	I'm just going to get it done.
1:30.9	And though she tried to leverage the like, I'm just a little lady.
1:35.0	My grandkids had my phone.
1:37.5	She didn't really buckle.
1:38.9	She was like, I don't know what you're talking about.
1:40.6	But it was that call that really ended up being the end of the fruitful wire.
	...

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