RAGING MOTHER-IN-LAW ORDERS HIT ON LAW PROF SON-IN-LAW TO WALK FREE BC "JUROR MISCONDUCT?"
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After nearly three weeks of testimony, a jury takes just three hours to find 75-year-old Donna Adelson guilty of all three charges levied against her.
Adelson is convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit killing, and first-degree murder in the hit on her former son-in-law Dan Markel.
Now, Adelson has filed a motion for a new trial, claiming multiple instances of jury misconduct, bias from the judge, and a lack of evidence to support the verdict.
The 18-page motion comes just two weeks after Adelson’s conviction and includes a request to interview two of the jurors who decided her fate.
Adelson accuses the jury foreperson, juror number seven, of failing to follow the judge’s instructions on speaking about the case.
Adelson claims Jacey Maxen Walker posted a TikTok about her selection to the jury on the third day of trial, then deleted the post. Adelson writes that Maxen Walker then went viral for her posts discussing details of the case immediately after the verdict.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Philip Dubé- Former Court-Appointed Counsel, Los Angeles County Public Defenders: Criminal & Constitutional Law, Forensics & Mental Health Advocacy: X: PhilipCDube, IG: PhilipDube, YouTube: PhilipDube3922
- Dr. Judy Ho - Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychologist, Author of 'The New Rules of Attachment'; and 'Stop Self-Sabatoge;' IG & X: @drjudyho; FB: doctorjudyho
- Robert Crispin - Private Investigator with “Crispin Special Investigations," Former Federal Task Force Officer for the United States Department of Justice, DEA and Miami Field Division and Former Homicide and Crimes Against Children Investigator; Facebook: Crispin Special Investigations Inc.
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Evan Higginbotham - Juror #6 in the Donna Adelson trial
- Gigi McKelvey - Journalist, Host of the Podcast “Pretty Lies and Alibis;" Facebook, IG, TikTok: @PrettyLiesAndAlibis/ X: @PrettiesLiesAlibi
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.8 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:11.0 | A raging mother-in-law orders a hit on her law professor's son-in-law, |
| 0:17.7 | and she's convicted now to walk free because she alleges juror misconduct. |
| 0:26.4 | And oh yes, TikTok is involved. |
| 0:29.9 | Good evening. |
| 0:30.5 | I'm Nancy Grace. |
| 0:31.3 | This is Crime Stories. |
| 0:32.5 | I want to thank you for being with us. |
| 0:34.5 | So you're saying his head is bloody now? |
| 0:36.8 | Yes, it's been bloody. |
| 0:37.8 | I mean, it's the window shattered. |
| 0:39.8 | I don't know if he's tried to shoot himself. |
| 0:41.7 | I don't know what's situation. |
| 0:42.5 | He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of rolling around. |
| 0:46.4 | Okay. |
| 0:46.9 | Is he conscious? |
| 0:48.8 | Well, I can't tell. |
| 0:50.1 | I'm talking about the killer mother-in-law, Donna Adelson, who is so incensed that her son-in-law refuses to let his children move seven hours away from his home where he teaches law school to be closer to her, the grandma, that she orders |
| 1:12.9 | a hit and has him executed? Really? Okay, listen to this. |
| 1:18.4 | I want to see the address of your emergency. Okay, tell me exactly what happened. |
| 1:24.9 | We heard, looked in, the garage door was was up and I thought the gentleman was backing out |
... |
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