Those revelations were included in a motion filed May 27 by Adelson’s lawyers as part of their continuing efforts to get Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett kicked off the case.

Adelson’s lawyers asked Everett in sealed court documents filed in April to remove himself, arguing he had improper ex parte communications with prosecutors when he reviewed warrant applications for her husband Harvey Adelson’s cell phone records and a wiretap of his cell phone.

Everett declined to disqualify himself. Adelson appealed, but a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected that, too.

Adelson’s trial lawyers, Jackie Fulford and Josh Zelman of Tallahassee, along with Rachael Reese, an appellate lawyer from Tampa, asked the 1st DCA in their latest motion to reconsider that decision.

The motion includes snippets from warrant applications presented by Jason Newlin, chief investigator for the State Attorney’s Office, on Dec. 19, 2024, and Jan. 9. Everett signed off on both warrants allowing wiretaps of Harvey Adelson’s phone, which he used to speak to his incarcerated wife.

“At this time Harvey Adelson is the most frequent caller for Donna Adelson,” the first warrant affidavit says, “but it is apparent Donna relays information to Harvey through attorney privilege calls. These calls are not monitored.”

The affidavit went on to say that “this order is being requested to determine any patterns with privilege calls that cannot be monitored as well as any potential threats that may be orchestrated.”

In the second warrant affidavit, prosecutors wrote that a “jailhouse informant alleged Mrs. Adelson was offering to pay for witness testimony.” It also said that there were “overlapping communication records” between Harvey Adelson, the defense attorneys' cell phones and their visits with Donna Adelson at the Leon County Detention Facility.

Adelson’s lawyers, in their motion before the 1st DCA, said the warrant applications falsely suggested that she and her attorneys were using privileged visitation and communication to “coordinate illegal acts” involving witnesses who could be called at trial.

“Specifically,” they wrote, “the application alleged that the jail phone call records, as well as the dates and times for attorney visits, overlapped and suggested that two attorneys in good standing with the Florida Bar were planning to present false information on Mrs. Adelson’s behalf or potentially tamper with witnesses ― all of which have proven to be false.”

Her lawyers added in a harshly critical footnote that “the mere suggestion proposed by the application concerning Mrs. Adelson and her communications are not only reckless, but deeply offensive and undermines the integrity of the proceedings entirely.”

Prosecutors have said they intend to use one or two of the wiretap conversations at trial. After an April 30 hearing, Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman denied allegations by the defense and said information used to justify the wiretaps was "not false."

On May 12, Everett agreed that the defense could depose three witnesses who had been deposed before: FBI Agent Pat Sanford, Tallahassee Police Department Sgt. Chris Corbitt and Robert Adelson, Donna and Harvey Adelson’s estranged son.

However, he said they could only be questioned about the latest investigation, which ended with no charges filed.

Adelson, 75, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 contract killing of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. He was fatally shot at his home on Trescott Drive in the midst of a bitter court battle with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, the defendant's daughter.

Her trial was scheduled to begin in June but was pushed back because of the most recent investigation. Jury selection is now scheduled to begin Aug. 19 at the Leon County Courthouse.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2025/06/02/jailhouse-snitch-alleged-donna-adelson-offered-to-pay-for-testimony/83943342007/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5734180&forum_id=2#48991885)