Donna Adelson: Delay, Denial, and the Gamble of a Lifetime | 2025 Year in Review

As part of our Hidden Killers 2025 Year in Review series, we’re breaking down the most calculated—and sometimes downright desperate—moves by Donna Adelson, the matriarch at the center of Florida’s most infamous murder-for-hire case.

In one of the year’s most revealing episodes, Tony Brueski exposes how Donna’s defense team has spent months trying to slow, stall, and spin the inevitable. From filing motions to disqualify the judge, to claiming Tallahassee’s residents are too “emotionally informed” to serve on a jury, to arguing that routine evidence is somehow “prejudicial,” this has become a masterclass in delay tactics. And it’s not working.

We unpack six of the most aggressive attempts Donna’s lawyers have made to derail the prosecution—from re-deposing witnesses based on so-called “new evidence” to claiming the court of public opinion makes a fair trial impossible. The result? A defense strategy that’s running out of time and credibility, one filing at a time.

Then, Tony dives into the next looming spectacle: the possibility of Donna taking the stand in her own defense. It’s a high-risk, high-ego move that could either humanize her or expose her as the manipulative force prosecutors say she’s always been. Could her trademark confidence charm jurors—or will it read as arrogance under pressure?

We break down the evidence she’d have to face if she testifies:

• The million-dollar bribe offer to relocate Dan Markel closer to the Adelsons.
  
  
• Her alleged plan to use religion as leverage in custody disputes.
  
  
• The stream of checks to Katherine Magbanua, a convicted go-between in the murder plot.
  
  
• And the FBI “bump” recording, hinting at Donna’s knowledge of the crime.
  
  

This episode reveals the anatomy of a defense that seems more focused on optics than outcome—and a defendant whose belief in her own brilliance may be her final undoing.

🎙️ Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski — 2025 Year in Review: The Cases Where Justice Refused to Wait.


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