Mother-in-law charged in murder-for-hire plot to kill her daughter's husband ... trends now
A Florida woman charged in the murder-for-hire plot of her former son-in-law claims she is being subjected to 'cruel and unusual punishment' while in prison.
Donna Adelson was arrested last month at Miami-Dade Airport, one week after her son Charles was convicted of hiring hitmen to murder her son-in-law Dan Markel.
Adelson, 73, had been attempting to fly to Vietnam on a one-way ticket investigators said, which has no extradition treaty with the US.
Since being taken into custody her lawyer, Marissel Descalzo, filed a motion alleging jail staff are forcing her to eat with her hands and sit naked.
The motion, seen by CNN, argues that the alleged treatment is a violation of her Sixth Amendment rights.
Donna Adelson was seized at Miami-Dade International Airport and booked into the county's Corrections and Rehabilitation facility last month
Charles Adelson (pictured) paid to have law professor Dan Markel - who was married to his sister, Wendi Adelson, killed. Adelson licked his lips as his defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum whispers to him before the verdict was delivered last week
The outlet reported that Descalzo is seeking for the court to release Adelson so she is on house arrest or force the jail's hand to improve her conditions.
Descalzo is also requesting the court issue Adelson with a 'psychological evaluation' that would place her in a different unit. A hearing on the allegations is due to take place on Monday.
Adelson was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire killing of Dan Markel, her former son-in-law.
Dan Markel, a dad-of-two, was shot as he sat in his car outside his home
Her son Charles, a dentist, was convicted of the murder of Markel one week before her arrest.
Charles had organized the killing through his girlfriend Katie Magbanua who then employed her ex-boyfriend Sigfredo Garcia and his friend Luis Rivera to carry out the killing.
Markel's death had revolved around a court battle that he had won to stop Adelson's daughter Wendi from moving from Tallahassee to South Florida with her two sons.
Markel was shot in the head as he sat in his car outside his Tallahassee home, after taking his kids to daycare and going to the gym.
The Adelsons immediately became suspects after Wendi Adelson told detectives that the killing of her ex-husband could have been arranged on her behalf, saying her parents were ‘very angry at Markel’.
The court heard that Donna Adelson ‘hated’ Markel and was ‘desperate to find a
