Donna Adelson Trial — Georgia Cappleman’s Closing Argument: “Follow the Evidence, Find Her Guilty”

Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman delivered a forceful summation urging jurors to “follow the evidence” and convict Donna Adelson for orchestrating the 2014 murder-for-hire of law professor Dan Markel. Cappleman framed motive around a yearslong push to move Wendi Adelson and the children to South Florida, arguing Donna treated relocation as non-negotiable—and when the courts wouldn’t deliver, the family turned to crime. She walked through the state’s through-line: bitter post-divorce conflict, suggestive language in calls and texts, coordinated timing across communications, and money the prosecution says flowed through Charlie Adelson to the hitmen.

Cappleman hammered credibility and common sense: “Innocent people do not talk in code.” Jurors were asked to weigh phrasing and timing across messages they saw during the trial—evidence the state says shows Donna as the matriarch who helped plan and fund the hit via Charlie (already convicted). The prosecution emphasized how these discrete pieces interlock: motive (control and relocation), method (coordination through family channels), and meaning (language and timing that, in the state’s view, reveal intent).

Visually, Cappleman kept the jury anchored with clear, memorable beats, using attention-grabbing demonstratives before returning to the timeline and exhibits. Her point, she argued, wasn’t flair; it was to keep jurors focused on how each exhibit supports the next—calls setting up meetings, messages lining up with cash movement, and the broader context of a family dispute that prosecutors say escalated past the boundaries of the law.

She closed by centering Dan Markel as a devoted father and asked jurors to render a verdict that does justice. The state’s message: when legal avenues failed, Donna Adelson allegedly chose a criminal solution—and the totality of the evidence proves it beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense has countered that Donna is a “meddler, not a murderer,” arguing there’s no direct link between her and the trigger. Cappleman told jurors they don’t need a smoking gun when the pattern itself is unmistakable.

Why this clip matters: It’s the state’s road map in one sitting—motive, method, and meaning distilled into a narrative the jury will carry into deliberations. If jurors see the pattern Cappleman describes, the prosecution gets its conviction. If they see gaps, the defense’s refrain may resonate instead.

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