Florida
Matriarch convicted in murder-for-hire killing of her ex-son-in-law seeks a new trial
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The matriarch of a South Florida family who faces life in prison for the hired killing of her former son-in-law is asking a judge for a new trial.
Attorneys for Donna Adelson argued that alleged juror misconduct and errors by the court should warrant their client another hearing of her case.
Earlier this month, jurors returned guilty verdicts in Adelson’s weekslong trial on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 killing of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel in Tallahassee where he taught.
In a motion for a new trial filed Tuesday, attorneys Joshua Zelman and Jackie Fulford said Adelson should get a new trial after two jurors went public with their stories after the trial, including one who posted a video on TikTok about her jury service and another who appeared on a true crime podcast called “Surviving the Survivor.”
The attorneys also argued that the verdicts were contrary to the law or the weight of the evidence, that prosecutors relied on speculation and inference to build their case, and alleged that Circuit Judge Stephen Everett showed favoritism to the prosecution throughout the trial.
“Where is the evidence Mrs. Adelson agreed; conspired; combined; or confederated with anyone else that Mr. Markel be killed? There is none,” the attorneys wrote.
The case had riveted Florida’s capital city for more than a decade amid sordid details of a messy divorce, tensions with wealthy in-laws and custody fights leading to the killing.
Markel had been locked in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife and Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Adelson, with whom he had two children.
Prosecutors argued at the trial that Donna Adelson helped orchestrate Markel’s killing after he stood in the way of letting her daughter and two young grandsons make the move from Tallahassee to South Florida to be closer to the rest of the family.
North Carolina
14 former NC State athletes file lawsuit alleging abuse by ex-head trainer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Fourteen former N.C. State male athletes have filed a civil lawsuit in state court alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment and harassment by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine, expanding a case that began with a federal lawsuit from a single athlete three years ago.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday evening in Wake County Superior Court alleges years of misconduct by Robert Murphy Jr., including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing.
Murphy, who was at N.C. State from 2012-22, is among the nine defendants named individually. The others are school officials accused of negligence in their oversight roles in preventing it or adequately responding to concerns raised to them about Murphy’s conduct.
Twelve athletes are “John Doe” plaintiffs to protect anonymity, while two former men’s soccer players are named. One is Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022. Two other athletes had followed with their own federal lawsuits in February and April 2023. The Associated Press typically doesn’t identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless the person has spoken publicly, which Locke has done.
Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented plaintiffs in the previous and new lawsuits, filed to dismiss those pending Title IX lawsuits before moving the case to state-level jurisdiction — though now with 11 additional plaintiffs.
The new lawsuit outlines similar allegations in terms of Murphy’s conduct and the school’s response, including that concerns about Murphy’s conduct reached former athletic director Debbie Yow and other senior athletics officials but nothing substantive was done to prevent misconduct or Murphy continuing to work with athletes.
“These 14 athletes have come forward together hoping to encourage others abused by Rob Murphy to see it wasn’t just them, they did nothing wrong, and NCSU should have protected them,” Sutton said in a statement.
“A culture of fear in the NCSU athletics department led to this tragic set of circumstances. Athletes afraid of losing their scholarship or their spot on the team, trainers afraid of reporting their boss, coaches afraid of getting involved, directors afraid of harming NCSU’s reputation. Murphy took advantage of those fears to get away with abusing what we believe may turn out to be hundreds of former Wolfpack athletes.”
Jared Hammett, a Raleigh-based attorney working with Murphy in the earlier cases, didn’t immediately return messages from the AP requesting comment Thursday. An attorney who previously worked with Murphy said in 2022 that Murphy offered “appropriate” medical procedures but “nothing that was ever of a sexual nature.”
N.C. State didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Yow declined to comment, deferring to N.C. State, in a text message to the AP on Thursday morning.
New York
Grand jury indicts man accused of threatening to kill federal judges
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who has filed several lawsuits that were deemed frivolous has been indicted on charges he threatened to kill two judges who had presided over some of his cases.
A federal grand jury issued the indictment against Anthony Salvatore Perri this week in the Eastern District of New York. He called the judges’ chambers and left graphic voicemails, federal prosecutors said.
Perri, who has a lengthy criminal history, has filed nearly a dozen lawsuits since 2006, representing himself in each case, and nearly all were summarily dismissed. The defendants he sued include a New York City police commissioner, former President Barack Obama and the entire Eastern District court.
Perri was arrested in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15 and was returned to New York, where he remains jailed. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Charles Millioen, a federal public defender who is representing Perri in this case, declined to comment Wednesday.
Matriarch convicted in murder-for-hire killing of her ex-son-in-law seeks a new trial
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The matriarch of a South Florida family who faces life in prison for the hired killing of her former son-in-law is asking a judge for a new trial.
Attorneys for Donna Adelson argued that alleged juror misconduct and errors by the court should warrant their client another hearing of her case.
Earlier this month, jurors returned guilty verdicts in Adelson’s weekslong trial on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 killing of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel in Tallahassee where he taught.
In a motion for a new trial filed Tuesday, attorneys Joshua Zelman and Jackie Fulford said Adelson should get a new trial after two jurors went public with their stories after the trial, including one who posted a video on TikTok about her jury service and another who appeared on a true crime podcast called “Surviving the Survivor.”
The attorneys also argued that the verdicts were contrary to the law or the weight of the evidence, that prosecutors relied on speculation and inference to build their case, and alleged that Circuit Judge Stephen Everett showed favoritism to the prosecution throughout the trial.
“Where is the evidence Mrs. Adelson agreed; conspired; combined; or confederated with anyone else that Mr. Markel be killed? There is none,” the attorneys wrote.
The case had riveted Florida’s capital city for more than a decade amid sordid details of a messy divorce, tensions with wealthy in-laws and custody fights leading to the killing.
Markel had been locked in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife and Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Adelson, with whom he had two children.
Prosecutors argued at the trial that Donna Adelson helped orchestrate Markel’s killing after he stood in the way of letting her daughter and two young grandsons make the move from Tallahassee to South Florida to be closer to the rest of the family.
North Carolina
14 former NC State athletes file lawsuit alleging abuse by ex-head trainer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Fourteen former N.C. State male athletes have filed a civil lawsuit in state court alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment and harassment by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine, expanding a case that began with a federal lawsuit from a single athlete three years ago.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday evening in Wake County Superior Court alleges years of misconduct by Robert Murphy Jr., including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing.
Murphy, who was at N.C. State from 2012-22, is among the nine defendants named individually. The others are school officials accused of negligence in their oversight roles in preventing it or adequately responding to concerns raised to them about Murphy’s conduct.
Twelve athletes are “John Doe” plaintiffs to protect anonymity, while two former men’s soccer players are named. One is Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022. Two other athletes had followed with their own federal lawsuits in February and April 2023. The Associated Press typically doesn’t identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless the person has spoken publicly, which Locke has done.
Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented plaintiffs in the previous and new lawsuits, filed to dismiss those pending Title IX lawsuits before moving the case to state-level jurisdiction — though now with 11 additional plaintiffs.
The new lawsuit outlines similar allegations in terms of Murphy’s conduct and the school’s response, including that concerns about Murphy’s conduct reached former athletic director Debbie Yow and other senior athletics officials but nothing substantive was done to prevent misconduct or Murphy continuing to work with athletes.
“These 14 athletes have come forward together hoping to encourage others abused by Rob Murphy to see it wasn’t just them, they did nothing wrong, and NCSU should have protected them,” Sutton said in a statement.
“A culture of fear in the NCSU athletics department led to this tragic set of circumstances. Athletes afraid of losing their scholarship or their spot on the team, trainers afraid of reporting their boss, coaches afraid of getting involved, directors afraid of harming NCSU’s reputation. Murphy took advantage of those fears to get away with abusing what we believe may turn out to be hundreds of former Wolfpack athletes.”
Jared Hammett, a Raleigh-based attorney working with Murphy in the earlier cases, didn’t immediately return messages from the AP requesting comment Thursday. An attorney who previously worked with Murphy said in 2022 that Murphy offered “appropriate” medical procedures but “nothing that was ever of a sexual nature.”
N.C. State didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Yow declined to comment, deferring to N.C. State, in a text message to the AP on Thursday morning.
New York
Grand jury indicts man accused of threatening to kill federal judges
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who has filed several lawsuits that were deemed frivolous has been indicted on charges he threatened to kill two judges who had presided over some of his cases.
A federal grand jury issued the indictment against Anthony Salvatore Perri this week in the Eastern District of New York. He called the judges’ chambers and left graphic voicemails, federal prosecutors said.
Perri, who has a lengthy criminal history, has filed nearly a dozen lawsuits since 2006, representing himself in each case, and nearly all were summarily dismissed. The defendants he sued include a New York City police commissioner, former President Barack Obama and the entire Eastern District court.
Perri was arrested in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15 and was returned to New York, where he remains jailed. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Charles Millioen, a federal public defender who is representing Perri in this case, declined to comment Wednesday.
