Dan Markel

Daniel Eric Markel (October 9, 1972 – July 19, 2014) was a Canadian-born attorney and a law professor, who wrote various works on retribution in criminal law and sentencing, with a focus on the role of punishment in the criminal justice system. A native of Toronto, he earned a J.D. degree from Harvard University in 2001 and after working as a law clerk to a federal judge and as an associate at a law firm, joined the faculty of Florida State University in 2005.

Markel was killed in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2014, in a murder for hire motivated by child custody issues following Markel's divorce from Wendi Adelson, a clinical law professor and child advocate also employed at Florida State University at the time. Wendi Adelson has not been charged, but she has been named, together with her brother Charlie and mother Donna, as "conspirators" in the killing. Four individuals have been convicted in the case. Luis Rivera pled guilty to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Sigfredo Garcia was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and sentenced to life in prison. After a mistrial was declared in her original trial, Katherine Magbanua was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder in her retrial; she was sentenced to life in prison plus two consecutive 30-year sentences. Charlie Adelson, Wendi Adelson's brother, was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. On Tuesday, December 12, 2023, Charlie Adelson was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder plus an additional 30 years each for the conspiracy and solicitation convictions. Donna Adelson, Markel's former mother-in-law, was arrested at the Miami International Airport on a warrant from Leon County, apparently trying to flee to Vietnam, a country with no extradition treaty with the U.S. She is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. Her trial is set for September 17, 2024. Provided by Wikipedia