TALLAHASSEE — A judge has denied a request for a new trial for the South Florida matriarch who was convicted in the hired killing of her former son-in-law. Donna Adelson is facing a life sentence for her role in the 2014 murder-for-hire of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel .

Earlier this month, jurors returned guilty verdicts in Adelson’s weekslong trial on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation.

In a Sept. 25 order, Circuit Judge Stephen Everett rejected Adelson’s attorneys’ arguments that the verdicts weren’t legally justified and that prosecutors relied on speculation and inference to build their case.

Defense attorneys Joshua Zelman and Jackie Fulford had also taken issue with two jurors sharing their stories publicly after the trial

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