In a case sending shockwaves through Florida’s legal community, a 75-year-old grandmother has gone on trial, accused of masterminding a murder-for-hire plot that left her former son-in-law dead.
At the heart of the case is a bitter divorce and custody battle. The victim, a respected law professor, found himself in conflict with his ex-wife and her family—particularly when a judge denied her petition to move to their home state with their children. Prosecutors claim the grandmother orchestrated the crime so her daughter and grandchildren could relocate closer to home.
This trial builds on a long legal saga. In a related case, the grandmother’s son—an established dentist—was convicted for his involvement in the same murder plot. Other adults, including a former girlfriend and two hired killers, have also already served lengthy prison sentences.
Authorities say the accused was detained at Miami International Airport while attempting to flee to Vietnam, a country that doesn’t allow extraditions to the U.S. Her dramatic arrest only intensified the public’s attention on the case.
Inside the Tallahassee courtroom, jurors will weigh motives, messages, and behavior to determine her guilt. Prosecutors are expected to paint a picture of a calculating matriarch willing to destroy a life to “rescue” her granddaughter’s future. The defense, however, counters with a narrative of a grieving grandmother wrongly accused, asserting there’s no direct evidence she ordered the killing.
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