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Emotional trial in Keys ends with young man guilty of killing brother, attacking father

Two men dressed in suits are sat looking at each other.
Mark Heddon
Attorney Ed O'Donnell, left, and Daniel Weisberger, right, on Jan. 23, 2025.

A state judge on Thursday found an Upper Florida Keys man guilty of killing his younger brother and attacking — and gravely injuring — his father four years ago.

The verdict concluded a seven-day trial in Key West that at times left the courtroom in tears.
 
Defense attorneys had hoped to convince Circuit Judge Mark Jones that Daniel Weisberger was schizophrenic and not guilty by reason of insanity when he fatally stabbed his younger brother Pascal on May 7, 2020, as he slept in the bedroom they shared. Weisberger's defense team, instead, hoped to get him committed for treatment.
 
Weisberger was 17 at the time of the murder. He’d been diagnosed with various neurological and mental disorders, beginning when he was four and had been in and out of treatment centers and arrested three times, according to testimony.

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After the attacks, Weisberger was diagnosed with schizophrenia. But the State Attorney's Office disputed the diagnosis, saying past mental health records showed no sign of psychosis which could have hinted at schizophrenia, a disorder that meets the legal threshold for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Instead, a psychologist hired by the state concluded he had a conduct disorder.

"Daniel had delusions. He still does. He's still hearing voices," Ed O’Donnell, one of Weisberger’s defense attorneys, told WLRN. "Probably will for the rest of his life."

O'Donnell also noted that successful insanity defenses are rare.

"Hopefully, through the system, he'll get the help he needs." O'Donnell told WLRN.
 
For the past four years, the boys’ father, Ariel Poholek, has struggled to get Weisberger help. He fought to defend him while organizing runs, beach clean-ups and other events in Pascal’s memory.
 
"This is not justice for Pascal, and it's certainly not for Daniel," Poholek said. "And it's not for me either."

Weisberger was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his brother and guilty of first-degree pre-meditated attempted murder in connection with the attack on his father.
 
Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward declined to comment.

Weisberger is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27.

Jenny Staletovich is WLRN's Environment Editor. She has been a journalist working in Florida for nearly 20 years. Contact Jenny at jstaletovich@wlrnnews.org
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