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Florida Man Is Arrested in 2014 Murder of Law Professor Florida Man Is Arrested in 2014 Murder of Law Professor
(about 1 hour later)
The police in Florida have arrested and charged a man in connection with the murder of an internationally known criminal-law professor in 2014. The police in Florida have arrested a man in connection with the killing of an internationally known criminal-law professor in 2014.
The suspect, Sigfredo Garcia, 34, was arrested on Wednesday night by the Hallandale Beach Police Department in Broward County based on a warrant connected to the killing of the professor, Dan Markel, 41, the Tallahassee Police Department said on Thursday. The suspect, Sigfredo Garcia, 34, was arrested on Wednesday night by the Hallandale Beach Police Department in Broward County based on a homicide warrant in the killing of the professor, Dan Markel, 41, the Tallahassee Police Department said on Thursday.
Mr. Markel was a professor at the Florida State University College of Law and a leader in the world of online legal scholarship.Mr. Markel was a professor at the Florida State University College of Law and a leader in the world of online legal scholarship.
Mr. Garcia was arrested at a gas station in Hallandale Beach, just north of Miami, according to a spokeswoman for the department, Maj. Sonia Quinones. The suspect, who has a Miami Beach address, was also charged with cocaine possession, a police affidavit said.Mr. Garcia was arrested at a gas station in Hallandale Beach, just north of Miami, according to a spokeswoman for the department, Maj. Sonia Quinones. The suspect, who has a Miami Beach address, was also charged with cocaine possession, a police affidavit said.
The police said investigators had sifted through hundreds of leads from a hotline that was set up after Mr. Markel was shot in the head while he was in the driveway of his house in an upscale neighborhood of Tallahassee, the state capital, in July 2014. He died the next day at a hospital.The police said investigators had sifted through hundreds of leads from a hotline that was set up after Mr. Markel was shot in the head while he was in the driveway of his house in an upscale neighborhood of Tallahassee, the state capital, in July 2014. He died the next day at a hospital.
At the time, the department said that there was no indication of a robbery and that “it appears at this time that Mr. Markel was the intended victim in this incident.” At the time, the department said that there had been no indication of a robbery. It was not immediately clear Thursday if there would be more arrests, and the police did not discuss a motive.
“This is still an active criminal investigation,” Chief Michael DeLeo of the Tallahassee police said in a news conference on Thursday. “We are not finished yet.” “This is still an active criminal investigation,” Chief Michael DeLeo of the Tallahassee police said at a news conference on Thursday. “We are not finished yet.”
The Tallahassee Democrat, citing records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, reported that Mr. Garcia had been arrested at least 22 times in Florida. His first arrest, for vehicle theft, happened in Miami in 1997, just before his 15th birthday. Chief DeLeo said Professor Markel’s murder had “struck a deep chord within this community that resonated around the country.”
Mr. Garcia had been arrested at least 22 times in Florida, according to The Tallahassee Democrat, citing records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. His first arrest, for vehicle theft, occurred in Miami in 1997, just before his 15th birthday.
He was arrested several other times as a teenager and as an adult, with charges that included aggravated assault with a weapon, criminal mischief, possession of cocaine and marijuana, and strong arm robbery, the records showed.He was arrested several other times as a teenager and as an adult, with charges that included aggravated assault with a weapon, criminal mischief, possession of cocaine and marijuana, and strong arm robbery, the records showed.
At the law school, where Mr. Markel was the D’Alemberte professor of law, Dean Donald J. Weidner issued a statement in 2014 saying, “His contributions to the law school and broader legal community were pervasive and lasting.” Mr. Garcia was being held Thursday in jail until he could be taken to Leon County to face the murder charges, said Kristi Grimm, an assistant in the court’s media office. The circuit court judge there, Jonathan Sjostrom, has ordered the affidavit of probable cause to be sealed.
But Mr. Garcia appeared before Judge Mary Rudd Robinson in Broward County on Thursday on the cocaine-possession charges, Ms. Grimm said. When asked by the judge if he had known of the warrant for his arrest, Mr. Garcia replied, “No,” The Tallahassee Democrat reported. He said he had met Wednesday with a lawyer.
At the law school, where Professor Markel was the D’Alemberte professor of law, Dean Donald J. Weidner issued a statement in 2014 saying, “His contributions to the law school and broader legal community were pervasive and lasting.”
Professor Markel’s influence was felt far beyond Tallahassee, said Wayne A. Logan, another professor at the school.Professor Markel’s influence was felt far beyond Tallahassee, said Wayne A. Logan, another professor at the school.
“In a really true sense he was a faculty member of the nation’s law schools — he reached out to so many people and so generously gave of his time and energy,” he said.“In a really true sense he was a faculty member of the nation’s law schools — he reached out to so many people and so generously gave of his time and energy,” he said.
Mr. Garcia appeared before Judge Mary Rudd Robinson of Broward County on Thursday, the Democrat reported. When asked by the judge if he knew he had a warrant for his arrest, Mr. Garcia replied “no.” He said he met Wednesday with an attorney, whose name he could not remember during his first appearance. Professor Markel helped build a network of legal scholarship and was a founder of PrawfsBlawg, which describes itself as being about “topics related to law and life.”
After his death in 2014, 10 professors signed a statement mourning him on the blog, saying his death had reverberated internationally.
On Thursday, a blog post there simply noted the police announcement of Mr. Garcia’s arrest. But it said there would be nothing further. “We have written very little here about Dan’s death (as opposed to about Dan himself) to avoid the speculation,” it said in part.
Professor Markel was raised in Toronto and studied politics and philosophy as an undergraduate at Harvard. He undertook graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Cambridge before getting a law degree at Harvard. He had also been a scholar in residence at New York University’s Law School, and spent much of his time in New York.
Along with writing dozens of academic articles and popular essays in publications such as Slate, The Atlantic and The New York Times, he was an author of a 2009 book, “Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties.”
Last year, he was divorced from Wendi Jill Adelson, a clinical professor at Florida State law school’s public interest center. The couple had two boys.