Paul L. Caron
Dean





Monday, November 4, 2019

Latest Developments In The Dan Markel Murder Case

  • Markel SuspectsThe jury voted 10-2 to convict Katherine Magbanua of first-degree murder, resulting in the mistrial
  • Katherine Magbanua retrial begins April 13 (pretrial conferences on March 17 and April 9)
  • Sigfredo Garcia is transferred to state prison and vows to exhaust every appeal of his murder conviction and life sentence: "“I plan on fighting this with every breath I have. I’m going to start with my direct appeal and continue exhausting every appeal in the book until they get so tired of seeing me they’ll give up and free me.”
  • Law Profs react to the jury's verdict: Paul Horwitz (Alabama), Orin Kerr (UC-Berkeley), Jason Solomon (Stanford), Howard Wasserman (Florida International)

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/11/the-latest-developments-in-the-dan-markel-murder-case.html

Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Comments

Almost all questions about the trial can be answered with two short averments: Sigfredo Garcia's attorney came off like an LCN thug. The lead prosecutor was clueless and inept throughout the trial, but especially in closing.

Posted by: Diogenes | Nov 8, 2019 12:45:11 PM

An attorney of my acquaintance once told me, "You don't convince a jury. The jury makes up its mind in five minutes. Your job, as a lawyer, is to give your side on the jury the arguments they can use to defeat the other side". Aside from Rivera's testimony, there was ample electronic evidence contra Sigfredo Garcia plus disinterested eyewitnesses. I'd be fascinated to know why a bloc of jurors 'didn't think he was guilty' at the beginning of deliberations. The defense was quite fortunate from the luck of the draw (or just much better at voir dire).

Posted by: Art Deco | Nov 4, 2019 9:41:05 AM