Dan Markel Murder Update: Tallahassee PD: Killing was Not a Robbery, but a Premeditated Murder by Someone Who Knew Him; TPD Tip Line: 850-891-4462

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Some genius is going to point out that the TPD spokesman, Officer David Northway, didn’t say “premeditated murder,” or even “murder,” but “homicide.”

The term “homicide” is next to meaningless in this context. All it means is that one person killed another. Homicide is not necessarily a crime. People perpetually confound “homicide” with murder, and with good reason. The authorities speak of “homicide,” and the men assigned to solve them are called “homicide detectives,” not murder detectives. Logically, a policeman must investigate all homicides, nay, all deaths, to determine which ones are homicides and, within that class, which homicides are murders.

If you lawfully (obeying all traffic statutes and regulations) driving a vehicle, and a child suddenly darts into your path, you are unable to avoid hitting the child, and he dies as a result of your hitting him, that’s homicide, but it’s not a crime. It’s an accidental death. If, however, you were driving while intoxicated, or while speeding, running a red light or stop sign, and/or while distracted while texting or talking on a cellphone, it’s also homicide, but it’s a crime, e.g., vehicular manslaughter.

All that the term “homicide” means is that Dan Markel did not commit suicide or accidentally shoot himself to death. However, TPD spokesman Officer Northway also said that Markel was not killed in the course of a robbery or burglary, that the killing was “not random” (a code phrase for your standard, racially motivated, black-on-white murder), and that he was “the target.” “Homicide” + personally targeted = that he was victim of a planned murder, i.e., premeditated murder by someone who knew him. That would likely mean that Markel’s killer knocked on his door or rang his bell, Markel saw the person, and opened the door for him. Bang!

(TPD Chief Michael DeLeo later clarified matters, by calling the incident a “murder,” and saying that Dan Markel was “the intended victim.”)

Although the TPD has denied having a suspect, it almost certainly does have one, but doesn’t want to alert him, for understandable fear he will then flee justice.

In your typical “random” murder, a black shoots and kills a white (or Arab or Asian), and flees without taking anything. After the fact, the police and MSM invent a scenario, where the murder was a “robbery gone wrong.” However, there is no evidence of the black killer having attempted to rob his white (or Arab or Asian) victim. The just-so story of a “robbery gone wrong” is used, as a diversion tactic, with which to fool the white public. (The black public knows better.)

Considering that for the previous 3-4 weeks, Markel’s neighborhood had been deluged with black, Trayvon Martin-style criminals, the first hunch that would come to a rational investigator’s mind would be a black-on-white (“random”) murder.

That the TPD denies that the murder was of such character is due to its detectives and bosses having formulated an alternative theory. We will have to wait and see what that theory is, and on what it is based.
 

TPD says Dan Markel shooting appears to be a homicide

By Sean Rossman 

2:45 p.m. EDT July 21, 2014

  Tallahassee Democrat (Gannett) 

Dan Markel (Photo: Florida State University College of Law)

11:20 a.m. update

Tallahassee Police Department investigators say the fatal shooting of law professor Daniel Markel in his Betton Hills home was not "a random act" or connected with any burglary or robbery.

TPD Chief Michael DeLeo, in a news release issued this morning, called the shooting a "murder."

Markel, 41, was found shot Friday morning in his home in the 2100 block of Trescott Drive. He later died from his injuries.

"Neighborhood residents should continue to be vigilant," the release said, "but it appears at this time that Mr. Markel was the intended victim of this incident."

TPD has created a tip line dedicated to the Markel investigation. The number is 850-891-4462. The phone line is recorded only and callers are asked to leave a message with as much information as possible. Citizens can also call Crime Stoppers at 850-574-TIPS.

In an attempt to locate potential witnesses, TPD is asking for anyone who might have been in the area of the shooting between 10 a.m. and noon Friday to call the tip line. TPD is specifically asking for any delivery drivers, pedestrians or visitors to call in if they have any information.

"TPD will work tirelessly to follow up on all leads and evidence in this case," DeLeo said, "and our thoughts and prayers are with the Markel family as they endure this terrible tragedy. My investigators will do everything they can to see those responsible for this murder are brought to justice." [End of July 21 update; the rest of this item is reprinted verbatim from a previous article which I re-posted last night.]

Morning update

Dan Markel's neighbor on Trescott Drive heard a "loud bang" Friday morning. Minutes later, Markel, 41, would be rushed to the hospital, and in the early hours of Saturday, the prominent legal scholar was dead.

That's about all the shocked residents of the quiet Betton Hills neighborhood know two days after the shooting death of the well-known professor at the Florida State University College of Law. The Tallahassee Police Department has released little information on the circumstances surrounding his death and haven't identified any suspects, according to Tenitris McInnis, TPD spokeswoman. Just before midnight Saturday TPD acknowledged Markel died, hours after media reported it and the FSU College of Law sent an email to students and faculty.  

Questions remain in death of prominent FSU professor Dan Markel

About 11 a.m Friday, police were called to Markel's home in the 2100 block of Trescott Drive, responding to a "shooting incident," McInnis said. There they found Markel with a gunshot wound. McInnis said Saturday TPD's Violent Crimes Unit is working the case as a homicide after calling it an "unattended incident" Friday. Typically, TPD begins working all deaths without witnesses as if they are a homicide until evidence proves otherwise. TPD did not respond to Democrat inquiries on Sunday.

Tallahassee Police, as a matter of policy, release little information about active and ongoing investigations. State law gives law enforcement wide discretion in how much information it releases on active cases and TPD typically sticks to minimum requirements of naming victims, addresses and the crime being investigated.

RELATED LINK: FSU law professor dies in shooting

A shortage of details, however, has not diminished speculation of the criminal law professor's death. Neighbors frustrated about a lack of information have taken to social media to speculate and share concerns. Many say they just want to know whether they should be worried

"The rumors are all over the map and the whole neighborhood is frustrated," said Markel's neighbor, Tallahassee attorney Reggie Garcia. "There's just radio silence from law enforcement, which could be strategic or it could be they don't know anything."

Garcia said investigators were still in front of the house Saturday morning. On Sunday, the street was quiet. Markel's home is about a half mile north of Betton Road. A Spanish Oak tree bends over the driveway. No curtains hang in a large window facing the street and a garbage can is pushed up next to the mailbox. On a table next to the front door there is children's sidewalk chalk, a tennis ball, a pumpkin and a pair of sunglasses.

Garcia, an expert on clemency and parole cases, spoke to one of Markel's classes in February. Markel, who has two young sons aged 3 and 5, was a "fun, laid back guy," he said.

"The whole thing's got everyone shocked," Garcia said.

The Betton Hills Neighborhood Facebook page has been busy with activity since Friday. Many expressed frustration with TPD, saying they haven't been getting the answers they need.

"We don't want to compromise the investigation," said Lee Avirett, who has lived in the Betton Hills neighborhood for 35 years. "Do we need to be more on our guard than normal? We just need a little information."

Garcia says in the past three to four weeks there have been multiple burglaries in Betton Hills. His own house was burglarized in 2009. Avirett said his area of Lee Avenue has seen a string of break-ins and home burglaries as well, with groups of two or three people wandering around neighborhoods attempting to break into cars and homes.

TPD and the Leon County Sheriff's Office worked hundreds of "car hopping" burglaries in several northeast Tallahassee neighborhoods earlier this year. Car hopping often involves groups of people wandering through neighborhoods like Killearn Estates, Eastgate and Hillsgate Court pulling on car door handles in order to either steal the car or take what's inside. TPD and LCSO made numerous arrests in these cases.

But Markel's death brings with it a heightened degree of concern.

Dan Markel's house at 2116 Trescott Drive where he was fatally shot Friday morning.(Photo: Sean Rossman/Democrat)

" There's a question of public safety first. Is there still a threat out there?" Garcia asked. "To go from burglaries to an apparent murder in the middle of a Friday, that's a big jump, in supposedly a good neighborhood."

John Calhoun and his family slowed their SUV as they drove by the home Sunday.

"There's a lot of rumors," he said. "The lack of information has been sort of frustrating. Was it a burglary? Was it a home invasion? Was it something more sinister than that?" Calhoun asked.

Tributes to Markel continued Sunday with posts in the Washington Post and various legal blogs from people who considered Markel a mentor and friend. His own blog, prawfsblawg, paid tribute to him as well.

Markel, who earned his bachelor's and law degree from Harvard University, was married to Wendi Adelson, also a Florida State faculty member. The two were in the middle of divorce proceedings at the time of Markel's death, according to the Leon County Clerk of Court. The most recent court date was July 1.

Adelson, 35, is the director of the Medical-Legal Partnership with the FSU College of Law Public Interest Law Center. She previously directed the Human Rights and Immigration Law Project at FSU's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. She, like Markel, earned a master's degree from the University of Cambridge, before getting her law degree at the University of Miami School of Law in 2006.