Crime, Law Schools, Murder

Law Student Arrested On Murder And Arson Charges

Another lawyer's career may be over before it even started.

By  
on

According to news reports, another lawyer’s career may be over before it even started.

As we mentioned earlier today, on Tuesday evening, a Texas law student was arrested on some very serious charges: attempted murder and arson. The warrants stemmed from a single incident that allegedly occurred in Louisiana.

Details on the crime are scant at this point, but we do know where the accused goes — or perhaps went — to law school…

According to a report from the San Antonio Express-News, Matthew Edward Alexander, a rising second-year student at St. Mary’s School of Law, was arrested on Tuesday night, as he was leaving a summer class, for two counts of attempted second-degree murder, one count of arson, and one count of aggravated arson.

Here’s some additional information from the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, where Alexander is currently being held without bond, and awaiting his extradition to Louisiana (click to enlarge):

Sponsored

This report from FOX San Antonio is one of the first that contains details about the crime Alexander is accused of committing. If true, it makes you wonder about the kind of people you go to law school with:

Although Alexander was arrested in San Antonio, investigators said the crime happened nearly 500 miles away in Monroe, Louisiana. Sheriff deputies in Louisiana said Alexander set a trailer home on fire with two people inside, then came back to San Antonio to prepare for his second year of law school.

We reached out to St. Mary’s Law for comment on the arrest of one of its students, but have yet to hear back. In the meantime, a campus spokesperson told the Express-News that the university was “evaluating Alexander’s status as a student,” and told FOX that Alexander would not be “permitted back on campus until all of this is resolved.” Will he be dismissed from school? At this point, your guess is as good as ours.

This gives all of the “known arsonist” questions on the bar exam a whole new spin, don’t you think?

UPDATE (2:00 p.m.): A spokesperson for St. Mary’s Law emailed us in response to our questions of whether Alexander would be permitted to return to school, and what the school would be doing regarding student safety concerns, if so:

Sponsored

The suspect is being held without bond and will be extradited to Louisiana, so there is currently no safety concern for the campus community. The University is gathering the facts and will make a determination as soon as possible.

If you have any information about Matthew Edward Alexander or St. Mary’s Law’s reaction to the news that you’d like to share, please feel free to reach out to us, via email or text message (646-820-8477).

St. Mary’s law student arrested on Louisiana murder charges [San Antonio Express-News]
St. Mary’s Law Student Arrested Accused of Murder, Arson [FOX San Antonio]

Topics

, , , , , , ,