We have some unfortunate news to report out of Florida, where a promising young law student was killed in a small plane crash on Christmas Eve.
Peter Worthington Jr., 27, was a third-year student at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. This past June, he married Victoria Shannon-Worthington, 26, who was also killed in the crash. Worthington’s father-in-law, 70-year-old attorney John Shannon, was piloting the plane when it crashed. Five people lost their lives in the fatal accident.
The Baltimore Sun has additional information on the crash:

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Shannon had filed a flight plan to fly Sunday from Bartow to Key West. The plane took off around 7:15 a.m., flying east into heavy fog, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“For unknown reasons, but likely related to the fog, it crashed shortly after takeoff,” the statement read. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration will further investigate the cause of the crash.
A fire engulfed the plane after it crashed; everyone on board died.
“This is a tragedy any time, but it is so much worse because it happened on Christmas Eve,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.

Peter Worthington Jr.
According to Worthington’s LinkedIn profile, he was a student attorney at Maryland Law’s Intellectual Property Law Clinic, as well as the co-owner of Bay Central Media, a company that produces videos for Baltimore’s small business community. A family friend said that he “made a difference,” and that it was “people like him that spread the cheer.”
Dean Donald B. Tobin of Maryland Law released this statement after receiving word of Worthington’s death:

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Words cannot properly express the sadness felt by the Maryland Carey Law community and everyone at the University of Maryland, Baltimore over the loss of Peter Worthington, a third year law student. Our hearts and prayers go out to his friends and family and also to the friends and family of those who died with him in this terrible crash. He was a tremendous contributor to our community, and he will be terribly missed.
We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Peter Worthington Jr.’s family, friends, and colleagues during this extremely difficult time.
Baltimore couple — a teacher and law student — killed in Florida plane crash [Baltimore Sun]
Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.