Crime, Law Schools

The Dan Markel Case: Now A Top Podcast

If you've been following the investigation into this leading law professor's murder, you will want to tune in.

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This June, assuming no further delays (by no means guaranteed in this case), Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua will finally go on trial for the murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. This July, five long years will have passed since Markel’s killing.

I’m continuing to monitor the case, but there hasn’t been much to report lately. The most recent news is that Georgia Cappleman, the prosecutor who has been working on the Markel case for years, will be staying put in Leon County, despite the previously floated possibility of her being tapped to lead the State Attorney’s office in Gadsden County. This is good news, given Cappleman’s longstanding involvement in, and deep knowledge of, the case.

Even if the transfer to Gadsden County had gone through, it seems that Cappleman wouldn’t have left Leon County before the conclusion of this summer’s trial. But her remaining in Leon County is still good news in terms of the Markel case, at least in my view, because I suspect that the Magbanua and Garcia trials won’t be the final proceedings in this matter. So if other individuals are indicted and tried for Markel’s murder, Cappleman will be available for those cases as well.

While you wait for more developments, check out Over My Dead Body (“OMDB”), the new podcast about the Markel case from Wondery, the folks behind past true-crime podcast hits like Dr. Death and Dirty John. OMDB launched earlier this week — and quickly shot to the top of the podcast charts:

I’m not an unbiased source, having been interviewed extensively for the podcast, but in my opinion (after listening to the first three episodes out of six), OMDB is excellent and well worth your time.

Host Matthew Shaer, a longtime magazine journalist who last year wrote an acclaimed New York Times Magazine profile of high-flying lawyer turned Trump antagonist Michael Avenatti, applied his formidable reporting and writing skills to the Markel case. The result is, in my view, the most engaging and thorough treatment of the Dan Markel case to date. You can access Over My Dead Body through the Wondery website or your podcast purveyor of choice.

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P.S. Speaking of great podcasts and Michael Avenatti, if you haven’t done so already, check out the latest episode of Thinking Like A Lawyer, where my colleagues Elie Mystal and Joe Patrice interview the man himself. Avenatti was selected by Above the Law readers as 2018’s Lawyer of the Year — and in this wide-ranging, no-holds-barred interview, he shows himself worthy of the honor.

Over My Dead Body [official website]
Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman staying put in Leon County [Tallahassee Democrat]

DBL square headshotDavid Lat is editor at large and founding editor of Above the Law, as well as the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

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