IT’S COMPLICATED

Florida Jury Convicts Hitman in Florida State University Professor Murder, Lets Girlfriend Go

The jury convicted Sigfredo Garcia of carrying out a hit on FSU professor Daniel Markel paid for by his former in-laws, but declared a mistrial on Garcia’s long-time girlfriend.

A Miami court delivered a guilty verdict for first-degree murder to Sigfredo Garcia for carrying out a paid hit in 2014 on Florida State University professor Daniel Markel, but failed to agree on whether Garcia’s long-time girlfriend was in on the plan. The professor’s former in-laws were suspected of paying Garcia and his girlfriend Katherine Magbanua $100,000 in cash and gifts to kill Markel so his ex-wife Wendi Adelson could relocate with the couple’s children. The Miami Herald reports that the court suspected Garcia and Magbunua of conspiring with Luis Rivera, head of North Miami’s Latin Kings gang, who is a close friend of Garcia and who is serving time for racketeering. Prosecutors argued that Adelson’s family promised to pay the money but that they did not have enough hard evidence to charge them officially. Garcia will be sentenced next week.