criminal justice

The Florida Department of Corrections is asking state legislators to increase its budget so it can address long-standing issues with the treatment of correctional officers and prisoners.

A vote to create a new marijuana civil citation program in Leon County failed in a tie Tuesday. One of the commissioners dialed into the meeting and local rules say a caller can’t break a tied vote.

Jurors have recommended life without parole for Sigfredo Garcia, the man convicted of killing former Florida State University law professor Dan Markel.

Leon County commissioners are looking into a plan to give people more leniency when they’re caught with small amounts of marijuana. The commission will take up a draft civil citation ordinance during its meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Jurors are now weighing a decision in the murder trial for former Florida State University Professor Dan Markel. State Attorney Georgia Cappleman and defense attorney Chris DeCoste went head to head during the closing remarks. 

Closing arguments are being heard in the Dan Markel murder trial.

The FSU law professor was shot to death in the garage of his midtown Tallahassee home five years ago.

Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman spent the morning laying out a case against Markel’s former in-laws and their connection to the defendants, Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua.

“It’s relevant for you to understand the role all these people played, the motive for this crime, in order for make a determination about the guilt of the two folks who are on trial here today," she told jurors.

Defense attorneys are picking apart the state’s evidence in the trial for the two people accused of murdering Florida State University Law Professor Dan Markel in 2014.  The attorney for one of the defendants says say their client wasn't involved, and that the state has unfairly cherry-picked evidence in the case.

Prosecutors in the murder trial for Florida State University law Professor Dan Markel say his former in-laws and the people accused of the slaying discussed the plot in code across a series of text messages and phone calls.

A Leon County jury heard testimony about cell phone calls and bank records as the murder trial for a slain Florida State University law professor continued on its 6th day. 

Luis Rivera testified for two days in the murder trial for Florida State University Dan Markel. He’s pled guilty to murder in exchange for a 19-year sentence in the case.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis maintains suspended Broward Sheriff Scott Israel failed in his department’s response to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. This, despite a recent ruling by a special master that says DeSantis didn’t prove Israel’s policies and training were inconsistent with state law enforcement standards.

As Florida continues battling an opioid abuse crisis, another, largely forgotten drug has ramped up in North Florida—meth. Its low cost and relative ease of access, is making it harder for local law enforcement agencies to control.

Tallahassee Police says 53 guns were stolen from cars over the past 2-and-a-half months.  Most of those cars were unlocked, and police officers say the majority of those guns were likely stolen by teens.