Latest / NO FILTER / It All Started With One Bad Grade_ The Murder of Dr Thomas Meixner [True Crime Documentary](MP3_160K)

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It All Started With One Bad Grade_ The Murder of Dr Thomas Meixner [True Crime Documentary](MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

0:00
Speaker 1: On October fifth, twenty twenty two, a man wearing a
0:04
Speaker 1: surgical mask and a baseball cap entered the John W.
0:07
Speaker 1: Harshberger Building at the University of Arizona armed with a handgun.
0:12
Speaker 1: The gunman traveled to campus that day with four targets
0:16
Speaker 1: in mind. He found one before fleeing the bloody scene
0:21
Speaker 1: and heading for Mexico. The gunman had let loose inside
0:24
Speaker 1: the building, threatening the lives of everyone present and killing
0:28
Speaker 1: one a beloved professor.
0:36
Speaker 2: At full ledge.
0:42
Speaker 1: Hi there, I'm Kevin, and welcome to just Lot Lounge.
0:46
Speaker 1: Today's case is disturbing. One of the most unsettling aspects
0:50
Speaker 1: of the story is how many people were not the
0:52
Speaker 1: least bit surprised that the circumstances culminated in this terrifying
0:57
Speaker 1: and tragic incident. The person at least shocked by the
1:00
Speaker 1: murder was the victim himself. Let's take a look. The
1:17
Speaker 1: University of Arizona's main campus sits on over three hundred
1:20
Speaker 1: and fifty acres of land in Tucson. The university is
1:24
Speaker 1: staffed by over five hundred professors, teaching over forty thousand
1:28
Speaker 1: undergraduates and ten thousand graduate students. The afternoon of Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: October five, twenty twenty two, was in many ways a
1:36
Speaker 1: standard day on campus. The false semester was in full
1:40
Speaker 1: swing and the Arizona Sun was providing beautiful weather. The
1:46
Speaker 1: department staffed with self proclaimed weather nerds. The Hydrology and
1:50
Speaker 1: Atmospheric Sciences department is located in the John W. Harshberger Building.
1:56
Speaker 1: At just before two pm that October day, physical scientists
2:00
Speaker 1: to Kayla McCauley, was in the building when she spotted
2:03
Speaker 1: an individual whom she knew was banned from campus. The
2:07
Speaker 1: masked figure was walking the hallway and looking in the offices.
2:12
Speaker 1: Thinking quickly, Kayla, along with Associate Professor Martha Whittaker, locked
2:17
Speaker 1: themselves into a neighboring office, turned off the lights, and
2:20
Speaker 1: hid under a desk. Then doctor Whittaker called nine one one.
2:30
Speaker 1: MASH Police were dispatched to the building at two o
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Speaker 1: four pm, but only one minute later, faculty in the
2:45
Speaker 1: Harshburger Building heard gunshots. The head of the department, doctor
2:50
Speaker 1: Thomas Meisner, had been shot. Multiple calls were placed to
2:54
Speaker 1: nine one one at that time, initially causing some confusion
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Speaker 1: as to whether there had been more than one shooting
3:00
Speaker 1: on campus.
3:03
Speaker 3: I don't have a start.
3:26
Speaker 2: What is his name?
3:31
Speaker 1: The response from law enforcement had been rapid, but it
3:34
Speaker 1: wasn't quick enough. While medical personnel treated to Tom Mike
3:38
Speaker 1: Sner and rushed him off to the hospital to some
3:40
Speaker 1: police combed the building, followed by the wider area looking
3:44
Speaker 1: for the shooter. Students were issued a text message to
3:48
Speaker 1: leave campus. At that time, it was unclear if the
3:52
Speaker 1: shooter remained nearby.
4:00
Speaker 4: He's still sub Victoria oversistering short a head of department.
4:07
Speaker 1: An officer's dash cam caught the van driven by the
4:09
Speaker 1: gunmen as they entered the scene, of course, unaware that
4:13
Speaker 1: they were passing the suspect's vehicle. The van then drove off.
4:18
Speaker 1: The shooter, who was known by multiple witnesses to the incident,
4:22
Speaker 1: was identified as forty six year old Murad Dervish, a
4:26
Speaker 1: former graduate level pupil in the department who had been
4:29
Speaker 1: fired as a teacher's assistant, expelled as a student, and
4:33
Speaker 1: then banned from the campus. He had a track down
4:36
Speaker 1: the head of the department, gunned him down and fled
4:40
Speaker 1: the scene. Professor Tom Meikesner was declared dead shortly after
4:47
Speaker 1: arriving at the hospital. The gunman had fired no less
4:50
Speaker 1: than eleven times. Five of the hollow point projectiles hit
4:54
Speaker 1: the professor, which expanded upon impact, causing severe damage. Search
5:00
Speaker 1: specialist Tim Corley was one of the individuals who spotted
5:04
Speaker 1: Maurd Dervish in the hydrology building before the shots were fired.
5:08
Speaker 1: He had called out to the other staff to call
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Speaker 1: nine one one. Soon after he heard the gunshots, saw
5:15
Speaker 1: Tom run down the hallway, where he was pushed into
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Speaker 1: an office door by Dervish there. According to Tim, Tom
5:23
Speaker 1: was shot again in the office where Tom was pushed.
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Speaker 1: Executive assistant Irma Santander had been working. Irma was not
5:31
Speaker 1: injured by the gunfire, though Tim was struck in the leg.
5:35
Speaker 1: The last words they heard Tom speak before losing consciousness
5:39
Speaker 1: were directed to Murad Dervish. Cursing at his attacker, he said, fucker,
5:44
Speaker 1: I knew you were gonna no one, it seems was
5:48
Speaker 1: surprised that things had escalated to murder. In his fifty
5:54
Speaker 1: two years, Tom Mekesner had a lot to be proud of,
5:57
Speaker 1: but he was not a boastful man. Perhaps his greatest
6:01
Speaker 1: achievement was his family. Tom was known as a sweet
6:04
Speaker 1: and thoughtful husband to wife Kathleen and a loving father
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Speaker 1: to his two sons. He was also described as a
6:11
Speaker 1: brilliant and inquisitive scientist. Tom had beaten cancer four times.
6:17
Speaker 1: His loss was a huge blow not only to his family, friends,
6:21
Speaker 1: and the university, but the wider community. With a water
6:25
Speaker 1: crisis declared due to shortages from the Colorado River. Colleagues
6:29
Speaker 1: remarked how the professor's knowledge and expertise was a devastating
6:33
Speaker 1: loss to the whole state. Murad's van was captured leaving
6:41
Speaker 1: campus driving aggressively. He began driving towards California before making
6:47
Speaker 1: a turn south towards the Mexican border. Law enforcement tracked
6:51
Speaker 1: him three hours later, driving on Arizona State Road eighty five,
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Speaker 1: more than one hundred and twenty miles northwest of Tucson.
7:00
Speaker 1: Refusing to pull over, they used a pit maneuver to
7:03
Speaker 1: spin his vehicle and force a stop. The forty six
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Speaker 1: year old ex graduate student was apprehended and brought into custody.
7:10
Speaker 5: Our custody time today is seventeen ten hours, and it
7:13
Speaker 5: was the Department of Public Safety that took the suspect
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Speaker 5: into custody after a traffic stop just outside he La Ben, Arizona.
7:21
Speaker 1: Paula Balafass, the university police chief briefed the media after
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Speaker 1: the shooting. She seemed oblivious to the widespread fear of
7:29
Speaker 1: Marada Dervish in the hydrology department, which had existed for months.
7:34
Speaker 1: Her statements about the unpredictable nature of the tragedy in particular,
7:37
Speaker 1: were not well received. The threat posed by Brad Dervish
7:41
Speaker 1: had been taken it seriously by members of the department
7:44
Speaker 1: since at least February, but no one, they said, would
7:48
Speaker 1: do anything to stop him.
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Speaker 5: Everything did work like clockwork though. We got our campus
7:54
Speaker 5: alerts out very quickly. We secured the building very quickly,
7:58
Speaker 5: and as I said, it's a tremendously tragic event. We
8:02
Speaker 5: feel so incredibly bad for the professor's family, friends and colleagues,
8:07
Speaker 5: and our hearts really just go out to them. It's
8:09
Speaker 5: definitely a tragedy, and I think that it's just one
8:13
Speaker 5: of those things that sometimes you can't even predict. I
8:19
Speaker 5: don't have that information.
8:22
Speaker 1: At the police station. The same evening, detectives were rapidly
8:26
Speaker 1: piecing together the sordid background of Marad Dervish. Seated in
8:30
Speaker 1: a waiting questioning, Marad ranted openly, offering some indication as
8:35
Speaker 1: to what had led him to open fire at his teacher.
8:39
Speaker 1: He stated, I hope he's okay, but that's probably wishful
8:43
Speaker 1: thinking I saw once in the interview room, detectives began
9:07
Speaker 1: by asking Marad for simple background information. Where had he lived,
9:12
Speaker 1: what had he been up to before arriving in Tucson.
9:16
Speaker 4: Live anywhere else.
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Speaker 2: In my life?
9:22
Speaker 4: Oh wow, of course, sir.
9:26
Speaker 6: No California, Pennsylvania, Arizona.
9:33
Speaker 1: Before moving to Tucson. Detectives found that Murad had lived
9:37
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He had
9:40
Speaker 1: lived in South Carolina with his parents, and then moved
9:43
Speaker 1: to California, where he had also enrolled in graduate studies
9:48
Speaker 1: at the University of San Diego. He had issues after
9:51
Speaker 1: harassing a female student, behavior that he would repeat in Arizona.
9:56
Speaker 1: Detectives would find the notice for a restraining order taken
9:59
Speaker 1: out by the undergraduate student in Marad's van. There had
10:03
Speaker 1: reportedly been thirty instances of unwonted contact by Mirad to
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Speaker 1: the student. She later recounted that she told campus police
10:11
Speaker 1: in exasperation that they obviously were not going to act
10:15
Speaker 1: until someone had been killed. It was not only staff
10:20
Speaker 1: and students at the university that predicted Mirad would turn violent.
10:25
Speaker 1: His mother, Patricia, had taken a restraining order out against
10:28
Speaker 1: her son years earlier after he had allegedly tried to
10:32
Speaker 1: kill her. The details of that incident have not been
10:35
Speaker 1: discussed publicly in South Carolina. Marad's father explained that he
10:40
Speaker 1: would regularly lash out at family and others. His violent
10:44
Speaker 1: outbursts began around the age of ten, when Murad pulled
10:48
Speaker 1: a knife on his babysitter.
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Speaker 7: He pulled a knife on a pizza man stout breaking things,
10:53
Speaker 7: and it threw things that man and hurt me. So
10:57
Speaker 7: there he tried to kill his mother.
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Speaker 1: Upon hearing about the murder, Dolan Dervish was heartbroken, but
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Speaker 1: not surprised.
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Speaker 7: My first impression was if finally happened, he did y
11:14
Speaker 7: kills the eyes kill somebody. My heart goes for this
11:23
Speaker 7: young man. He's fifty two years old. He studied all
11:26
Speaker 7: about him. He was a wonderful.
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Speaker 1: His son had been to prison three times. He had
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Speaker 1: also been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment twice, in
11:37
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight and then again in twenty eleven. His
11:42
Speaker 1: second stay resulted in diagnoses including schizophrenia. Murrad Dervish suffered
11:48
Speaker 1: from paranoid delusions. His father pleaded with authorities to get
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Speaker 1: his son the help that he needed.
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Speaker 7: Just put him in in prison and punish him. You
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Speaker 7: will think in two years and let him out, and
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Speaker 7: you know nothing will be done.
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Speaker 1: Marad had been enrolled in the master's degree program in
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Speaker 1: atmospheric Sciences, which is within the Department of Hydrology and
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Speaker 1: Atmospheric Sciences at the university. Marad's volatility had been an
12:18
Speaker 1: issue since enrolling at the school. In the autumn of
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, after receiving a grade that he disagreed with,
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Speaker 1: he screamed obscenities at a professor in the middle of class.
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Speaker 1: As a result, he lost his graduate assistant teaching job.
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Speaker 1: This action seemed to only intensify his rage. He made
12:37
Speaker 1: threats that terrified hydrology faculties so much that they moved
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Speaker 1: classes to zoom. As the threats and harassment increased, Morad
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Speaker 1: was expelled from the program and banned from campus that February.
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Speaker 1: In April, he sent an email to the department that read,
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Speaker 1: I don't think you have any clue who you are
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Speaker 1: dealing with, but you are about to find out, and
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Speaker 1: I really don't think you're going to like it. Two
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Speaker 1: weeks later, he followed up by writing that if he
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Speaker 1: was not reinstated, I promise the consequences are going to
13:10
Speaker 1: be absolutely catastrophic. The day following this email, university police
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Speaker 1: visited him at home and told him they were citing
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Speaker 1: him for threats and intimidation charges that the Pima County
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Speaker 1: Attorney's office later decided not to pursue.
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Speaker 8: I just want to reiterate to you about your contact
13:31
Speaker 8: with university officials. Continue the threatening type of behavior. Additional
13:35
Speaker 8: charge is going to be avid. If you're on university property,
13:38
Speaker 8: on university campus, trust packs charges apply as well. Those
13:42
Speaker 8: charges can be appened. So that's just a constantive sir.
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Speaker 2: So what is it is?
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Speaker 8: There's two charges for threats and intimidation.
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Speaker 2: Sir, threats, yes, sir, may by lead. You're saying, that's
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Speaker 2: what the charges are for you, sir and the.
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Speaker 1: Correct Despite the ban on campus, Maurrad kept returning staff
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Speaker 1: were left fearful of their safety For the following ten months.
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Speaker 1: A flyer with a photograph of Marad had been circulated
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Speaker 1: to university staff with instructions to call nine one one
14:20
Speaker 1: if he ever entered the building. Professors recounted fearful trips
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Speaker 1: to and from their classes, straight back to their cars,
14:27
Speaker 1: constantly looking around them in case Murrad was lurking and
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Speaker 1: about to attack. One professor purchased a bulletproof vest. The
14:36
Speaker 1: same professor also switched offices in the Harshburger building should
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Speaker 1: Marad seek him out there, That move could have saved
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Speaker 1: his life. It was this professor's previous office where Murrad
14:48
Speaker 1: made his first stop after arriving with his gun on
14:50
Speaker 1: October fifth. Finding graduate students in this office instead of
14:55
Speaker 1: the professor, he moved on Professor Chris Castro, who would
14:59
Speaker 1: be the head of the department after Tom's death, likewise
15:03
Speaker 1: took out a personal protection order. Back in the interview room,
15:08
Speaker 1: with the easy questions and small talk dispensed with, Murrat
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Speaker 1: decided that it was not in his best interest to
15:14
Speaker 1: speak with investigators after all, you know, like, beyond.
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Speaker 2: The charges, I really don't want answer any more questions.
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Speaker 2: I don't think I should really answer any more questions.
15:25
Speaker 6: Okay, Well, your free answer whatever questions you want. Yeah,
15:28
Speaker 6: if you choose not answer questions, that's completed within your rights.
15:32
Speaker 6: So if I read you a question you don't want
15:33
Speaker 6: to answer.
15:34
Speaker 2: I don't want to answer it. Yeah, does that work
15:36
Speaker 2: for you? Well, I think i'd rather, you know, just
15:38
Speaker 2: talk to a lawyer, you know first. I mean, I
15:41
Speaker 2: would like to know the charges in that.
15:44
Speaker 9: Okay, get a lawyer, wake for a lawyers.
15:51
Speaker 6: Truly, fortun because I've ever really loved to hear your story.
15:54
Speaker 6: I was an undergrad here a long time ago, and.
15:56
Speaker 2: I was, as I love staff here.
15:58
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean Bill, Yeah, let me you'll hear my
16:01
Speaker 9: story in.
16:02
Speaker 2: Court, yeah, if you're there.
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Speaker 1: But the ex graduate student said that he did have
16:09
Speaker 1: some questions for the detectives. He claimed to have no
16:12
Speaker 1: idea what crime he was being charged with.
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Speaker 6: So right now there's a gelling Tim Corley who was
16:23
Speaker 6: injured today. If you know, Tim tun sit by a
16:29
Speaker 6: straight bullet. So that's Adam, and we're looking to aggravate
16:34
Speaker 6: a sault. So if that's what I'm charged, I'm looking
16:37
Speaker 6: at h that's a much question.
16:41
Speaker 2: You know.
16:41
Speaker 6: There are others I'm considering.
16:44
Speaker 2: Such as.
16:49
Speaker 6: You don't want to talk with me without a lawyer.
16:50
Speaker 4: That's fine.
16:51
Speaker 6: We can wrap this up pretty quick. We have quite
16:54
Speaker 6: a bit of evidence, and I think you know what
16:57
Speaker 6: that evidence is. But I don't have to press you
16:59
Speaker 6: for any question personating on that I am charging you
17:03
Speaker 6: with murder in the first.
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Speaker 4: Three hud okay, do you look surprised he's come at home?
17:18
Speaker 1: Murrad refused to offer any information or speak openly about
17:22
Speaker 1: the shooting, despite the mounds of evidence pointing to him
17:25
Speaker 1: as the gunman. Shortly after his arrest, detectives had searched
17:29
Speaker 1: his van. In it, they found two loaded handguns, a
17:33
Speaker 1: nine millimeter and a twenty five caliber, both small and
17:36
Speaker 1: easily concealed. There were five knives in the van, along
17:40
Speaker 1: with one machete, a signal blocker. Three cell phones, and
17:44
Speaker 1: a can of mace casings consistent with those at the
17:47
Speaker 1: scene of the murder were also found in the vehicle.
17:50
Speaker 1: There were also a collection of other personal items. It
17:53
Speaker 1: seems that Murad had stopped paying rent, had been evicted
17:56
Speaker 1: from his home, and was also living in the van.
18:00
Speaker 1: H Murad continued to insist that he would not speak
18:04
Speaker 1: any further without a lawyer, but only moments later, when
18:08
Speaker 1: the detectives left the room with the camera still running,
18:11
Speaker 1: he spoke aloud to himself, I would have really.
18:15
Speaker 6: Liked to hear what you have to say.
18:19
Speaker 2: We only gun in your car. I'm sure you would
18:21
Speaker 2: like to hear it.
18:23
Speaker 8: With a gun in your car.
18:26
Speaker 6: Oh frown this order of protection. It looks like you're
18:33
Speaker 6: prehaved from possessing any firearms.
18:38
Speaker 2: A shame you can't talk.
18:38
Speaker 6: He seem they are a lot in common.
18:41
Speaker 2: Que living in santo.
18:45
Speaker 3: Oh fush, I can't speak with you.
18:48
Speaker 6: You are free to those are your right you you
18:50
Speaker 6: you are free to speak with me.
18:52
Speaker 2: Ah, yes, I know, said fulfilled Menasion.
19:18
Speaker 1: County prosecutors moved forward to trial with first degree murder
19:21
Speaker 1: charges at at Pima County Superior Court. The case against
19:25
Speaker 1: Maraud Dervish was very strong, but questions remained. Detectives found
19:29
Speaker 1: that Murad had thousands of dollars left in his bank account.
19:32
Speaker 1: He was not left destitute after losing his teaching position,
19:35
Speaker 1: nor was he incapable of paying his rent. Yet he
19:38
Speaker 1: forced an eviction and grew resentful as he lived out
19:41
Speaker 1: of his van. According to Maraud, his intention when entering
19:45
Speaker 1: the Harshburger Building that day was to reason with Tom
19:48
Speaker 1: Meisner over the loss of studies and the teaching position.
19:52
Speaker 1: He anticipated an apology and perhaps compensation for the amount
19:56
Speaker 1: that he had lost as a result of what was
19:58
Speaker 1: obviously an unfair decision made by the faculty. He carried
20:03
Speaker 1: his gun with him, he said, because he always did.
20:06
Speaker 1: This was not a sign of premeditation. Prosecutors believed that
20:10
Speaker 1: murd was motivated, at least in part by his bad
20:14
Speaker 1: grade and the subsequent followed. But as the details of
20:17
Speaker 1: his threats and harassment came to light, so did another
20:20
Speaker 1: possible motive, anti Semitism. In message after message to department staff,
20:27
Speaker 1: Marad used targeted hateful language detailing what he perceived to
20:31
Speaker 1: be a Jewish and Asian led conspiracy against him. Many
20:35
Speaker 1: of these texts were sent to a professor of Arab descent,
20:39
Speaker 1: accusing him of aiding his colleague's nefarious schemes and becoming
20:43
Speaker 1: one of them. For betraying him, he wrote that I
20:47
Speaker 1: hope somebody blows your brains out. In these messages, murd
20:52
Speaker 1: explained that after a Google background search of Thomas Mikesner,
20:56
Speaker 1: he concluded that the department head was a Jew. Tom
21:00
Speaker 1: Mikesner was in fact Catholic. Nonetheless, this professor contacted Tom,
21:07
Speaker 1: warning him that texts from Murad indicated that he was
21:10
Speaker 1: in danger. When the case went to trial, it was
21:14
Speaker 1: not pursued as a hate crime, though it did not
21:17
Speaker 1: go unnoticed that the attack occurred coincidentally or not on
21:21
Speaker 1: Yam Kapur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Murad
21:29
Speaker 1: Dervish attempted to represent himself at trial. He also tried
21:32
Speaker 1: to have his lawyers fired. He was unsuccessful on both counts.
21:37
Speaker 1: He was found competent to stand trial, but offered a
21:40
Speaker 1: defense of guilty, except in saying if this argument was
21:44
Speaker 1: successful with the jury, he would be sent to a
21:46
Speaker 1: mental health facility instead of prison.
21:49
Speaker 2: No, did he have the delusions he thinks things that
21:54
Speaker 2: aren't happily and or happy.
21:56
Speaker 1: Gavin Baker, a psychologist, took the stand for the defense
21:59
Speaker 1: and testified that Murrad was paranoid and delusional. He believed
22:04
Speaker 1: there was a conspiracy against him and confronted Tom Mikesner
22:07
Speaker 1: while in a delusional state, and then responded in an
22:11
Speaker 1: explosive manner. He said that Murad could not at that
22:14
Speaker 1: time tell right from wrong.
22:19
Speaker 9: Well, the guilty of the charges against him was legally
22:23
Speaker 9: a saint on the averson the law, as he had
22:25
Speaker 9: a chronic mental illness of such great severity that he
22:29
Speaker 9: did not know.
22:29
Speaker 2: That what he was doing was wrong.
22:31
Speaker 8: I'm just trying to understand how we get to an
22:34
Speaker 8: analysis of being so severe he can't tell right from wrong.
22:45
Speaker 1: The state counter that Marad Dervish was mentally ill, but
22:48
Speaker 1: there was an abundance of evidence to show that he
22:50
Speaker 1: was aware of what he was doing, had planned the attack,
22:54
Speaker 1: and knew what he had done was wrong. Murad even
22:57
Speaker 1: acknowledged in a mental health assessment that he knew his
23:00
Speaker 1: actions were illegal.
23:03
Speaker 10: You said, there's a lot of evidence, you guess, right,
23:11
Speaker 10: and then you asked is there death? So clearly, if
23:21
Speaker 10: you're saying there's a lot of evidence against is the
23:24
Speaker 10: death penalty in Arizona, you're aware of that?
23:28
Speaker 4: He wrote a law.
23:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay.
23:34
Speaker 1: That Murrad drove aggressively from campus after the attack to
23:38
Speaker 1: escape law enforcement also showed his consciousness of guilt. His
23:42
Speaker 1: explanation for running from campus was that he believed that
23:45
Speaker 1: Tim Corley, whom he struck with his final shot, had
23:48
Speaker 1: a gun.
23:51
Speaker 9: I guess the last shot hit uh, mister mister Corley
23:58
Speaker 9: in the leg. He kind of went down, He kind
24:01
Speaker 9: of bent down fast, and I felt like he made
24:05
Speaker 9: me go for a.
24:06
Speaker 2: Gun or something.
24:08
Speaker 4: And that's that's how it.
24:10
Speaker 9: Came to one out of me because anybody didn't have
24:13
Speaker 9: any bulls left, okay, so I ran out.
24:18
Speaker 1: Prosecutors argued that this explanation made no sense. Why would
24:22
Speaker 1: Tim Corley have a gun? How could Murad have reasonably
24:26
Speaker 1: felt threatened by a man he had just shot. The
24:30
Speaker 1: defense argued that this explanation does indeed make sense in
24:34
Speaker 1: the mind of someone experiencing paranoid delusions. After leaving the
24:39
Speaker 1: scene of the murder, Marad texted his mother. She was
24:43
Speaker 1: not in regular contact with her son. In fact, over
24:46
Speaker 1: the years, she had found their conversations to be so
24:49
Speaker 1: aggressive that she routinely changed her number to avoid him.
24:53
Speaker 1: On October fifth, Murad was able to reach out. He
24:57
Speaker 1: left her a voicemail, I got.
25:01
Speaker 2: To talk to you. I shot that try. I hope
25:06
Speaker 2: he's dead.
25:08
Speaker 1: Opposing testimony for mental health experts were presented to the jury.
25:13
Speaker 1: They deliberated for less than three hours before reaching a
25:16
Speaker 1: verdict against Murrad Dervish guilty of first degree premeditated murder.
25:22
Speaker 1: There was no exception given for insanity.
25:26
Speaker 9: In October twenty twenty two, as a result of the death.
25:30
Speaker 4: Of Thomas and Mike Sner, as follows, guilty.
25:36
Speaker 1: For Tom Mikesner's family, the verdict was the justice they needed,
25:40
Speaker 1: but it did not go far enough. While the criminal
25:43
Speaker 1: case against Tom's killer was being pursued, Kathleen mike Sner
25:47
Speaker 1: turned her efforts to another area in desperate need of change,
25:51
Speaker 1: the University of Arizona's security and safety procedures. That Murad
25:56
Speaker 1: had posed an obvious and very serious threat for months
26:00
Speaker 1: while university security and authorities did little to nothing had
26:04
Speaker 1: become an undisputed fact for most at the university. The
26:08
Speaker 1: Mechsner family filed a nine million dollar notice of claim
26:11
Speaker 1: against the school in March twenty twenty three, saying there
26:15
Speaker 1: were numerous ways the university failed to protect Tom and
26:18
Speaker 1: the rest of the community. University President Robert Robbins said
26:23
Speaker 1: campus police tried to get Mrad charged on two separate
26:27
Speaker 1: occasions before the shooting, and took the complaints to Pima
26:30
Speaker 1: County prosecutors, but they were told there wasn't enough evidence.
26:36
Speaker 1: In January twenty twenty three, the Faculty Committee on University
26:40
Speaker 1: Safety issued a report that summarized what it called a
26:44
Speaker 1: glaring institutional failure that has severely compromised safety of the community.
26:50
Speaker 6: There are so many opportunities as you go through this
26:53
Speaker 6: report that we can.
26:55
Speaker 8: Improve upon to be better suited.
26:59
Speaker 10: For any kind of threat in the future.
27:03
Speaker 1: The report also found that on the day of the murder,
27:06
Speaker 1: Marad Dervish sought out four faculty members, including Professor Mikesner.
27:11
Speaker 1: One professor was in another classroom at the time, a
27:14
Speaker 1: second professor had left the building moments prior to the shooting,
27:19
Speaker 1: and the third professor was out of town on professional travel.
27:23
Speaker 1: According to one faculty member, it was merely by happenstance
27:27
Speaker 1: that these other victims survived and it was not a
27:30
Speaker 1: mass shooting event. The school reached a two point five
27:36
Speaker 1: million dollar settlement with the Mekesner family. There were numerous
27:40
Speaker 1: conditions attached which required an overhaul of security procedures to
27:45
Speaker 1: help prevent a similar incident from occurring on campus again.
27:52
Speaker 1: Marad Dervish's sentencing is scheduled for June twenty fourth, twenty
27:56
Speaker 1: twenty four. The state plans to ask for life without parole.
28:04
Speaker 1: That was the tragic case of Thomas mike Sner. Thanks
28:08
Speaker 1: for joining me, and a special thanks to Perry Lyons,
28:11
Speaker 1: Ian melm and Karen Anderson for joining the members lounge.
28:15
Speaker 1: I'm Kevin. This is just thought lounge, and I'll see
28:18
Speaker 1: you in the next one.
28:22
Speaker 11: When the scene plays, tell me who the screen saves.
28:24
Speaker 11: I can hear the cries repeat. Gotta take my time
28:27
Speaker 11: because these crimes get deep, but these stories can't hide.
28:29
Speaker 11: Let me find my seat, Kevin, go ahead and settle in.
28:31
Speaker 11: Gotta be selective, doing all the research, keeping it objective,
28:35
Speaker 11: always being effective. Can say he got a neck, pick
28:37
Speaker 11: it a litter. You see how Newton got his back. Yeah,
28:40
Speaker 11: the content that you need. This could be a new sign.
28:42
Speaker 11: Talking in the comments like