TUCSON, Arizona. A former University of Arizona graduate student convicted of fatally shooting a hydrology professor on campus months after he was expelled could face life in prison when he is sentenced Monday.
A Pima County Superior Court jury last month found Murad Dervish guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Thomas Meixner, who was shot 11 times near his office on October 5, 2022.
Dervish, 48, was also convicted of five other criminal charges, including aggravated assault for a bullet that grazed a building manager.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours on May 21 before reaching their verdict against Dervish.
Prosecutors said Dervish should face life in prison without parole.
Dervish’s attorney said his client was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the shooting and asked jurors to consider a lesser charge of second-degree murder, which could mean confinement in a psychiatric hospital rather than a jail cell.
But prosecutors said evidence shows Dervish planned Meixner assassination and I bought a 9mm pistol a month before I used it in the shooting.
Meixner, 52, headed the university’s Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences. Dervish was in the atmospheric sciences master’s program.
Authorities said Dervish was banned from school in January 2022 and later expelled for ongoing problems with teachers after receiving a bad grade.
According to a criminal complaint, a flyer with a photograph of Dervish was then distributed to university employees in February 2022 with instructions to call 911 if Dervish entered the John W. Harshbarger Building, where Meixner worked.
The complaint also said Dervish was barred from school property and was the subject of multiple reports of harassment and threats to employees working at Harshbarger.
Witnesses testified that Dervish was wearing a surgical mask and a baseball cap as a disguise when he appeared outside Meixner’s office and shot the professor.
Dervish fled the scene but was arrested three hours later after Arizona state troopers stopped his car on a highway more than 120 miles northwest of Tucson.
Authorities said a loaded gun was found in the vehicle and that the ammunition was consistent with shell casings found at the scene of the shooting.
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