Trial begins for ex
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A jury has been seated for the trial of a former University of Arizona graduate student accused of fatally shooting a professor in 2022 after he was banned from campus because of harassment complaints.
Murad Dervish faces seven felony charges including first-degree murder in the death of Thomas Meixner, who was shot several times inside a building on Oct. 5, 2022.
Meixner, 52, had headed the university’s Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences and was an expert on desert water issues. Dervish, 48, had been a graduate student in the hydrology program before he was expelled.
Campus police said the shooting occurred inside the Harshbarger Building, which houses the hydrology department.
According to a criminal complaint, a flyer with a photograph of Dervish had been circulated to university staff in February 2022 with instructions to call 911 if he ever entered the building.