A Florida lawyer accused of murdering his father after an argument at the family law firm was found dead in his jail cell.
Brandon Labiner, 34, was accused of shooting his father Paul, 68, outside their office in Boca Raton on July 1.
Three months earlier, Brandon was disbarred after he was accused of stealing $450,000 from a family trust.
Val Rodriguez, Brandon’s attorney, told WPTV that Brandon was discovered by sheriff’s deputies at the Palm Beach County Jail early Wednesday morning. He had hanged himself.
Brandon Labiner, 34, was found dead Wednesday in his jail cell where he was awaiting trial for the murder of his father, Paul Labiner
Brandon Labiner, 34, appeared before a judge on July 3 after being arrested on a charge of first-degree murder
Brandon Labiner (right) and his father Paul. Brandon was charged with murder after his father was found shot to death outside his office in Boca Raton on July 1
Rodriguez said her client was dealing with a number of personal issues, including an impending divorce and the death of his only child, who was stillborn at 39 weeks.
Brandon, who worked with his father, was “devastated” and “distressed” after accepting a foreign check and transferring $100,000 to the customer without first executing proper checks, resulting in the loss of the money .
Court documents filed against Brandon indicate that he attempted to raise the funds by transferring money from his father’s accounts to his own.
Rodriguez said 2023 has been an unbearable year for the family.
“2023 has been the most tragic,” she told The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“Father, son and grandson, all dead.”
Brandon and his father had worked together at the same law firm until Brandon was forced to resign in September 2022 due to an escalating rift between them.
Paul Labiner can be seen with his wife Mindy. Paul was shot on July 1st
Pictured is Paul Labiner’s law office in the 5400 block of North Federal Highway in Boca Raton
The father and son (pictured) are said to have had a “pretty good father-son relationship” until around February 2022
Brandon had been practicing personal injury law but his license to practice law was revoked due to the theft allegations.
In May, Paul Labiner sued his son over the trust fund dispute.
In his court documents, he said they had a “pretty good father-son relationship” until Brandon began exhibiting “bizarre behavior” in February 2022.
Paul said in the lawsuit that his son attacked him in May 2022, injuring his shoulder.
License plate readers identified a Brandon vehicle driving at the scene on July 1.
Surveillance video showed a man arriving at Paul Labiner’s law office shortly after 3 p.m. with a bicycle and a drawstring backpack.
Brandon Labiner, 34, was charged after a bullet-riddled body was found in a pool of blood outside the law office of his father, Paul Labiner, 68. The couple is pictured together
Paul’s law firm specializes in estate and trust planning and he was admitted to the bar in 1992
The man is seen taking a box out of the backpack and then a gun out of the box.
The man hid behind a wall and attacked Paul Labiner as he passed by.
Paul Labiner, with his car keys in his hand, was shot in the head and chest and twice in the lower body.
Police located Brandon Labiner barricaded in a nearby building.
After a standoff, Brandon eventually surrendered and was arrested.