The Florida lawyer suspected of murdering his father in the law office of the firm that bore their name has apparently died by suicide while in jail awaiting trial.
Brandon Labiner, 35, was found dead in his jail cell on Wednesday. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Law&Crime that he died by hanging himself in jail and was pronounced dead early Wednesday morning. As Law&Crime previously reported, Labiner was charged with murder in July after his father, attorney Paul Labiner, 68, was found shot to death inside the building complex that housed the elder Labiner’s law office, where he worked with his son.
Court records show that Brandon Labiner was indicted on Oct. 5 of first-degree murder with a firearm and tampering with evidence.
As of Thursday morning, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office records listed Brandon Labiner as “deceased.” The next hearing his first-degree murder case was scheduled for Nov. 28. He was also charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Left: Brandon Labiner booking photo (via Palm Beach County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office). Right: Paul Labiner and his son, Brandon Labiner (via Law Office of Paul S. Labiner).
Brandon Labiner had previously been accused of stealing from a family trust fund and causing the near-ruin of his father’s firm. His law license had been placed on an emergency suspension in April, and in late September, the Florida Supreme Court issued a disciplinary revocation — a move tantamount to disbarment.
A heavily redacted probable cause affidavit says that on July 1, officers were called to the parking garage of the building complex after reports that the elder Labiner had been shot. An unidentified person who was believed to have called 911 “was heard hysterically screaming.”
A different unidentified witness told police that “he heard four gunshots” at around 3:55 p.m. while he was outside the building “smoking his vape pen,” but he did not witness the shooting or call 911, the affidavit said.
Paul Labiner was found to have his keys, cellphone, and wallet — still containing “cash and miscellaneous cards” — on him at the time of his death. According to the affidavit, Brandon Labiner’s sister told police that she suspected her brother killed her father because the younger Labiner “has been under a lot of stress, because his unborn child died prior to birth and he is going through a divorce from his wife.”
According to police, surveillance video was obtained linking Brandon Labiner to the killing.
Brandon Labiner had worked with his father in the family’s trusts and estates firm, the Law Office of Paul S. Labiner, until September 2022, when Paul Labiner sued his son, accusing him of stealing funds from a family trust and, through alleged incompetence, diminishing the firm’s caseload.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
