Tristan Wood
A Florida State University professor has been sentenced in a domestic violence case stemming from a Christmas 2020 incident involving his wife and children.
David Meckes, an assistant professor in FSU’s College of Medicine, was sentenced Monday to 90 days in Leon County jail and three years’ probation.
He was arrested on Dec. 25, 2020, on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. He pleaded no contest to that crime, as well as violating pretrial release conditions, on Nov. 23.
According to his arrest affidavit, emergency dispatchers received a call from one of Meckes’ children early Christmas morning saying Meckes was chasing his wife with a knife. The woman and her three children, whose identities are being withheld by Florida Politics because of their victim status, waited in a closet until law enforcement arrived.
Meckes’ wife told police the two got into an argument that resulted in him taking her phone. She said he then got in her face, and she shoved him.
According to her statement to law enforcement, Meckes then said “I am going to kill you” and chased her with a butcher’s knife into one of her daughters’ rooms. She and her daughter told police Meckes raised and held the knife above his head as if he was going to stab her before turning around and leaving the room.
After being detained, Meckes admitted to law enforcement that he chased his wife with the knife and held it over his head, but said he was not trying to hurt her, just to scare her.
Meckes’ other charge stems from violating the terms that limited his alcohol consumption and contact with his wife and children while on mental health pretrial release.
Before the Christmas incident, the couple lost one of their daughters to brain cancer at the age of 4 in 2019. According to court records, Meckes had an alcohol addiction as a result of losing his daughter.
Meckes violated the restrictions prohibiting him from talking to his wife about the case by sending her text messages encouraging her to push for a certain outcome in the case, according to court documents. He also had to go to the emergency room during his release because of heavy intoxication, according to the release.
Meckes is still employed by the university, according to FSU spokesperson Amy Farnum-Patronis. She said the university recently became aware of the plea and sentencing and are “currently reviewing to determine any appropriate action.”
His sentence requires him to complete a Batterers Intervention Program and prohibits him from drinking alcohol, enforced with an electronic alcohol monitoring system. He is prohibited from contacting his children or his wife, but can apply for contact rights halfway through the BIP program.
His release date is set for April 24.
