2024 Author Expo Author

George R. "Bob" Dekle, Sr., became a legal skills professor at the University of Florida in 2006, after retiring from the State Attorney's Office of the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida. He was voted emeritus status upon his retirement from the Law School in 2015. Professor Dekle served as an Assistant State Attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit from 1975 through 2005. During that time he investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of cases, from criminal mischief to capital murder. In 1986 he received his state association's Gene Barry Memorial Award as the outstanding assistant state attorney in the state. In 1996 and again in 2003 he received distinguished faculty awards from his state association's education committee, and upon his retirement in 2005, he was given a lifetime achievement award for his efforts in continuing education for prosecutors. Professor Dekle has served as faculty at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and has lectured to prosecutor's associations across the nation. Before becoming a prosecutor, Professor Dekle served from 1973 to 1975 as an Assistant Public Defender in the Third Judicial Circuit. Dekle’s books reflect his deep interest in both trial advocacy and legal history.

In addition to The East River Ripper (Kent State University Press), Professor Dekle is the author numerous other books on legal topics, including Prosecution Principles: a Clinical Handbook (Thomson-West) and The Case against Christ: A Critique of the Prosecution of Jesus (Cambridge Scholars). Dekle has also co-authored Cross Examination Handbook: Persuasion, Strategies, and Techniques (Wolters-Kluwer), and The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case: A Critical Analysis of the Trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann (The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.)