[1] On April 29, 1978, Markley, along with three students, was arrested at the Birmingham Women's Medical Clinic, after organizing a sit-in to protest abortion.

[1][4] On June 16, 1986, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, ineligible for parole, after violating probation terms to stay 500 feet away from abortion clinics.

[5][4] Markley reported that he did not find jail too bad and was pleased to gain some firsthand knowledge of it, having taught criminology courses in the past.

[6] Markley's superior, Bishop Joseph Vath, issued a statement supportive of his actions, stating, "If we are convinced that abortion is the taking of innocent life according to God’s revealed word, he is not acting unjustly according to God’s law in defending the innocent unborn one...The right to life certainly supersedes the right to property or to privacy.

He also “refused to apologize” for the sledgehammer incident, but stated that “on orders from his superiors he would not engage in any more destruction of property.”[7] Markley died peacefully at approximately 8:20 AM, January 14, 2019, at the age of 79, in the St. Bernard Abbey at Cullman.