DNA testing on all the evidence pieces in the case of William Thomas Zeigler is still ongoing.
Tommy had a health scare earlier in the year. However, he is recovering and in his messages, sounds upbeat and positive.
The last bit of news is that a new judge will be handing the case, Circuit Judge Barbara J. Leach.
Case Summary
In Dec 1975, a quadruple murder took place in the Zeigler Furniture Store (Winter Garden, Florida). The victims were Charles Mays, Virginia and Perry Edwards, and their daughter Eunice Edwards-Zeigler. The fifth victim, William Thomas Zeigler, became the sole suspect because he survived.
The case is riddled by police misconduct (lying on the stand), prosecutorial misconduct (withheld evidence), and forensic testing disproving the charges. I wrote many posts about this case so I gave Zeigler his own category.
The latest
An evidentiary hearing for touch DNA testing was held on March 31, 2016. Judge Whitehead denied the request on July 18, 2016.
On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed in the Supreme Court of Florida.
On April 21, 2017 the Florida Supreme Court denied the touch DNA request.
On May 8, 2017 a motion for a rehearing with the US Supreme Court was filed. It was denied November 13, 2017.
In the summer of 2019, the appeal for DNA testing to the Florida Conviction Integrity Unit was denied. A new attempt to get evidence tested with DNA was launched in 2021.
On Oct 27, 2022 Florida Circuit Judge Patricia L. Strowbridge advanced the case for DNA testing with modern technology. The Defense Team needs to get a protocol in place by Dec 2022. It was approved Dec 19, 2022 for all evidence pieces. Testing is ongoing.
The link to find all my posts about the Zeigler case is here.