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You are here: Home / Zeigler / Hope for William Thomas Zeigler

Hope for William Thomas Zeigler

January 5, 2019 By Alice

Tommy & Eunice Zeigler, 1973 (Beulah Zeigler Collection)The Tampa bay Times announced Jan 3, 2019 that the Florida State Attorney’s office is “taking a fresh look” at the 1975 case of William Thomas Zeigler. Whether that fresh look is indeed an official review does not become clear in the article. However, we finally have a Florida state representative who “wants to introduce legislation to address both prosecutorial misconduct and problems with access to forensic science, including DNA testing.”

Zeigler has asked for a review since he was arrested. He and others are convinced that if we reviewed pre-trial evidence with modern technology it would support his claims of innocence. Examples of evidence to review: clothing (most notably the coat his wife Eunice Edwards-Zeigler was wearing that night), fingernail scrapings, and about eight guns. All items are preserved in a climate-controlled locker in Orlando.

Zeigler asked for advanced DNA testing six times and was always denied even though there would not be any costs for the taxpayers. His defense team has private fundings for these tests.

“For about two decades, the Ninth Judicial Circuit state attorney’s office has rejected Zeigler’s requests.”

So what has changed you might ask?

Current State Attorney Aramis D. Ayala’s office now includes a conviction integrity unit. This unit was established in September 2018. Check it out here. The “director of that unit is looking over the Zeigler case, according to a spokesperson for Ayala’s office. The office’s policy states that it will only “review applications where a plausible claim of innocence exists.” Ayala herself has declined to be interviewed.”

The director looking over Zeigler’s case is great but it isn’t the same as reviewing it for a plausible claim of innocence. If it was, it should have been clearly worded in the paper’s article. I hope that I am wrong and that the fresh look is indeed a thorough review of Zeigler’s claims of innocence.

On the State Attorney’s website it says that cases will advance in the following progression:

Phase 1 – Application
Phase 2 – Intake/Application Review
Phase 3 – Case Review Acceptance/Denial
Phase 4 – Accepted Case Investigation
Phase 5 – Recommendation to State Attorney
Phase 6 – Final Disposition by State Attorney

I hope to report soon that Zeigler’s has officially been accepted for review.

For those unfamiliar with the case: In December 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 have written so many posts about this case, I gave Zeigler his own category, check the left margin.

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. All blog posts about the Zeigler case can be found here.

Warning: some posts contain graphic images from the crime scene.

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Filed Under: Miscarriages of Justice, Zeigler Tagged With: DNA, Florida, Prosecutorial Misconduct, William Thomas Zeigler, Wrongful Convictions

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  1. Zeigler: DNA is a moral right - Defrosting Cold Cases says:
    October 19, 2019 at 11:27 am

    […] Tampa Bay Times reports that the Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala has rejected the appeal made on behalf of William Thomas Zeigler to have his pre-trial evidences tested with modern DNA […]

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On this website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and are in need of renewed media attention. I only do research and leave the active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book.

My database has over 300 cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database will always be free to the public to use. You cannot buy ad space on my website, ever.

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William Thomas Zeigler

Category: ALL POSTS

On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held to request touch DNA testing. On July 18, 2016, Judge Whitehead denied that request.

On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court. On April 21, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request for touch DNA analysis.

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.

Richard Lapointe

Category: ALL POSTS

In March 2015, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Richard lapointe. On Oct 2, 2015, International Wrongful Conviction Day, Richard was set free. The judge ruled that he cannot be retried for the 1987 rape-murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin. Richard Lapointe died on Aug 4, 2020 of Covid19 complications.

In 1987, someone killed Bernice Martin. I hope that she will not become a forgotten file.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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