If you click on the link here you can see that the request for DNA for Zeigler has been denied. It states: “Denying Successive Petition for DNA Testing Pursuant to FLA.STAT. 925.11(1)(a).”
NOTE: for some reason the page keeps changing. If you see the general search page, go to “all cases records search” and fill in Tommy’s full name (William Thomas Zeigler). Then select case number 1988-CF-005355-A-O from 1975. Scroll down in there.
We are awaiting the full ruling for more details and considerations from Judge Whitehead in this case. The denial is dated March 12, 2012.
I will post more details here as they become available.
Case: 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. The 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.