“I can think of no good argument why anyone would be denied DNA testing”
Prosecutors have opposed testing, and judges have refused it, but Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Attorney General Richard Cordray wrote today to prosecutors in seven criminal cases urging them to allow DNA testing that could confirm guilt or prove innocence.
The cases in question include one man on death row, two prisoners serving long sentences, three who are out of prison and want to clear their names, and Arthur Swanson’s who died in 2006. The other two cases, added to the project by the Innocence Project, are Tyrone Noling, who is on Death Row for a murder in Portage County, and Martin Hatton, convicted of rape in Pickaway County.
“I really think it’s irrational not to take advantage of methods that could establish either guilt or innocence when those technologies are available to us,” Strickland told The Dispatch. “I can think of no good argument why anyone would be denied DNA testing if, in fact, there is a reasonable or relevant opportunity to bring clarity to whether or not someone is guilty of a crime.”
Florida has a man on death row who has been denied extensive DNA testing despite the fact that his trial was riddled with misconduct, evidence was fabricated, testimony has been retracted, and DNA tests that were done exonerate him! Of course, I am talking about William Thomas Zeigler.
He just celebrated another birthday on death row. Accused and convicted for the murder of a store client, his in-laws and his beloved wife, Mr. Zeigler waits for the day that someone in authority has the guts to rip open his case and expose it for what it was: a frame up in which he was supposed to die as well.
If you are in favour of using DNA testing to settle once and for all the claims of prisoners before they get an execution date then I urge you to read the post in which I explain the blood on Mr. Zeigler’s shirt.
The State’s case against Zeigler was based on the contention that Zeigler killed his father-in-law, Perry Edwards and, therefore, the blood under Zeigler’s left arm (and on the front of Zeigler’s t-shirt) is from the bleeding head of Perry Edwards as Zeigler administered the fatal beating. One of the key pieces of evidence against Tommy was, that the blood stain revealed blood type A. Both his wife Eunice and her father, Perry Edwards had blood type A as did Charlie Mays.
The chief contention on which the jury convicted Zeigler was that since Zeigler had his father-in-law’s blood type on his t-shirt underneath the left armpit, it followed that Zeigler had held Perry Edwards in a headlock, beat and later also shot him! And, if he did that to his father-in-law, he certainly was responsible for the shooting deaths of the others. The problem here is of course, that with blood typing, only a part of the story was told. Yes, Tommy had been fighting with someone. Only, that person was Charlie Mays and not his very own father-in-law. But alas, as stated above, both men had blood type A.
Decades later, Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) in North Carolina performed DNA testing on the t-shirt and other items. Blood Samples of six persons were forwarded to LabCorp: Perry Edwards, Virginia Edwards, Eunice Zeigler, Charlie Mays, Felton Thomas, and Tommy Zeigler.
The key DNA test results were that the tested blood on Zeigler’s t-shirt (under the left arm), on the front pocket of his outer shirt, and on his pants (back, left pocket and left knee) is not the blood of Perry Edwards. It is the blood of Charlie Mays. Zeigler did not have any of Perry Edwards’ blood on him! The other blood on the t-shirt was Zeigler’s own.
Zeigler never denied that he fought with Mays and now we have proof of the battle between these two men. We now have evidence that exonerates Zeigler. Indeed, it was the connection of the Type A blood of Perry Edwards with the heavy bloodstain under Zeigler’s left arm that laid the foundation for Eagan’s closing argument on this point: “You will have the opportunity to examine Mr. Zeigler’s clothing…You will see a soaked area of blood under the left armpit of those shirts. That could have gotten there only by his having someone in his arm who was Type A blood. He didn’t get that crawling around on the floor. Who was bleeding Type A blood!” DNA proves that Zeigler’s story is true!
The Type A blood set the stage for Zeigler’s conviction. It took the jury exactly 25 minutes. The jury deliberations were riddled by intimidation and misconduct. You can read about that here. However, we no longer need to figure out what happened in the jury room. The DNA tests that were already done tell us what has happened. All we need now is to be allowed to introduce these DNA results as evidence in a new trial.
Want to read more? In the right margin you will find the name “Zeigler” under categories. There you will find all articles, links to materials online, the DNA report and a police report from the first officer who had contact with Zeigler after the shooting. That report, the infamous “Buried Thompson Report” will open your eyes to what really happened that night.