PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Zeigler, 77, was convicted in the killings of his wife, Eunice, her parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and customer Charles Mays on Dec. 24, 1975, at the Zeigler family’s Winter Garden furniture store. Authorities said Zeigler fatally shot his wife and mother-in-law and fired at his father-in-law and Mays before smashing their skulls with a metal crank. Zeigler, who was also shot, has maintained his innocence, claiming Mays and others committed the killings while robbing the store. Prior DNA testing in 2001 revealed Perry Edwards’ blood on Mays’ shoes and pants leg and excluded Perry Edwards’ blood from some of the bloodstains on Zeigler’s shirt. But the Florida Supreme Court ruled those results were not enough to exonerate Zeigler. His team has argued additional analysis with “modern procedures and equipment” could produce a more definitive result. Worrell has said she struck the agreement to allow additional testing in order to “ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice."
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STORY: "Moody drops appeal against DNA tests in Tommy Zeigler case," by Reporter Jeff Weiner, published by The Orlando Sentinel, on February 8 2023.
GIST: "Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office has dropped its appeal that sought to block additional DNA testing for Tommy Zeigler, who argues the tests could clear his name after more than four decades on death row.
Moody’s team filed a notice with the Florida Supreme Court on Monday indicating it was dropping an appeal that challenged an agreement between Zeigler’s lawyers and Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell to allow the new testing.
The dismissal comes about a month after the state’s high court rejected an emergency request to put on hold a lower court’s ruling that authorized the pact between Zeigler’s defense and Worrell.
According to a recent filing by Zeigler’s defense, nearly all of the evidence at issue had already been released to the San Francisco-area Forensic Analytical Crime Lab for testing before Moody’s appeal was filed.
Zeigler, 77, was convicted in the killings of his wife, Eunice, her parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and customer Charles Mays on Dec. 24, 1975, at the Zeigler family’s Winter Garden furniture store.
Authorities said Zeigler fatally shot his wife and mother-in-law and fired at his father-in-law and Mays before smashing their skulls with a metal crank.
Zeigler, who was also shot, has maintained his innocence, claiming Mays and others committed the killings while robbing the store.
Prior DNA testing in 2001 revealed Perry Edwards’ blood on Mays’ shoes and pants leg and excluded Perry Edwards’ blood from some of the bloodstains on Zeigler’s shirt. But the Florida Supreme Court ruled those results were not enough to exonerate Zeigler.
His team has argued additional analysis with “modern procedures and equipment” could produce a more definitive result. Worrell has said she struck the agreement to allow additional testing in order to “ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice.""
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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