Defrosting Cold Cases

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Zeigler’s lawyers, arguing for more DNA testing, asked the court for a continuance of the scheduled February 3rd hearing. A former forensic expert is no longer available. “The new expert, Timothy Palmbach, works with blood spatter evidence an does forensic analysis work. But Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton, another veteran [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Partial Finger Printing, Penn State, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The significance of the Jellison Tape Is it evidence? Is it exonerating? Is it implicating? The tape’s conversation has been posted in full so I refer you to the previous post to read it. As you know, it was suppressed by the state for about twelve years. Why? Because of what Jon Jellison saw and the [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Jellison Tape, Miscarriage of Justice, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

This week, several cold cases were in the news.  Rockfort Police (IL) announced an arrest in the 1998 murder of Debbie Lynn Logsdon. “Richard L. Brown was served a warrant last Friday for first-degree murder. Deputy Police Chief Greg Lindmark would not say what new piece of evidence led police to Brown, but he attributed the [...]

Tags: Crime, David Burgess, Hawley Harvey Crippen, Joe Arridy, Lucely "Lily" Aramburi, Mental Retardation, Mitochondrial DNA, William Thomas Zeigler

In my previous post “Zeigler, Part XVI“, I referred to the Jellison tape that was conveniently kept from the defense team. It was only recovered in April of 1987, when Zeigler’s lawyers made a Florida Public Records Act request for the files of the State Attorney in Orlando. That’s when they discovered (aside from the “Buried Thompson report”) [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Vidocq is proud to announce a special collaboration with Penn State University’s Forensic Science Program. The students in this program will get access to crime scene photographs, police reports, witness statements and more to apply everything they have learned in class in a real case. The students will be able to explore bloodstain patterns observed [...]

Tags: Ballistics, Crime Scene, Evidence, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, PennState University, William Thomas Zeigler

On behalf of Mr. McEachern, I post his message: “I hope some of you will find the time to watch the poem I wrote about the Tommy Zeigler case. Tommy has been on Florida’s death row for almost 35 years. If so, perhaps you will also be moved to sign an online petition (if you haven’t already [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Evidence, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

On misplaced pride, loyalty, and sacrifice On Nov 4, 2010, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley (a.k.a. the Memphis Three) will get their cases reviewed in a lower court hearing to see whether they should be granted a new trial. This means that they will be able to [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Judicial Misconduct, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

“Just testify that you were Zeigler’s homosexual lover and we’ll help you out!” A Florida, Orange County woman in her 80′s, reads an affidavit that she signed alleging that the state tried to get her son to testify that he was William Thomas Zeigler’s homosexual lover. As you know, the state went through great lengths to prove [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Perjury, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Orlando Sentinel reports that an Orange Circuit Judge has granted long-time death row inmate Tommy Zeigler an evidentiary hearing more than a year after the man convicted of killing his in-laws, his wife, and another man on Christmas Eve 1975 filed a Petition_and_Proposed_Order[1] in his case. The order granting an evidentiary hearing appeared on the [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

After speaking with William Thomas Zeigler’s relatives, more information came out that shows that people have been tampering with the crime scene. When Mr. Zeigler arrived in the hospital for emergency surgery, law enforcement officers contacted the Zeigler family to let them know that he was shot. At that time, nobody yet knew where his wife [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions