Zeigler, Part I
William Thomas Zeigler/Prison Photo
There is a man on death row in the United States of America, in Florida to be precise. On July 24th, he will be celebrating his 65th birthday. It will be a sober one. Death row does not throw great parties. He knows. He has been there since 1976.
His full name is William Thomas Zeigler, Jr., but people call him Tommy. The guards call him Ziggy. Tommy is still waiting. Waiting for a fair trial where this time all the evidence is brought before the court and the jury, and where forensic science can support what he has said from the start: he did not kill four people. He shot one of them, yes. He fought one of them, yes. But he did not beat that man to death. He was the intended victim.
His story has been told many times and you only need to Google his name and a slate of websites pop up with all the details and the entire story. The best story however, is in a book called “Fatal Flaw” written by the author Phillip Finch. He generously made the book available to the public through a link on his website that takes you to a free PDF version of the book. His only conditions are that:
1) The file must not be altered in any way; and
2) Its use must be strictly non-commercial; it must not be sold or bartered, and it cannot be included in any collection for sale or barter.
The book is not an easy read. You get tested from chapter one to keep up with Finch as he crawls into the mess that is Tommy’s case. Throughout the book, you ask yourself how this is possible and secretly suspect the author was writing fiction. So you put the book down and search for Tommy on the Internet. You find his inmate population information sheet and there he is. Finch is not trying to trick you!
To be continued…
Categories: Forensics, Miscarriages of Justice, Unsolved, Zeigler
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, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions