After posting “False Confessions: Why & How” I got an email from Mr. Joseph Buckley, President of John E. Reid and Associates. He wanted to alert my readers to a few things. A technique is a tool and the tool is only as good as the one handling it. In other words: yes, false confessions […]
Actual Innocence
False Confessions: why & how?
False Confessions: why & how? This month two extremely important cases are under review. In the USA, the Connecticut Supreme Court heard the State’s appeal in the case of Richard Lapointe. The state is appealing the decision to grant Lapointe a new trial. False confessions (four) and forensic arson detection are key in this […]
Recap #crimechat April 4, 2013
Recap #crimechat April 4, 2013: Today we spoke about wrongful convictions with Nancy Petro. A short introduction to wrongful convictions started this crimechat. How do we find out about Wrongful Convictions in general? A: We discover that the victim is alive & well. Examples: India 2003, the Reena Devi case. Reena disappeared, her mother ID-ed her […]
Death on Hold: Zeigler
Death on Hold: Zeigler. In this documentary you can see the trial and appeals in the case of William Thomas Zeigler. It explains why for the past 37 years, we have been trying to show you that he never had a fair trial. Judge for yourself whether there is room for doubt. https://web.archive.org/web/20130406001457/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQc3J4ocgsM&gl=US&hl=en Mr. Zeigler has […]
Christian Bruyère takes an interest in Zeigler
Christian Bruyère takes an interest in Zeigler. Mr. Bruyère and his company “Mystique Films” are based in Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver is the third largest motion picture production center in North America. I could not be happier that Zeigler is getting more media attention. Yesterday was Zeigler’s birthday and a press conference was held outside the Orange County Courthouse. […]
Lapointe: DNA does not match
Who left his DNA behind: Richard A. Lapointe or Frederick Rodney Merrill? We have new developments that could shed a light on the case of Bernice Martin and could once and for all clear up who left his DNA. We already know it wasn’t Lapointe. The Connecticut State Board of Pardons and Paroles decided last week to grant […]
In memory: Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain
She only lived for two months but the little girl is etched in our memories: Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain (June 11, 1980 – Aug 17, 1980) After she disappeared her mother, Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on October 29, 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Her father, Michael Chamberlain was found guilty as an accessory […]
Zeigler, Part XX: The False Arrest Report
Zeigler, Part XX: The False Arrest Report is based on the documents filed in Mr. Zeigler case as per the previous post. The documents were sent to me by Mr. Zeigler’s lawyers and I thank them for that. On Dec 29, 1975, Detective Frye from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office wrote in his arrest report: […]
The Kish Report
The Kish Report : the request for further DNA testing in the case of William Thomas Zeigler was denied by Judge Whitehead March 12, 2012. The hearing for that request took place last Dec 1, 2011, see here. Judge Whitehead had previously ruled that Zeigler should receive state-funding for a blood spatter expert to testify whether […]
Reversal Juan Rivera Conviction
From the New York Times: “In an opinion that harshly criticizes the tactics of the police and prosecutors, an Illinois appellate court on Friday night reversed the conviction of Juan Rivera, who has spent 19 years in jail for the 1992 rape and murder of an 11-year-old baby sitter in a suburb of Chicago. There […]
No more Zeigler posts?
Some of you have emailed me asking why I have stopped posting about the William Thomas Zeigler case. Am I now convinced that he is guilty? Am I bored with the case? Am I in a clinch with the defense team? No to all the above. I have tried to show why I believe that Zeigler never had […]
Murder at the Farm; who killed Carl Bridgewater?
Murder at the Farm; who killed Carl Bridgewater? We may never know but after reading Paul Foot‘s excellent analysis of the police interrogations, I am sure that none of the Bridgewater Four were involved. Even though the case dates back to 1978, I consider this book to be a classic to study how cases can go […]
Penn State CSI Students on the Zeigler Case
Penn State CSI Students on the Zeigler Case: a review of Zeigler Project. During their final spring semester twenty five (25) undergraduate and five (5) graduate students from Penn State University (PSU) reviewed documents pertaining to the trial and conviction of William Thomas Zeigler. Mr. Zeigler was convicted in 1976 of murdering his wife Eunice Zeigler, […]
Guest post: Laura Henderson-Ibach: The timeline does not work
Guest post: Laura Henderson-Ibach: The timeline does not work and police do not care. Part 4 by Tiah. Two different private investigators interviewed everyone who was connected in any way to this case. Much of what they found I will discuss here. If I use the phrase “we know” it is because the information was […]
Update Richard Lapointe: Habeas denied
Richard Lapointe: his Habeas Petition was denied as reported by the Hartford Courant. “Superior Court Judge John J. Nazzaro, in a 51-page ruling issued late Friday, turned back arguments that prosecutors had withheld material evidence, that Lapointe’s trial and appellate lawyers were incompetent, and that new evidence proved Lapointe was innocent. The decision is another defeat in what […]
Blood Spatter Expert appointed in Zeigler case
Blood Spatter Expert appointed in Zeigler case: The Zeigler Defense Team has told me that this morning, Judge Whitehead has approved state-funding to engage Mr Paul Kish as blood spatter expert in connection with William Thomas Zeigler‘s requests for new DNA testing. Mr. Kish is a forensic consultant in Corning, New York. He will testify at a future hearing […]
Zeigler: The significance of the Jellison Tape
Zeigler: The significance of the Jellison Tape (part XVIII) 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 […]
Zeigler, Part XVII
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”) […]
Zeigler, Part XVI
Zeigler, Part XVI: 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 […]
Zeigler, Part XV
Zeigler, Part XV: “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 […]