Defrosting Cold Cases

Some of you have been emailing 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 of the above!   I have been trying to [...]

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

“A preliminary hearing was held Wednesday for two men accused in the shooting deaths of two San Diego-based sailors in Otay Mesa 18 years ago.  The hearing for Edward Jesus Elias and Leopoldo Castro Chavez II, both 35, was to have started Tuesday morning but was postponed until Wednesday because one of the defense attorneys [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Ballistics, California, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

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 wrong fast. It [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Book Reviews, Carl Bridgewater, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, UK, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Crewe Murders will be explored once more but in a different setting. “Although much of the detail of the filming and direction the programme will take is being kept under wraps the film company has confirmed the Crewe murders programme will be a “one-off special”. No firm date for the screening has yet been [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Crime Scene, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Jeanette and Harvey Crewe, New Zealand, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Orlando Sentinel reports that “Just hours after the verdict was read in the biggest case of his career [Casey Anthony], veteran Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton announced he will retire at the end of the week.” As you know, he also handled the Zeigler case. No word yet on who will replace Ashton. To be [...]

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, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

According to the website of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Henry Skinner is set to be executed Nov. 9, 2011. In March of this year, the justices ruled that Skinner had the right to sue a Texas district attorney under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow him access to evidence for [...]

Tags: Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

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, his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Perry and Virginia Edwards, [...]

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, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

A pretrial hearing begins coming Monday in Sullivan County Superior Court (NH) in the case of David McLeod who is accused of setting the 1989 fire that killed the Hina family. McLeod was indicted last year on four counts of murder, accused of setting the blaze that killed the Hinas. I am particularly interested in the forensic arson detection part [...]

Tags: Arson Detection, Autopsy, Cameron Todd Willingham, Crime Scene, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Kenneth Richey, New Hampshire, Police, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

Bernard Jackson was found guilty of 18 total counts of rape, sodomy, and robbery in the cases of four women dating back to 1983 and 1984. The prosecution built their case on DNA. Most victims were never able to give a 100% identification of their attacker due to the fact that they were blindfolded. Fingerprints left [...]

Tags: Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Rape kits, Victim

In the magazine “North & South,” Chris Birt makes a  strong case for an in-depth review of Len and Norma Thomas Demler’s involvement in the case. Note that Norma is not related to Arthur Allan Thomas! Strong ties have existed between the Demler and Thomas family for quite some time. The siblings in the family married [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, arthur allen thomas, Autopsy, Ballistics, Book Reviews, Capital Punishment, Chris Birt, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Jeanette and Harvey Crewe, Len Demler, Miscarriage of Justice, New Zealand, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rochelle Crewe, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions