Zeigler defense asks Judge Whitehead for evidentiary hearing. Last Thursday, the Zeigler defense team was back in court to ask Judge Whitehead for an evidentiary hearing to explore the latest developments in the case of William Thomas Zeigler, who remains on death row in Florida.
Of course, at issue were the false arrest report and the legal consequences for the case.
From the Orlando Sentinel: “That information would have materially affected the jurors’ verdict,” argued defense attorney John Houston Pope. Pope argued Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead should grant a hearing, in which the defense can call witnesses in support of granting Zeigler a new trial.
“In 1976, the full truth didn’t get out,” Pope said.
However, Senior Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Nunnelly countered that the defense’s request wasn’t timely. Foster’s name “has been in this case since the very, very beginning,” he said.”
Nunnelly is right that Mr. Foster existed all the time however, his existence was made a trivial matter by Det. Frye who dismissed him as a typo.
“Whitehead didn’t decide Thursday whether to grant the defense’s request for an evidentiary hearing. Pope’s co-counsel Dennis Tracey said he expects a decision could take two to five months.”
And so we wait again.