Zeigler, Part XX: The False Arrest Report
The False Arrest Report
The post below 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:
“I have also interviewed one Robert Foster who states that the said W.T. Zeigler, Jr. caused him and the now deceased Charles Mays, Jr. to go to the furniture store where the said W.T. Zeigler, Jr. asked Mr. Robert Foster to turn off the master electrical switch which he did and induced Mays to enter the store and also tried to induce the said Robert Foster to enter the darkened store, but Foster became suspicious and left the said Mays and Zeigler, Jr. inside the said store. The said Robert Foster also contacted the Sheriff’s Department of his own free will.”
If a trial attorney asks for all documents to be handed over concerning the police investigation and especially during discovery, you would expect the state and the police to be truthful. The fact that they were not in this case has been shown here on DCC before. I refer to the posts about the Jellison Tape and the complete Thompson report.
On April 23, 1976, a deposition was taken from Detective Frye. This deposition is scanned in here below.
I quote for convenience:
“Q: Who is Robert Foster?
A: That name doesn’t register with me for some reason.
Q: Were you the affiant on the arrest of Tommy Zeigler on December 29th, 1975?
A: Yes. What date?
Q: December 29th, 1975. You filled in the oath, the arrest report; is that correct?
A: Yes.
Q: I want to read this. I have interviewed one Edward Williams who states under oath that W.T. Zeigler, Jr., et cetera. It goes on down. Then we go to the second paragraph: I have also interviewed one Robert Foster who states that the said W.T. Zeigler, Jr. caused him and the now deceased Charles Mays, Jr. to go to the furniture store where the said W.T. Zeigler, Jr. asked Mr. Robert Foster to turn off the master electrical switch which he did and induced Mays to enter the store, et cetera.
Now, Mr. Frye, my question is: We seem to have this fellow who is Buddy Felton, or Felton Thomas. Under oath in your arrest report, he is Robert Foster. I am a little confused.
A: Should have been Felton. That was written up while we were on the way to the Sheriff’s Office. The secretary, Heidi Lee, typed that portion for me. When I got back to the jail, it was waiting for me at the turnkey.
Q: Is that your signature on that?
A: Yes.
Q: And you signed that as being true?
A: Robert Felton.
Q: I thought his name was Felton Thomas or Buddy Felton. I’m sure you can appreciate my confusion. So, my client was placed under arrest; and the arrest report, that’s a mistake?
A: It was a typographical error.”
Was it really an error? Frye signed a new arrest report dated March 26, 1976 leaving out any information about a man called Robert Foster. Image here on the left.
As you know, Mr. Zeigler’s lawyers went to court on December 1, 2011 for the DNA hearing. In April 2011, a press conference took place in another part of Florida. Mrs. Jean Gonzalez reported about that press conference for the Florida Catholic. Lynn Marie Carty, an independent investigator, had found Robert Foster.
“Vernon Davids, one of Zeigler’s original trial attorneys, told the Florida Catholic that the defense believed Frye’s testimony about the confusion with the names. “In view of the fact that Don Frye testified under oath that a Robert Foster did not exist — it was just an error on the part of the state — we took his word. At that point we had no reason to believe that they would lie to us,” Davids said.”
But now that we know that Robert Foster did and still does exist, it changes the game!
Categories: Miscarriages of Justice, Zeigler
Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, 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
In the 1997 film THE GAME, Michael Douglas plays the part of a man sucked into a bizarre world of intrigues and personal danger. He begins to suspect that this cruel game is an attempt to steal his fortune, drive him insane and even kill him.
In 1976, Tommy Zeigler found himself the pawn in such a game. He has been compelled to play this game ever since – through appeals which were ‘time barred’ or ‘harmless errors’ despite a variety of flaws that have been sufficient to grant a mistrial or retrial in other cases. We can only pray that this new evidence will finally put an end to the cruel game Florida has been playing on Tommy.
Keep up your excellent work, investorgators, and all you who have worked so hard to expose the truth for many, many years! The truth will set Tommy free!
Does/did Robert Foster have a flesh wound from a slug in any part of his body (If slug is the right term for bullet). Just a thought, but where did that extra unaccounted for slug go? It’s been a while since I was brainstorming with you, V. But it has kept bugging me ever since.
Or am I totally off track with that one?
Evie
Plus, why was there even mention of the $500.000 insurance on Eunice Zeigler, at that stage, in an arrest report? Is that normal?
Were they additional grounds for suspicion in order to make an arrest? It seems to be a bit leading to me.
But then I’m no legal professional and wouldn’t know what they are meant to do at the point of arrest.
Evie (again)
Not sure at this time, Evie! That one missing slug … I think it did walk out in someone’s body but who, I do not know.
It was leading and the simple explanation was that Tommy kept private and business purchases strictly separated. In case the business failed, personal, assets would not be affected because legally, they were not in his name. So instead of seeking the evil underlying interpretation, the explanation might be as simple as protecting what was theirs privately from possible future business bankruptcy.
Thanks for those responses, V.
From the outside looking in, it appears that some things were taken into account, that perhaps shouldn’t have been and some things weren’t taken into account, that should have been. (I won’t go over ground you have already covered). Not exactly tidy, considering there was a persons’ lifelong freedom depending on it all.
If there were grounds for reasonable doubt. It just makes me wonder if someone managed to fool the system and walk away Scot-free, from murders they commited. And that would be a huge insult to the system.
I truly hope the legal system can prove itself to be one that would leave no stone unturned, until they sort this case out, in its entirety.
I hope so too, Evie. The last three posts show how withholding evidence played a role throughout the case. Zeigler would not have been convicted if evidence available at that time (e.g. Thompson Report, Jellison Tape and the first arrest report by Det. Frye) had been handed over to the defense as the State is obligated to do under Brady v. Maryland.
Yes, I read re: evidence available at that time (e.g. Thompson Report, Jellison Tape and the first arrest report by Det. Frye), yesterday. Just before I placed my comments.
I truly hope they do get to the bottom of this one.
In these times of sensation headlines and cyber-news, wouldn’t it nicely reinforce the power of the modern day system, if it proudly sent out news, that it seeks to continuously improve itself through the course of time? No matter what that involves!
And if there is someone walking Scot-free, perhaps they can finally begin to understand, that what they did was wrong.
If only through the thoughts that would run through their mind. As a result of the news, that reasonable doubt has come to light, in W. T. Zeiglers’ case.