Zeigler DNA Appeal denied

From the Orlando Sentinel: “The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday denied an appellate motion by convicted killer Tommy Zeigler, the latest ruling in his three-plus-decade fight to get off death row. 

Tommy appealed to the state Supreme Court after a circuit judge denied his request to have DNA tests performed on his clothing from the night of the murders.

His defense argued a lack of blood from one of the victims, his father-in-law, on those clothes would have shown Zeigler didn’t commit the beating the victim suffered.

But on Thursday, the higher court affirmed the circuit’s ruling, concluding that the absence of blood on Zeigler’s clothes would “not establish that he was not the perpetrator.”

The Kish report concerning the DNA on Zeigler’s clothing is here.

During the December 1 hearing last year, Mr. Kish “identified four areas of blood on Tommy’s shirt that he wore that night that he believes should be tested for DNA. They include blood spatter on the center front of the shirt; the left sleeve with a saturation stain; the right front shoulder with spatter; and the outside right cuff with spatter. 

The expert also recommends testing spatter staining on the left cuff of his pants and a saturation stain on the upper left thigh region of the pants. When Senior Ass. State Attorney General Nunnelly asked whether the lack of Edwards’ blood on Zeigler’s clothing would definitively mean he did not kill the man, Kish said, “It means the evidence does not support that he was there when the blood was being spattered.”

To be continued!