Long-awaited DNA analysis proves Zeigler innocent in 1975 murders, lawyers say
www.tampabay.com
After 48 years on death row, the results of Zeigler’s successful battle for DNA testing could mark a breakthrough.
  • marron12@lemmy.world
    5·
    6 hours ago

    Officers or prosecutors withheld the existence of multiple witnesses and police reports, including one of an attempted armed robbery at a gas station across the street from the furniture store within hours of the murders. The original judge also behaved inappropriately, the lawyers say, getting a doctor to prescribe Valium to a holdout juror, who only then voted to convict.

    Withholding evidence is not that uncommon, unfortunately, but it looks like it was especially bad in this case. And giving Valium to a juror is an egregious overreach. The full details of what happened are even worse than it sounds at first glance.

    She was under a lot of pressure because she wanted to talk about the evidence and the other jurors didn’t. They yelled at her and heckled her, basically, until she fainted. The judge finds out and says it’s no problem. Defense lawyer asks for a mistrial, gets turned down. Juror says she doesn’t need a doctor. Then the judge makes a phone call, in secret, and gets her doctor to give her Valium. Enough that the other jurors thought she was “floating.”

    The worst part is, the Florida supreme court saw no problem with that. They said it wasn’t judicial misconduct, it was just the judge being concerned and looking out for her.

  • triptrapper@lemmy.world
    28·
    20 hours ago

    This case sounds eerily similar to the case of Curtis Flowers, who spent 20+ years on death row for a quadruple-homicide in Mississippi. The DA and investigators just didn’t want to do their jobs, so they pinned it on someone who they didn’t expect to fight back, and they tried and convicted him 6 times instead of looking for the real culprit. In the Dark is an incredible podcast about it.

    The state isn’t just stealing the years these guys were locked up. They’re stealing the years afterwards too. In Ziegler’s case, he’s never used a cell phone, never used the internet. There’s no amount of money that would compensate for what they did to him.