Florida | Zeigler Defense: New DNA evidence proves he is not the killer

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — Florida death row inmate William "Tommy" Zeigler has filed a new motion to prove his innocence using new DNA testing.

In late 2022, a judge granted Zeigler and his defense team new DNA testing on evidence from the 1975 Christmas Eve mass murder of Zeigler's family inside his Winter Garden furniture store. Police found the bodies of Zeigler's wife, Eunice, her parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and customer Charlie Mays inside the store alongside Zeigler.

The women were both shot, and the men had been brutally beaten inside the store.

Zeigler himself had a gunshot wound to his stomach, which was ruled by the prosecution to be self-inflicted. The now-79-year-old has been on death row for nearly 49 years, longer than anyone else in Florida history.

The new motion, filed on Jan. 17 by Zeigler's legal team, says the DNA proves that Mays was one of the killers.

Zeigler's attorneys say that the DNA testing results are "wholly inconsistent" with Zeigler's guilt and that the absence of blood from Zeigler's family members shows that he could not have committed the murders. His attorneys also said that DNA testing results showed Mays' clothes were stained with the blood of Perry Edwards, which supports the conclusion that Mays was a perpetrator. They also said that the DNA results show the state's claims that Zeigler held Perry Edwards in a headlock and beat him was false.

In a statement to WESH 2 News, Zeigler's attorney, Terry Hadley, said, "After a joint investigation in which the state attorney's office was fully engaged and rigorous DNA testing using new science and techniques, we believe we have developed the evidence that conclusively shows that Tommy Zeigler is an innocent man. Our motion that we have filed on Friday, reflects the results of that investigation and the exhibits which will be filed on Tuesday when the courts reopen will support that position completely after trying for over 40 years to exonerate this man, we believe that the courts will free him soon based upon the new evidence that we are presenting."

No hearing has been set to review the new evidence, and the state has not filed a response to the motion.

Source: wesh.com, Greg Fox, January 18, 2025

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