Justice for Tommy Zeigler

Honorable Charles Crist, Governor
The Capitol, State of Florida
400 S. Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001

Dear Governor Crist:

This is a petition for clemency for death row inmate William Thomas Zeigler, Jr. As you know, Mr. Zeigler has been on Floridas death row for thirty-one years. We have executed this petition without regard to our individual beliefs concerning the death penalty. The people whose names are recorded below have read the facts concerning the trial and sentencing of Mr. Zeigler and are of the firm conviction that this man did not receive a fair trial because of bias on the part of the trial judge and evidence that was hidden by the prosecution. We have seen the results of the DNA testing that was done on blood evidence used to convict Mr. Zeigler, and we are convinced that the DNA evidence alone would have led the jury to a finding of not guilty. The DNA evidence, when combined with the evidence that was apparently purposely withheld from the defense and the inexcusable refusal of the trial judge to step aside from the case because of prior contact with Mr. Zeigler, creates a shameful stain on the American system of justice which can only be wiped clean by your immediate action to commute Mr. Zeiglers sentence to time served and release him from prison as a free man.
Governor Crist, the courts have demonstrated that they are incompetent to deal with the evidence of Mr. Zeiglers innocence. As citizens who are also subject to the rules of the judiciary, we are appalled that legal precedent and procedure can be used to bar the comprehensive reconsideration of the facts in this case. A brief summary of why you alone must take action is presented below. For an exhaustive presentation of the facts of the case we refer you to the web site: www. tommyzeigler.blogspot.com.

1) Based on common sense and the rules that currently apply to judges, the trial judge should have recused himself from presiding because of his having served as a character witness for the prosecution in a trial just four months before Mr. Zeigler was accused of murder. At that trial, Mr. Zeigler was a character witness for the defense.

2) A report by the police officer who transported Zeigler to the hospital written the night of the murders described the blood from Zeiglers gunshot wound to the stomach as being dry. That report, which would have corroborated Mr. Zeigler's claim that he was shot at least a half hour prior to his calling the police, was hidden from the defense by the prosecution. The police officer falsely testified at trial that the blood around the wound was still wet. Wet blood supported the prosecution's theory that Zeigler's wound was self inflicted to deflect suspicion from himself as the killer.

3) The testimony of two eye witnesses who would have corroborated Mr. Zeiglers contention that he was framed for the murders was withheld from defense attorneys. This testimony was not discovered until years after Zeiglers trial.

4) Because the trial judge refused to grant defense motions requesting additional time to prepare for trial, the test result of gun shot residue on the clothes of one of the witnesses was not available until after the trial. This evidence would have impugned the testimony of this prosecution witness and implicated the witness as a possible accomplice in the murders.

5) After years of resistance by the prosecution, DNA testing of blood stains on Mr. Zeiglers shirt and on the pants of one of the murder victims who Mr. Zeigler claimed was the actual killer was completed in 2001. The blood stain on the shirt had been used very dramatically by the prosecution to depict Zeigler as holding his father in law in a headlock while beating his head with a metal object. Zeigler claimed the blood could only be from the dead man who was the actual killer because they had fought before Mr. Zeigler was shot in the abdomen with a .357 magnum pistol. The DNA proved that Zeigler was right and the prosecution was wrong. The prosecution argued that the blood on the pants of the dead man Zeigler claimed was one of the actual killers was this mans own blood because it was soaked into his pants leg. Again DNA analysis proved the prosecution was wrong. The blood was found to be that of the father in law who, according to prosecution theory was supposed to have been killed at least a half hour earlier. This fact put the dead man in the store at the time of the other murders for which Zeigler was convicted. Both of these facts clearly support Mr. Zeiglers innocence. Nonetheless, in 2007 the Florida Supreme Court refused to grant a new trial so that this information could be considered by a new jury.

Governor Crist, by separate letter we have asked that you meet with a three person delegation of our Committee for Justice for Tommy Zeigler so that this petition may be presented to you in a formal ceremony.