Was Famed Criminalist, Herbert L. MacDonell, Swayed by his Own Possible Prejudice? Why is he more Concerned with the Position of Mays' pants than the Fact that they are Soaked with Perry Edwards' blood. Read his letter. 

The picture at left shows Herbert L. MacDonell demonstrating his theory of how Zeigler beat his father-in-law over the head on a national TV show in 1989. The DNA proved MacDonell's theory was pure speculation!

Herbert L. MacDonell has become famous for his expertise in reconstructing crime scenes based on blood stains. His testimony for the prosecution in 1976 helped convict Ziegler. MacDonell also appeared on a nationally televised program in the late 1980's called "A Matter of Life and Death." In that program he demonstrated to the nation how he thought Zeigler had killed his father-in-law by beating him over the head while holding his head under his left arm. MacDonell was proved to be wrong by the DNA, but the publicity he received may have helped advance his career. His conclusions now would seem to have been based on mere speculation influenced by rumors that may have been planted by the policeman who drove Zeigler to the hospital, Robert Thompson. In a letter to the Committee dated January 11, 2008, the well known blood splatter expert ignored the question asked of him (see the correspondence section) about how blood from murder victim, Perry Edwards, could have been transferred from the clothes worn by Zeigler to the clothes worn by Charlie Mays when none of Perry Edwards' blood was found anywhere on Zeigler. MacDonell had made that unsupported claim in a letter dated January 2, 2008. Instead of responding to that question, MacDonell, head of a forensic science laboratory and known for his analysis of blood stains in the O. J. Simpson case,  made nine points all relating to the fact that Charlie Mays was found dead at the crime scene with his pants as shown in the photograph.   Zeigler has always claimed that Charlie Mays was one of the killers who attacked and shot him after a life or death struggle in which Zeigler wounded Mays in the abdomen before his gun was taken away from him and used to shoot Zeigler in the abdomen. After being shot, Mays was beaten to death with a linoleum crank found on Mays' arm. Zeigler has always maintained that someone else was in the store who beat Mays to death.

The most outrageous point in MacDonell's letter is that "it is logical that he (Zeigler) fondled, licked, or sucked Mr. Mays' gentiles." (sic) This statement was made after MacDonell claims that he is not interested in what the Committee has to say "because it has nothing to do with the physical evidence and nothing to do with that upon which my conclusions were based." Since there was no testimony at trial about the crime having a homosexual motive, Mr. MacDonell's claim of objectivity is even more startling. Nothing in either of his letters demonstrates that his conclusions at trial were anything more than speculation. No one ever investigated whether anyone else could have been in the store the night of the murders and MacDonell's "evidence" proves only that more investigation is needed to find out who framed Tommy Zeigler.

In two subsequent emailed letters, MacDonell accuses the Committee of "looking up the ass of a dead horse" (shades of the Godfather) and "not living in the real world" (referring to our being unable to see how the position of Mays pants proved anything regarding homosexual motives. Mays was shot in the abdomen, but killed later by having his head beaten with a metal object. It seems likely that someone trying to stop the blood flow from a wound in the abdomen might well pull down his own pants.) He again refers to rumors not allowed at the trial that were spead by never identified sources regarding Zeigler's homosexual motives, but he makes no attempt to justify his statement that the Perry Edwards blood found on the clothes of Charlie Mays transferred there from contact with Zeigler's clothes. No blood from Perry Edwards was found on any of Zeigler's clothes. Strangely, neither Jimmy Yawn nor Robert Thompson, the two policeman first on the scene before any pictures were taken, remembered seeing Charlie Mays' pants pulled down. This raises even more suspicion that the homosexual motive was a spur of the moment addition to a police inspired plot to frame Tommy Zeigler.