Phillip Finch Proved Zeigler Was Innocent in his 1992  Book, Fatal Flaw 
But the Courts are too Arrogant to Consider It
Click Here to read why a new trial is a must  
    Edward Williams was the key witness against Zeigler. If his testimony could be proved false, then the case against Zeigler crumbled. He had the principle murder weapon in his possession - a gun that Zeigler had kept in his truck which Willaims could easily have stolen.  It was his story that two other guns that were used in the murders had been purchased for Zeigler by Frank Smith, the owner of record of the guns. Smith was Williams son-in-law by marriage to Mary Stewart. Both testified in support of Williams story and neither were identified as related to Williams. If Edward Williams was lying, then, obviously,  Frank Smith and Mary Stewart were also lying.
    J. D. and Madeline Nolan testified for Zeigler. Their story could not be challenged because it was based on events that were established by police records and police testimony. They testified that they were driving by in front of the furniture store and were almost broadsided by a police car driven by police officer Jimmy Yawn who was responding to a radio call from police chief Robert Thompson. That call,  made precisely at 9:21 PM, reported the fact that Zeigler had called police for help saying he was shot and there had been a robbery at his store.
Below are the salient points of Williams and the Nolans testimony which prove Williams lied, and that William Thomas Zeigler is an innocent man on death row for over 31 years.

 1) Williams claims that he and Zeigler arrived at the furniture store at about 8:30 PM.  Zeigler  said it was about 7:30 PM.

2) Williams claims Zeigler attempted to kill him at about 8:45 PM. as he entered the back door. Zeigler said that he had been shot in the abdomen after a fight that started about 7:45 PM.

3) Williams claims that he ran back outside with Zeigler following.

4) Zeigler, according to Williams, tried to persuade him to come back into the store, giving Williams the gun (which was empty since Zeigler forgot to reload it after using it to kill four other people) as a gesture of goodwill.

5) Williams put the gun in his pocket, climbed the fence in back of the Winter Garden Inn, and ran to the KFC across from the furniture store, a distance that would take about one minute.

6) The timing of these events should have put Williams at the KFC no later than 9 PM.

7) The Nolans testified that they made a U-turn after officer Jimmy Yawn almost ran into them after he got the phone call from Robert Thompson at 9:21. (Officer Yawn and Chief Thompson - from Winter Garden and Oakland Police Departments respectively) had left the KFC at 8:50 after eating together. Yawn was at the Winter Garden Inn when he got the call from Thompson who was at a Christmas party with other police officers when Zeigler called.)

8) The Nolans parked at the KFC to watch what was happening at the furniture store at 9:25.

9) While the Nolans stood outside the KFC, Williams arrived (which was closed, but people were still inside waiting to pick up orders) and asked to use the phone to call police at 9:25.

10) Williams claimed he asked for the police phone number but got a wrong number and left. The time would be about 9:27.  The Nolans could not have been wrong about the time they saw Williams at the KFC because of the fact that the phone call to  Jimmy Yawn was made precisely at 9:21. They could not have been wrong about seeing Williams because there was no other black man who asked to use the phone that night.

12) Zeigler had to have been shot before 9 PM because the through and through wound to his abdomen was dry when  police chief Robert Thompson arrived at 9:22. Thompson lied on the witness stand that the blood was wet, but his written report prepared the night of the murders (found years after the trial) said that the blood was dry.  
13) Williams must have been hiding at the Winter Garden Inn or nearby and did not run to the KFC until after Zeigler made his phone  call to police at 9:20, raising the question, "How did he find out?