Click here to cast a vote for Zeigler's guilt or innocence. See below for a synopsis of the evidence.

There are two versions of what happened inside a darkened furniture store in Winter Garden, Floirda on Christmas Eve, 1975. After reading the two versions of what happened below, we invite you to vote William Thomas Zeigler, guilty or not guilty by clicking on the link above. See also the petition to Florida Gov. Crist .

The first version, which the jury accepted, is this. Tommy Zeigler, a successful 30 year old furniture store owner who was actively trying to curb the exploitation of the black community in west Orange County, killed his wife, her parents, and a black “crew boss” inside his furniture store. The motive for killing his wife was a $500,000 insurance policy he had taken out on her, with her knowledge, a few months before. There was no apparent reason to kill her parents except that they were also in the store at the time. He killed the black man who was a regular customer to frame him for the murder of his wife and in-laws. In order to create the appearance that the black man had committed the murders, Zeigler shot himself in the stomach with a high powered pistol. The father-in-law and the black man had been shot and then beaten around the head with a metal linoleum crank. The wife was killed by a single bullet behind the ear and the mother-in-law was shot more than once. The in-laws were shot with two different weapons, one of which belonged to Zeigler.

The prosecution built its case around the testimony of three people, the blood stains on Zeigler’s clothes and on the clothes of the black customer, and the 6 guns that were either found at the scene or turned over to police the day after the crime. The story of one of the three witnesses for the prosecution was that he had come to the store after closing time with his friend to help him pick up a TV set. The van the two came to the store in was parked behind a 6 foot chain link fence in back of the furniture store. The witness claimed that a white man whom he was told was Zeigler drove up beside them while he and the man who was killed waited in their van and asked them to ride to a nearby orange grove to test fire two cheap pistols. The three then returned to the store where the man he believed was Zeigler tried to break-in but couldn’t. They then drove to Zeigler’ house to get the key and a bag containing some bullets to reload the guns. When they returned to the store again, the witness refused to go in with the man he knew as Zeigler, so Zeigler told him to wait in the car and the other two went inside the dark store. The witness then ran away and got a ride back to his house. This version required Zeigler first to kill the relatives, then take his car around in back of the store to pick up the witness and the dead man and then after killing one of the two while the other got away, he returned to his home, parked the car in the garage and climbed into the next witness’s truck, who was waiting for him at Zeigler’s house.

The second witness was a black handyman who had helped Zeigler with different projects for several years. He testified that, with Zeigler in the handyman’s truck, the two drove to the store. Zeigler went in through the front door, walked through the dark store and opened the back door near the side of the building. Zeigler then opened the back gate, let the truck in, relocked the gate, and went inside again. As the handyman came into the darkened store, he said he heard three clicks from a gun that he couldn’t see but believed was held by Zeigler. He ran outside with Zeigler following. Zeigler then gave him the gun which he put into his pocket and climbed over the back fence and ran to the KFC in front of the furniture store to call the police. At the KFC, he said he asked for the number of the police, but when he called he got a wrong number. He then left and caught a ride with a friend of his. The next day he turned over the gun to police. That gun, which was a gun Zeigler kept in his truck, had been fired until empty and had been wiped clean of fingerprints.

The third witness claimed that he had purchased the two cheap guns fired in the orange grove for Zeigler at the request of the handyman (who was related to him by marriage, but this was not known during the trial). He admitted he had only talked to Zeigler on the phone and that did not get paid until after the purchase was made.
There were blood stains and bullet holes throughout the store. The two heaviest stains were on Zeigler’s shirt under one arm and on the dead black man’s pants. Both the father-in-law and the dead black man had type A blood which was all that was determined. The prosecutor told the jury that the blood on Zeigler's shirt was from the father-in-law and the blood on the black man’s pants was this man’s own blood. As it turned out, when DNA analysis was completed 26 years later, these statements were proved to be exactly the opposite from what the prosecution claimed, ie, the blood on Zeigler’s shirt was from the dead black man and the blood on the dead black man was from the father-in-law.

To reinforce the complicated scenario presented by the prosecution and to make it easier for the jury to accept the speculation about the source of the blood stains, the prosecution hid a report written by the policeman who was first to arrive after Zeigler called for help. That report, which was not found until years later, described the blood from Zeigler’s stomach wound as being dry, suggesting he had been shot at least a half hour before the phone call. At trial, the policeman testified that Zeigler's wound was still wet which supported the prosecution speculation that Zeigler shot himself. Zeigler’s story was fairly simple. His wife and father-in-law had gone to the store to pick out a chair as a Christmas present. They left about 7PM. Zeigler was coming with the handyman who was going to help with Christmas present deliveries. The handyman was at least a half hour late in arriving at his house. They drove to the store together and Zeigler went in the back door after opening and then re-locking the gate. The time was a little after 7:30PM. As Zeigler entered the back door, he tried to turn on the lights, but they wouldn't come on. He was then attacked by at least two and probably 3 or more people. He pulled out his .22 pistol and fired one round, but then it jammed. He threw that gun at someone in the dark, and managed to get to the nearby table where he kept his .357 magnum pistol. He managed to fire several shots with it, before it was taken away from him and he was shot with that gun. He said he had a fight with the dead black guy and swung the gun at him in addition to firing it. He believes he hit the man with at least one shot. He claims he did not beat him to death after he was hit nor did he have anything to do with the murder of his wife or her parents. He lost consciousness after he was shot and when he awoke, he called police.

Two witnesses who would have corroborated Zeigler’s story, said they had contacted the police prior to the trial and been turned away as not needed. One told of seeing 4 cars in front of the furniture store as they drove by just before 7:30PM. There was also a pickup truck and a “dark skinned man” seen walking toward it. They noticed the vehicles after they were startled by the sound of multiple gun shots fired very rapidly. The other suppressed witness told of seeing a policeman in back of the furniture store with gun drawn and then he hearing several gun shots after he saw the policeman. Zeigler had said he had been threatened by police because of his efforts to stop loan sharking. Four months before the crime he had been a character witness in the trial of a black friend who would have lost his bar if the charge of selling drugs had prevailed. His friend kept the bar which many believe was wanted by the loan sharks.