ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell is seeking to examine decades-old fingerprint evidence in the case of Tommy Zeigler, a Winter Garden man who’s been on Florida’s Death Row since a judge sentenced him for the 1975 quadruple murder of his wife, in-laws, and a customer inside his family’s furniture store.
Worrell’s request marks the first time since Zeigler’s conviction 47 years ago that the state of Florida has offered to test evidence in the long-closed murder case, according to Zeigler’s legal team.
[INSIDER EXTRA: Read the motion from Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office]
“All testing has been done at the request of the defense,” said Terry Hadley, an attorney who has represented Zeigler since his arrest nearly five decades ago. “What I think Monique is trying to do is make sure we don’t overlook anything.”
Zeigler’s lawyers and supporters believe the 77-year-old is innocent, citing numerous problems with the original murder investigation and jury trial. The courts have repeatedly denied Zeigler’s requests for a new trial.
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Last year a judge granted a joint motion filed by Worrell and Zeigler’s attorneys that gave Zeigler the ability to conduct DNA tests on dozens of pieces of evidence that have been locked up in storage since his 1976 trial.
That DNA testing, which is currently underway at a private lab, is being done entirely at Zeigler’s expense.
“There is no reason to burden taxpayers with the cost of additional DNA testing when the defendant’s counsel is prepared to bear that cost,” Zeigler’s lawyers wrote in a 2021 court filing.
Since Worrell is unilaterally requesting the fingerprint examination, taxpayers will likely cover the estimated $2,400 cost of lab work should a judge approve it.
“The State Attorney’s commitment to conviction integrity compels her and her Conviction Integrity Unit to perform a holistic review of Mr. Zeigler’s entire case,” said Keisha Mulfort, a spokesperson for the State Attorney’s Office. “Such a holistic review includes an evaluation of all the evidence collected, not just the evidence being analyzed for DNA.”
Worrell’s office said it must have the ability to respond appropriately should the DNA testing results prompt Zeigler to seek future relief in court.
“[Currently] the state attorney has not decided to submit any other physical evidence in the case for examination, but the case review is ongoing and may lead to additional testing,” Worrell’s spokesperson told News 6.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who previously opposed Zeigler’s request for DNA testing, was not briefed by Worrell on her latest efforts to seek fingerprint testing.
“It should not surprise anyone at this point that State Attorney Worrell acts more like a defense counsel, using taxpayer resources to advance the cause of a quadruple murderer found guilty more than 45 years ago, instead of prosecuting violent repeat offenders who need to be taken out of our communities,” said Whitney Ray, the Office of Attorney General’s communications director. “It is also no surprise that she failed to inform our office prior to making side agreements with defense counsel to advance a criminal’s case.”
Citing a Florida Supreme Court ruling last year, Worrell asserts that her office does not need Moody’s permission to seek evidence testing.
“Prosecutors who hide evidence or prevent accused or convicted individuals from accessing it serve only their own interests and prevent the pursuit of justice,” said Worrell.
Worrell is asking a judge to release inked fingerprint samples taken from the bodies of Zeigler’s wife, Eunice, and Eunice’s parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards.
The three family members were fatally shot in Zeigler’s Winter Garden furniture store on Christmas Eve 1975.
The state attorney is also seeking fingerprint samples from Charlie Mays, a man prosecutors described as a customer of the furniture store who was beaten and shot to death.
Zeigler has suggested Mays and other assailants were robbing the store when Zeigler’s wife and in-laws were killed by the intruders.
Zeigler claims one of those intruders shot him in the abdomen. But prosecutors argued Zeigler’s wound was self-inflicted to make himself appear to be a victim.
Worrell is seeking to examine latent fingerprint impressions found on the lid of a cigar box located in a pool of Mays’s blood.
The state attorney also wants to examine latent impressions collected from the fender and passenger door of an Oldsmobile Zeigler may have been driving the night of the murders.
“Among the evidence submitted to the jury were a small number of fingerprints that were consistent with Mr. Zeigler and/or Charlie Mays,” said Worrell’s spokesperson. “Given the age of the case, the state attorney has decided to ensure that the previous latent fingerprint findings remain accurate by prevailing standards for latent print comparison.”
Worrell is also seeking fingerprint samples from Curtis Dunaway, a furniture store employee who traded cars with Zeigler hours before the murder, and Felton Thomas, a key prosecution witness who testified he accompanied Mays to the store to pick up a TV.
If a judge approves Worrell’s request to release the fingerprint evidence, the work would be conducted at a private lab based in Mississippi that is certified to perform latent print examinations.
However, Worrell’s motion states that some evidence may need to be transferred from the private lab to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office “to complete additional fingerprint examinations of evidence.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigated the quadruple murders in 1975 and concluded Zeigler was responsible.
“We have not agreed to examine any evidence for [the state attorney],” a sheriff’s office spokesperson told News 6. “Everything relating to the Conviction Integrity Unit up to this point has been facilitated under court order pertaining to the transfer of evidence to private labs at their cost.”
An assistant state attorney handling the Zeigler case contacted a detective on March 14, according to sheriff’s officials, the day after Worrell filed the motion seeking the fingerprint examinations. The prosecutor reportedly did not follow up with the law enforcement agency’s latent print supervisor.
“There was no discussion or mention of a court motion or any request made at that time for us to complete any additional fingerprint examinations,” the sheriff’s office spokesperson said.
Worrell, who has faced recent criticism from some local law enforcement leaders, believes Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to find a reason to remove her from office.
“Of course, we’re concerned,” said Hadley, Zeigler’s longtime attorney. “I think it would be a real tragedy if Worrell was removed.”
Hadley praised the state attorney for requesting the examination of latent fingerprint evidence in his client’s case.
“[Worrell] is a good prosecutor,” Hadley said. “She is seeking the truth, and God bless her for that.”
The state attorney claims the only cause her office is advancing “is that of truth and justice.”
“We’ve done nothing more than agree that Mr. Ziegler must have an opportunity to test the evidence the State used to convict him and condemn him to death,” Worrell said. “If he is in fact guilty of these murders, that testing will do nothing to assist him. If he is not, all who care about justice want to know.”
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