- Almost True - Page 293

Epilogue

In March of 1992, Zeigler’s attorneys submitted a new habeas petition to state circuit judge Gary Formet.  This was the beginning of what almost certainly would be Zeigler's last series of appeals.  Formet, who had re-instituted the death sentence against Zeigler in the 1989 penalty hearing, refused to consider arguments about Irma Brickle's possible use of Valium during jury deliberations, and about the unreleased material, including the Jellison tape, which Leslie Gift had discovered in the state attorney's files.

Formet did grant a hearing on the allegation by John Bulled, the Orange County jail trusty, that sheriff's officers had fabricated the "orange grove" bullet.  That bullet, which shared the class characteristics of the Securities revolver, was supposed to have been discovered by a four-man crew of jail trusties digging through the grove.  If true, that would invalidate Zeigler's trial and conviction.

During the hearing, on May 27, 1992, Bulled repeated his charge that sheriff's officers had fabricated the bullet in the grove. Zeigler's attorneys had persuaded a second member of the crew to testify.  That man, John Beverly, testified that he saw a sheriff's deputy toss a slug down on the ground, then reach down and claim that he had discovered it.

The hearing lasted less than one day.  Formet found that Bulled and Beverly were not credible, and he denied Zeigler's motion for a new trial.

As of this writing, Zeigler's hopes for a new trial rest with the state's supreme court, which has never ruled favorably on any of his appeals issues, and with federal courts, which in recent years have become increasingly reluctant to consider appeals on matters that have already received "full and fair review" in state courts.

"I know the chances are good that I will be executed," he wrote in a letter a few days before Formet's decision.  "I will not fight another death warrant.  I have seen what this does to my family and friends, and I will never put them through this again.

"I am not afraid to die, I know where I will be going.  I will be with Eunice and Papa and Mom Edwards and Pop Edwards.  I know I am innocent of these crimes, and God knows it, too."

The murders on Christmas Eve, 1975, exacted a horrible toll.  The list of victims only begins with the dead.  It includes their families and friends, who continue to suffer.  The execution of Tommy Zeigler, while the killers remain unpunished, would mean that the final victim is justice itself.