Death penalty recommended for Joseph Zieler, Florida man who killed girl, babysitter in 1990

Jurors in southwest Florida have advisable the loss of life penalty for a person convicted of killing an 11-year-old woman and her babysitter greater than 30 years in the past. The advice got here following a trial through which Joseph Zieler yelled on the jury and made vulgar gestures whereas he was on the witness stand.

The Lee County jury voted 10-2 in favor of loss of life for Zieler on Wednesday evening after about 5 hours of deliberations, based on court docket information. The identical panel discovered Zieler, 60, responsible final week of two counts of first-degree homicide.

A decide will make the ultimate determination in whether or not Zieler shall be executed or spend the remainder of his life in jail following a June 26 listening to. Florida legislation had beforehand required a unanimous jury suggestion for a convicted assassin to face the loss of life penalty, however a brand new legislation signed final month by Gov. Ron DeSantis requires solely an 8-4 vote in favor of execution.

Zieler was jailed on an unrelated assault cost in 2016 when his DNA matched to the cold-case murders of Robin Cornell, 11, and Lisa Story, 32, authorities mentioned.

The woman and the lady had been present in a Cape Coral condo in Might 1990, officers mentioned. Robin’s mom had been out for the evening and found the suffocated our bodies when she returned the following morning. Investigators mentioned each victims had been sexually assaulted.

Cape Coral is about 100 miles south of Tampa.

CBS affiliate WINK-TV reported that Zieler surprised the courtroom when he claimed he had slept with Cornell’s mom just a few months earlier than the homicide.

“I believed the one manner my DNA may have gotten there was from me sleeping with Jan Cornell,” he mentioned. Then he known as Cornell a pig: “She’s calling me a rapist and a assassin, and I am calling her a pig as a result of she would not wash her sheets.”

WINK-TV additionally reported that Zieler screamed on the jury and made vulgar gestures whereas on the stand.

“I imply, everybody’s speaking in regards to the finger,” his lawyer, Lee Hollander, mentioned. “His conduct on the stand didn’t assist. For those who’re in a gap, cease digging. That is what I wished to say proper then and there.”

Hollander continued: “I am again behind counsel desk. And he is up within the within the witness chair. And it was like, sitting down watching a practice wreck.”