Florida murderer elbows attorney in face and flashes ‘killer’ across teeth as he is sentenced to death
Sixty-one-year-old Joseph Zieler was trying to appeal his death sentence
A Florida murderer elbowed his attorney in the face and flashed the word “killer” across this teeth as he was sentenced to death for the 1990 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl and her babysitter.
Joseph Zieler, 61, was found guilty in May for the 1990 murders of 11-year-old Robin Cornell and her babysitter Lisa Story, 32.
Cornell and Story were found beaten, raped and suffocated to death by the child’s mother, but it would be more than two decades before an arrest was made in the case.
Investigators in Cape Coral, Florida, first linked Zieler to the case in 2016, when forensic tests revealed that semen found at the scene matched his DNA.
He was arrested that year and, seven years later, a grand jury delivered a guilty verdict and recommended that he should be sentenced to death for his crimes.
On Monday (26 June), Zieler was in court as his defence was set to present an appeal for a new trial.
But, during the court hearing, the now-convicted murderer appeared to become enraged that cameras were present in the courtroom.
Shocking video shows Zieler leaning towards his attorney Kevin Shirley and briefly whispering something to him – before he suddenly elbows him in the face.
Three court bailiffs quickly tackle the killer to the ground and removed him from the courtroom.
Following the altercation, Judge Robert Banning asked Mr Shirley if he was okay, with the attorney replying that “he had taken harder hits before”.
“It seemed like he didn’t want our conversation to be picked up by the microphones. So he waved me down and I bent over, and he struck me,” Mr Shirley later told Fox 4.
“The bailiffs were extremely quick to respond and eliminated any future threat.”
When Zieler returned to the courtroom, he growled and flashed the word “killer” across his teeth.
Judge Banning later denied Zieler’s request for a new trial and he was sentenced to death for the heinous murders.
Zieler previously claimed that he didn’t remember anything before 1998 due to injuries he suffered in a motorcycle accident. He also claimed during the sentencing that he was innocent.
“I have nothing to do with this,” he said, according to the News-Press. “I maintain my innocence.”
Robin’s mother Jan Cornell told Fox4 after the sentencing: “In their case, I needed to be their voice, I wasn’t going to let either one of them down.
“I wasn’t there that night to save them or at least help one get away and for 33 years I wasn’t going to let them down.”
Ms Cornell was spending the night at her boyfriend’s home when the murders took place.
The following day, she returned to her home to find the front door was locked. After entering through a backdoor, she discovered her daughter and friend’s lifeless bodies.
State Attorney Amira Fox said that she was glad to finally get justice in the decades-old case.
“I moved here in 1990 and this crime had just happened, I was a young prosecutor then and it stuck with me all of that time,” she said.
“To see 33 years later this justice served ... I felt chills in the courtroom.”
Relatives of Zieler also released a statement saying they were sorry for what he had done to his victims.