To President Obama, from the daughter of the police chief who arrested Tommy: Dear Mr. President, I realize that you are a very busy man, but I beg you to take a moment of your time and consider my plea to be heard. I am the daughter of a now deceased Chief of Police that served in Oakland Florida in the mid '70's. My father was a good man. However, I feel that he may have been involved in corruption of a small southern town that put an innocent man on Death Row where he has now been for over three decades. My father played a major role in the prosecution and conviction of Tommy Zeigler. Mr. Zeigler's wife and in-laws were the victims of a horrible mass murder on Christmas Eve in the late 70's. Mr. Zeigler survived the others, although he was shot in the abdomon. Mr. Zeigler was a good man. He fought for the rights and fair treatment of blacks and minorities in a town that treated these individuals so unjustly, and for this, I believe his life has been taken away. You may have seen this story on unsolved mysteries. Or perhaps you may have read the book about this case, Fatal Flaw, by Phillip Finch. At the time of this crime, DNA testing was not available. Since then, DNA has proven that he could not have comitted this crime, yet the State's Attorney refuses to grant Mr. Zeigler a new trial. My father was the first on the scene, and transported Mr. Zeigler to the hospital. His original report was buried and not recovered until the '90's; this report would have confirmed Mr. Zeigler's story and could have set him free. A prejudiced judge refused to step aside and let another judge hear the case. This judge was a witness in a prior case on the opposing side of which Mr. Zeigler was also a witness. The judge's side lost the case. This was a case where Mr. Zeigler, a white man, was helping a black business owner in a town surrounded by the Ku Klux Klan. It would take days to tell you this whole story, so I will end it here. I only plea that you can have someone research this case, and find it in your heart to give this man a chance to live. He needs a fair trial from an impartial judge, one who will allow this DNA into evidence. All police reports need to be presented, this includes the "buried' report that was found in the 90's. Please understand this this is very difficult for me because I am having to admit that a man that I so dearly love may have taken an entire lifetime away for an innocent man that lost all of his family on one Christmas Eve night. Please sir, we can not fight this corruption alone! Please help! Sincerely, Christine Thompson Return to home page

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