CAPE CORAL, Fla. (TCN) — The Florida Supreme Court has denied the appeal of Joseph Zieler, who was sentenced to death for a 1990 double murder in 2023.
According to Gulf Coast News Now, the mother of 11-year-old Robin Cornell went to her boyfriend’s house to watch a basketball game on TV and left Cornell in the care of her roommate, 32-year-old Lisa Story, on May 9, 1990. When Cornell’s mother arrived home later, she found Story’s naked body in a room upstairs and Cornell on the floor of another bedroom. An investigation found both had been raped and killed by an intruder, and the case went cold for decades.
DNA evidence obtained at the scene was tested multiple times over the years, and in 2016, it was found to match the DNA of Joseph Zieler, now 64. Authorities had his DNA from an unrelated case, according to Gulf Coast News Now.
He was indicted on first-degree murder charges. During his trial in 2023, the jury was given incorrect information when they were told Zieler would face life without parole if convicted instead of life with the possibility of parole after 25 years behind bars, based on Florida law at the time of Cornell and Story’s deaths.
The Fort Myers News-Press reports Zieler was sentenced to death on June 26, 2023. Jurors had recommended the death penalty 10-2.
According to News4Jax, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law in 2023 that allowed juries to have an 8-4 split instead of a unanimous vote when it comes to the death penalty.
During his appeal, Zieler’s team reportedly said that errors were made during the trial and that the conviction should be overturned; the Supreme Court maintained that evidence against Zieler was overwhelming, per the Space Coast Daily.
After Zieler’s appeal was denied and the death sentence was upheld on April 17, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said, “This depraved criminal managed to sleep at night for decades as he evaded justice for the rape and murder of a little girl and her babysitter. Due to the tireless work of Assistant Attorney General Christina Pacheco, and with support from the Solicitor General’s Office, we affirmed the ultimate form of punishment, and he will never see the outside of a prison cell again.”
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