April 23, 2015<\/p>\n
Why Aren’t Prosecutors Held Accountable for Their Actions-The Case of William J. Ziegler<\/b><\/p>\n
“I took that deal for one reason and one reason only and that was to go home,” said Ziegler as he was released.\u00a0 “I maintain my innocence to this day.”<\/i> http:\/\/www.wkrg.com\/story\/28823742\/former-death-row-inmate-set-to-be-freed<\/a><\/p>\n As a condition of his release on April 16th<\/sup>, 2015, 39 year old William Ziegler, who spent 13 years on death row and 15 years and 50 days in prison for a brutal crime that he likely did not commit, had to say that he was guilty of \u201caiding and abetting murder\u201d. But as a condition to continue to prosecute cases, the prosecutor in his case, Mobile Chief Assistant District Attorney Deborah Tillman, will not have to say that she withheld exculpatory evidence and\/or acknowledge any prosecutorial misconduct that led to Zielger spending 13 years of his life on death row.\u00a0 No one in the media will pursue this question, and after a day or two, \u00a0Ziegler\u2019s case will receive little coverage.\u00a0 At what point will prosecutors be held accountable for their actions?\u00a0 As I state here<\/a> \u00a0and many, many times, prosecutors are needed, necessary, important, and do what is right most of the time, at least that is what we have to believe as citizens who need them to pursue justice and to help to protect communities. But when they step out of that cone of trust by engaging in unethical practices, it is important for the action to be acknowledged, for reforms to take place.\u00a0 But the response to Ziegler\u2019s case from the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office has been that we have done nothing wrong. Why aren’t prosecutors in the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office and\/or representatives of the state asked to apologize, to be accountable, or to discuss what will be done to avoid prosecutorial misconduct in the future?<\/p>\n The Mobile Press Register<\/i> (al.com\/mobile) and Lagniappe Mobile<\/i> have written many articles on the William Ziegler case. Reporters such as Brendan Kirby and Gabe Tynes of these publications have taken the reader into the details of the Ziegler case, I recommend that you read their respective publications and reports on this case.\u00a0 Ziegler has had many high powered attorneys who practice in Mobile, as well as attorneys at a New York based law firm, Sydney Austin LLP.\u00a0 Unlike his original attorney who failed him ( see http:\/\/blog.al.com\/live\/2013\/02\/how_the_system_failed_william.html <\/a>and http:\/\/classic.lagniappemobile.com\/article.asp?articleID=4371<\/a>) Ziegler\u2019s current attorneys were able to bring about justice.\u00a0 From an article in Lagniappe from April 2011:<\/p>\n \u201cBut Yazdi\u2019s handling of Ziegler\u2019s defense would later lead to a hearing to determine if the attorney had so poorly prepared that his client\u2019s constitutional rights were violated. In his Rule 32 appeal, Ziegler had a chance to experience what it was like to have attorneys fighting on his behalf, who cared about him, and who, ultimately, cared about the pursuit of justice. These attorneys used the tools that the system respects to free Ziegler.\u00a0 The system does not respond to \u201cmoralsuasion,\u201d and far too many District Attorneys do not care about an inmate\u2019s innocence after the jury convicts the person. Truth becomes a casualty of war in this convict at all cost game they play, and one equalizer is the attorney, such as the attorneys on Ziegler\u2019s appellate team, willing to devote time and money to right a wrong.\u00a0 Many District Attorneys won\u2019t even establish Conviction Integrity Units (http:\/\/wrongfulconvictionsblog.org\/2014\/12\/11\/center-for-prosecutor-integrity-surveys-rise-of-conviction-integrity-units\/<\/a> and http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/27\/mobile-police-department-establishes-special-committee-why-cant-mobile-district-attorneys-office-establish-a-conviction-integrity-unit\/<\/a>) because, well, far too many are not interested in righting a wrong, rather, they are more interested in upholding a conviction at all costs, and hoping they will never get caught red-handed in cases where prosecutorial misconduct led to the conviction of innocent people.\u00a0 Another potential equalizer to the \u201cconvict at all costs\u201d mentality are the local publications that use the tools they have to shed the light on how easy it is to get a wrongful conviction.<\/p>\n “I took that deal for one reason and one reason only and that was to go home,” said Ziegler as he was released.\u00a0 “I maintain my innocence to this day.”<\/i><\/b> \u00a0http:\/\/www.wkrg.com\/story\/28823742\/former-death-row-inmate-set-to-be-freed<\/p>\n These are the words spoken by William John Ziegler as he faced reporters following his release.\u00a0 This plea, like an Alford plea, is a way that the State can avoid culpability for those actions. It is a way to say to the public that he may not committed this crime, but is he truly innocent. We were just protecting you from this criminal. But who protects the public from prosecutors who pursue theories and not evidence in an effort to get the conviction?<\/i> Who protects the public when prosecutors have exculpatory evidence<\/a>\u00a0 but choose to not disclose it because it does not fit their theory? Who protects the integrity of the system when innocent people are sent to prison? We should not feel comfortable in this country when we see a steady stream of headlines about people serving 10, 20, 30, and 40 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Alabama just witnessed another man released from death row, Anthony Ray Hinton<\/a>, who spent 30 years on death row. That should shock us to the core.\u00a0 While Ziegler had to take a plea deal as a condition of his release, the prosecutor in his case will not have to apologize for her actions that led to his being placed on death row.\u00a0 Even if she thought he aided and abetted the individuals responsible for the death of the 19 year old victim, her pursuit of a capital murder calls into question of what did she know and when did she know it, but beyond that, making a decision to pursue a case knowing that the evidence did not support his involvement in the brutal crime that was committed. Chief Assistant District Attorney Tillman is quoted in an article published in Lagniappe in 2012 that Ziegler should have taken the plea like the others.\u00a0 Here is how it is written in Lagniappe<\/i>:<\/p>\n Tillman said Judge Kendall, who heard Ziegler\u2019s case and ultimately upheld the jury\u2019s death penalty recommendation, was known as a “very fair\u201d judge. She also said Ziegler was offered a plea deal similar to his co-defendants, but he was the only one who rejected it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I respect her right as a judge to issue the ruling, but I and this office strongly disagree with it,\u201d Tillman said. “I\u2019ve been doing this for almost 20 years and I know that I did not do anything wrong in terms of prosecutorial misconduct.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/classic.lagniappemobile.com\/article.asp?articleID=5961&sid=1<\/a><\/p>\n Was the capital murder charge a way to force him to take a plea in 2001? He maintained his innocence then and now, he did not take the plea in 2001 because he likely held on to the belief that the jury had to see through the state\u2019s deception. He took a plea in 2015 because he realizes that the deck is stacked against people who maintain their innocence, that the \u201cHouse\u201d, in the end, always wins.\u00a0 It is unfortunate that our system teaches us these harsh lessons and the price William Ziegler had to pay to learn this was 13 years on death row.\u00a0\u00a0 But because district attorneys are rarely prosecuted for their actions, we won\u2019t witness any charges against a prosecutor that may result in said prosecutor taking a plea deal.<\/p>\n As I wrote in a previous blog:<\/p>\n \u201cWilliam Ziegler\u2019s retrial will take place later this year. While the Attorney General of Alabama will prosecute the case, you will see what the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office did to get this conviction and the callous attitude they have with regard to Judge Sarah Stewart\u2019s 218 findings\/ruling about his case. You will get tremendous insight into how the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office can convict innocent people. In the Ziegler case, the state\u2019s theory about where the victim\u2019s body was found was incorrect and the evidence shows it and Judge Stewart criticized from the number of African Americans struck from the jury and, this I did not realize, one of the state\u2019s theories (Mobile Assistant Attorney Deborah Tillman prosecuted the case and maintains that the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office did nothing wrong), was that Ziegler murdered the victim because he had been called the \u201cn-word\u201d- the word is actually used in the transcript (see this article about the case\u00a0http:\/\/blog.al.com\/live\/2013\/02\/how_the_system_failed_william.html<\/a>). Here is what Judge Stewart wrote in her order that also justified the need for a new trial for William Ziegler:<\/p>\n \u201c183. Trial counsel\u2019s failure to raise a Batson challenge despite prima facie<\/p>\n record evidence of discrimination requires reversal because the evidence demonstrates that the Mobile County District Attorney used a large number of peremptory challenges to remove African American venirepersons, engaged in little or no voir dire examination of those African American veniremembers, engaged in disparate treatment of similarly situated white and African American veniremembers, and struck veniremembers who had nothing in common other than race. The Alabama Supreme Court in Branch, 526 So. 2d 609, 622-23 (Ala. 1987), established a non-exhaustive list of evidence that can give rise to an inference of discrimination and a prima facie case under Batson. Based upon its review of the evidence at the hearing and the record evidence submitted by Ziegler, the Court finds that many of the Branch categories giving rise to an inference of discrimination existed in Ziegler\u2019s case and would have supported a Batson challenge.<\/p>\n 184. First, the crime for which Ziegler was charged \u201chad racial overtones.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n Ziegler was the only non-white defendant in a capital murder trial in which the victim was white, his three co-defendants were white, and most of the State\u2019s witnesses were white. Additionally, one of the prosecution\u2019s theory of a motive was based on the concept that Ziegler became enraged and began striking Baker when he called Ziegler a \u201cnigger,\u201d which the prosecution informed the jury of during voir dire. (T. Tr. 42:15-43:18.)http:\/\/media.al.com\/live\/other\/Ziegler%20ruling.pdf<\/a>\u00a0(see pages 72-74)<\/p>\n Why would a prosecutor use this tactic if there was no evidence indicating that it was true? Why when asked about Judge Stewart\u2019s ruling, Assistant District Attorney Deborah Tillman continues to say: \u201cI know that our office did not do anything improper, and I did not do anything improper,\u201d [she said].\u201dhttp:\/\/blog.al.com\/live\/2013\/02\/how_the_system_failed_william.html<\/a><\/p>\n (The paragraphs above are quoted from this blog- http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/04\/another-year-is-upon-us-the-fight-for-justice-must-continue\/<\/a>). But Tillman said she did nothing wrong from a prosecutorial misconduct.\u00a0 Prosecutors don\u2019t go on trial, so, again, we won\u2019t be able to determine that in a court of law, but certainly Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich, were she concerned with the findings in the Ziegler case, should express concern about prosecutorial misconduct in this case.<\/p>\n Alabama Attorney General-Forcing the Truth About Evidence <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n John Tyston Jr., December 7, 2010 \u201c<\/i><\/b>We will not destroy any records in this office. Never have, never will.\u201d (From a letter written on the letterhead of the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office in response to a letter from me-Artemesia Stanberry- \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n From Lagniappe (April 2015) in an interview featuring two of Ziegler\u2019s attorneys- One of the interesting things about the case, particularly after it came back for retrial, is the record that proved the state had lost or destroyed at least seven or so pieces of evidence that we would certainly contend was material. That was proven by the state itself.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n The staff at Lagniappe Mobile sat down with William Ziegler and his attorneys within an hour after his release.\u00a0 One of Ziegler\u2019s attorneys (Nick Lagemann) said this:<\/p>\n (Lagniappe):\u201dLet me ask you more about that evidence and your recent motion to dismiss. If it had gone to trial, would that evidence, or lack thereof, been admissible in a new trial?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lagemann: The overall answer would be yes. Exactly how that would come in, I think was one of the \u2014 assuming the judge, if she did not dismiss it overall based on that motion and we went to trial, I think the judge would have been called upon to make a number of evidentiary rulings about what would come in, what would already be proven and established about the fact that they (the state) had lost or destroyed multiple pieces of evidence. One of the interesting things about the case, particularly after it came back for retrial, is the record that proved the state had lost or destroyed at least seven or so pieces of evidence that we would certainly contend was material. That was proven by the state itself.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n I think you would see in our original motion there was a footnote that, for lack of a better term, we commended the Attorney General\u2019s office for bringing that to the attention of the court. I would say that was a marked contrast to what the case was previously like when it had been handled by the District Attorney\u2019s office. I do think the Attorney General\u2019s office, in responding to the discovery order, I think acted wholly consistently and very professionally in bringing forward or establishing the record that showed that this evidence had been lost or destroyed. But I think to your original question, yes I think absolutely that the clothing of the victim, when it was supportive of our defense, that it had been lost or destroyed when it was in possession of the District Attorney\u2019s office. There was an affidavit for Jay Bennett\u2019s car that must have contained information that was totally inconsistent with the state\u2019s theory of the crime. It has never been found in any file, in the multiple files where it should have been. That the audiotape recordings \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Ziegler: They are still missing to this day. http:\/\/lagniappemobile.com\/conviction-appeal-innocent-inmates-left-behind-interview-former-alabama-death-row-inmate-william-ziegler\/?all=1<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n What this tells us is that if the Alabama Attorney General\u2019s office did not have the responsibility or preparing for a new trial in the hopes of getting a new conviction, the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office would not have even pretended to look for evidence that was \u201clost or destroyed.\u201d<\/i> They would have denied it.\u00a0 As it stands, according to this article, Chief ADA Deborah Tillman and Chief Investigator Mike Morgan spent, according to Tillman, time near Christmas last year searching for the evidence (see pages 21-22 of Ziegler\u2019s Motion to Dismiss that is embedded in this article<\/a>-.\u00a0 Here is specifically what prosecutors with the Alabama Attorney General\u2019s Office stated: \u201cIn January, a team of prosecutors led by Assistant Attorney General Stephanie Billingslea told Stewart the state could no longer account for: the original affidavit filed to obtain a search warrant for Ziegler\u2019s home and car owned by a co-defendant; any audio recordings from the interrogation of any of the witnesses who eventually pinned the crime on Ziegler; the victim\u2019s clothing; police photographs of a car defense attorneys argue was used to transport the victim and would undermine the prosecution\u2019s version of events; an evidence bag a witness testified at the Rule 32 hearing contained a bloody sweatshirt; a \u201cbe on the lookout\u201d issued for the car; or any records of initial interviews with a witness who later recanted her testimony at the Rule 32 hearing.\u201d http:\/\/lagniappemobile.com\/judge-considers-motion-dismiss-capital-murder-retrial\/<\/a>\u00a0 Tillman and Morgan could not locate these items.<\/p>\n What Candidate Ashley Rich said in 2010 versus her actions (or lack thereof) \u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \u201c”If as a prosecutor you do not disclose exculpatory evidence, your career is over.\u00a0 Integrity is something that is so important because when you are a prosecutor, you not only have the duty to prosecute people and to put people in jail, but you also have a duty to uphold the law. You have the duty to do that with integrity and with the ethical standards in place… You must disclose exculpatory evidence because if you don’t, nothing good comes from it and essentially you have prosecuted someone who may not have committed the crimes because you didn’t disclose exculpatory evidence.\u00a0 It is good that we have the Duke LaCrosse case as an example of what not to do.”\u00a0 (From Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:58:28 -0400 (Ashley Rich Radio Interview -http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/u7am0916AshleyRich.mp3<\/a>) Her remarks about the Duke case can be heard at around the 12 minute mark.\u00a0 <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Regardless of whether the reader believes that William Ziegler is innocent or guilty, it should be beyond problematic the way his case was prosecuted- using the N-word in front of potential jurors as a theory of why Ziegler would assist in the stabbing of an individual 100 times, withholding exculpatory evidence, and losing\/destroying evidence reaches the level that candidate Rich said she was concerned about.\u00a0 Nevertheless, prosecutor Tillman is the Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office, and Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich will not now nor ever, in my opinion, provide anything but a united front with regard to this case.\u00a0 Tillman said in articles in the past that she and her office have done nothing wrong, even the Attorney General\u2019s Office, yes, the Office of Luther Strange, has acknowledged that the state lost or destroyed evidence. What do they care if they put William Ziegler on death row, it is the cost of doing business for them.\u00a0 But they should care because the integrity of the system is very important, as candidate Ashley Rich stated when she was running to become the District Attorney. Prior to becoming District Attorney, Ashley Rich served as an assistant district attorney for 14 years under John Tyson, Jr., alongside Deborah Tillman, alongside Martha Tierney-now in private practice after decades with the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office (who listened during a court proceeding but said nothing when a former DA with the office say that he travelled to New York to visit a suspect in Rikers prison but did not take notes because he was on vacation<\/a>), and alongside ADA Jennifer Wright, described as Rich\u2019s protegee in one publication, who prosecuted Toby Priest (http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/16\/reaction-to-article-in-lagniappe-about-the-toby-priest-case\/<\/a>) District Attorney Ashley Rich has no incentive to open up a can of worms because it may lead to an uncomfortable discussion about the practices of the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office. I continue to believe that had her opponent won, his incentive would have been the pursuit of justice and accountability (Here is an exchange I had with her opponent Mark Erwin and with Ashley Rich during the campaign- http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/21\/another-judge-grants-a-new-trial-in-mobile-alabama-a-reaction-to-the-lagniappe-article-on-william-zieglar\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n I\u2019ve mentioned this before in this blog<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cRecall that Eucellis Sullivan was asked to leave the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office by District Attorney Ashley Rich. As reported by Local15 News:<\/p>\n \u201cI was terminated from my job as an Asst. D.A.,\u201d she said. Hired by John Tyson, Sullivan had spent last four years prosecuting all types of cases for the office, but LOCAL 15 News was there Thursday as she went back to clean out her desk after she says she was escorted out of the building earlier, just like the criminals she prosecuted.<\/p>\n \u201cI was called into Ashley Rich\u2019s office and they informed me that my services were no longer needed, I was told that a letter of resignation was prepared if I wanted to sign it and I declined signing the letter, I was just shocked because I wasn\u2019t given a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what the District Attorney Ashely Rich told LOCAL 15 News, \u201cSince I took office she has lost\u00a0seven cases and only won two.\u201d\u2026..<\/p>\n \u2026..\u201dThe people expect me to put criminals in jail they expect the team I put together to put people in jail she just wasn\u2019t doing that that\u2019s all I have to say,\u201d Rich said. http:\/\/www.local15tv.com\/news\/local\/story\/Ousted-Asst-D-A-Says-Firing-was-Unjust-D-A\/_k_jw7YebUuoBnZ-_2FUAg.cspx<\/a><\/p>\n As I stated earlier, former Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, Jr. said in a letter to me that \u201cWe will not destroy any records in this office.\u00a0 Never have, never will.\u201d (Tuesday, December 7, 2010). Do you think District Attorney Ashley Rich has looked at the cases that her Chief Assistant Attorney has worked on before or after her work on the Ziegler case? Do you think that District Attorney Ashley Rich will conduct an investigation as to what happened to those 7 lost items referenced by the Alabama Attorney General? Do you think that Chief Assistant District Attorney Deborah Tillman will receive the Eucellis Sullivan treatment? Of course not.\u00a0 There will not be reforms in that office until there is new leadership.\u00a0 The media will not hold the office accountable.\u00a0 If only reporters can express the same level of concern over how Ziegler\u2019s original attorney represented him to how the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office prosecuted him.\u00a0\u00a0 A former Prichard Police officer<\/a>\u00a0was arrested in 2013 and recently sentenced to 25 years in prison on drug charges.\u00a0 His cases will be reviewed. What does it take for cases prosecuted by the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office to be reviewed for possible prosecutorial misconduct?<\/p>\n This is minor in the scheme of things, but District Attorney Ashley Rich publicly (in that she shared her concern with the media)\u00a0reprimanded and disciplined an attorney<\/a> who brewed his own beer before doing so was legal in Alabama .\u00a0 She can muster more outrage over that than she apparently can when her office engage in conduct (misconduct) that puts a man on death row. Yes, she talked about integrity of the system and not withholding exculpatory evidence when she was a candidate for the office. John Tyson, Jr. says the office has never destroyed evidence and never will, yet, thanks to the Alabama Attorney General\u2019s Office, it is now acknowledged that evidence could not be found.\u00a0 But, again, this is business as usual.\u00a0 Where is the person campaigning to bring about reforms to the office? Will District Attorney Ashley Rich run unopposed during the primaries?<\/p>\n Back to Accountability<\/b><\/p>\n The Texas State Bar successfully sued Ken Anderson, prosecutor who got the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton\u00a0 and are pursuing a suit regarding the Cameron Todd Willingham case, a man executed for crimes he likely did not commit.\u00a0 Among Zielger\u2019s team of attorneys included Henry A. \u00a0Callaway, a former President of the Mobile Bar Association.\u00a0 He has had an intimate look into how the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office prosecuted William Ziegler. He is in a position, given also his relationship with the Alabama State Bar, to encourage the Alabama State Bar to mimic the actions of the Texas State Bar in the Michael Morton case.\u00a0 But it likely won\u2019t happen, as Callaway was recently appointed to serve as a federal bankruptcy attorney, a 14 year appointment (http:\/\/www.handarendall.com\/news_detail.php?news=209<\/a>).\u00a0 And so the beat goes on.<\/p>\n Peace,<\/p>\n Artemesia Stanberry<\/p>\n Just to reiterate the actions and practices that are apparently acceptable By District Attorney Ashley Rich, here is how the Equal Justice Initiative puts it:<\/p>\n “Last year, an\u00a0Alabama appeals court ruled that Mr. Ziegler<\/a>, who was sentenced to death in Mobile County in 2003, must be given a new trial because prosecutors failed to disclose evidence that a key witness falsely identified Mr. Ziegler as the man who threatened to kill the victim. The prosecution also failed to turn over evidence showing the killing happened in a car belonging to the State’s only eyewitness — not in the woods, as the witness claimed and the State contended at trial.”http:\/\/www.eji.org\/node\/1072<\/a>\u00a0 End Quote. But Chief Assistant District Attorney Deborah Tillman says she did nothing wrong. \u00a0And so it goes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n“This approach is not strategic, it\u2019s not informed, it\u2019s incoherent, it\u2019s inconsistent. It\u2019s not what attorneys are supposed to do, and it falls well below the standard of what is required of reasonably effective counsel,\u201d a petitioner would later say during a review of Yazdi\u2019s handling of this brutal murder trial.\u201d http:\/\/classic.lagniappemobile.com\/article.asp?articleID=4371<\/a>)<\/p>\n