A child murderer went rogue in court this week and attacked his own attorney — and it was all caught on tape.
Joseph Zieler rattled the jury when he entered the courtroom on Monday morning. A jury had previously recommended the 61-year-old face capital punishment — he was there ostensibly to appeal his own death sentence. However, all he accomplished was more carnage. When he entered the room, per the video from NBC 2, he asked for the cameras to be cut. When he didn’t get his wishes, he leaned over to his attorney Kevin Shirley and appeared to whisper something to him — but he then turned and elbowed him in the face!
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Quickly, two bailiffs jumped into action and wrestled him to the ground, where he can be heard saying:
“I used to box. I’ve taken a lot better shots than that.”
The News-Press reported he was removed from the courtroom for about 10 minutes, and when he returned he continued to maintain his innocence — but also “continued to growl and show his teeth, which appeared to have the word ‘killer’ scribbled on them.”
So creepy…
Ch-ch-check out the video (below):
Zieler was recently convicted of the 1990 murders of 11-year-old Robin Cornell and her 32-year-old babysitter Lisa Story. They were beaten, sexually assaulted, and suffocated in the little girl’s family townhome before her mother returned home the next day to find their bodies. Over a quarter century later, in 2016, Zieler was jailed on an unrelated assault charge — and suddenly investigators were able to match his DNA to semen found on bedsheets at the murder scene.
You can see his mugshot from his then-arrest (below):
Back in May, the jury reached a 10-2 verdict on the death penalty, and on Monday a judge agreed and sentenced him to death. Shocking that assaulting an attorney, growling, and showing the word “killer” on his teeth didn’t win over the court’s sense of clemency.
The family of 11-year-old Cornell could be seen applauding at the verdict, per CBS. Robin’s mother told reporters after the hearing:
“It’s just been a dream for so many years, but here we are and to know that he will never be free is enough.”
At least these families were finally able to get justice for their loved ones after all these years. Unfortunately now we’re all a little spooked just learning of this horrifying man’s existence. Reactions, Perezcious readers?
[Image via NBC2 News/YouTube]
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