A man convicted of the murder of a child and the child's babysitter caused a scene during the pre-sentencing hearing when he elbowed his lawyer in the face after getting handed down a death sentence.
Joseph Zieler, 61, was seen talking with his lawyer Kevin Shirley when he violently strikes him with an elbow to the face that sent the attorney spinning. Zieler's act garnered gasps from those in attendance as he was quickly subdued by baliffs before being removed from the courtroom.
Per the New York Post:
Zieler, 61, of North Fort Myers carried out the 1990 attack by sneaking into a condominium and finding Robin Cornell, 11, and babysitter Lisa Story, 32, inside. The child’s mother had gone to her boyfriend’s home for the night and returned to the Cape Coral apartment the following day to find her daughter and Story dead.The victims had both been sexually assaulted and beaten before being suffocated, prosecutors said.The case went cold for more than two decades before new DNA evidence tied Zieler to the crime in 2016. He was already in custody for assaulting his stepson when he was charged with the double-killing.
