Joseph Zieler flipped the bird while testifying in his defense at a double murder trial. (Screenshot: WINK)
A Florida man who murdered a pre-teen and her babysitter — then flipped off the camera and insulted the victim's mother during his testimony — should be put to death, a jury has decided.
Prosecutors said that the defendant, 61-year-old Joseph Zieler, raped and killed Robin Cornell, 11, and her babysitter, Lisa Story, 32, in May of 1990, though he was ultimately charged and convicted of only the latter crime. His attorney said that his client's profane gesture on the witness stand did him no favors.
"I mean, everyone's talking about the finger," his attorney, Lee Hollander, told WINK. "His conduct on the stand did not help. If you're in a hole, stop digging. That's what I wanted to say right then and there."
The lawyer declined to say whether or not he advised Zieler to testify. He was nonetheless critical of his client's behavior. At one point on the stand, the defendant pulled out a piece of paper and addressed jurors loudly.
"I still see the body of 11-year-old Robin Cornell with the hair of her killer–the blonde hair–" Zieler said as a bailiff confronted him and the judge ordered jurors out of the courtroom.
"As soon as he went for his pocket, I thought this is not going to end well," Hollander told the outlet.
Jurors voted 10 to 2 on Wednesday for Zieler to face death. Judge Robert Branning scheduled an evidentiary hearing called a Spencer Hearing in which both sides will argue over the sentence. That hearing is set for June 26.
Cops in Cape Coral, Florida, said that Jan Cornell was going on a trip to her boyfriend's home in 1990. She left her daughter, Robin, with her roommate, Story.
"During the night, an unknown male broke into the apartment and brutally raped and murdered both Robin and Lisa," Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore said. "Jan came back home to discover this horrific scene. She has been seeking justice for 33 years."
Robin Cornell, pictured left, and Lisa Story were murdered in 1990. A jury convicted their killer, Joseph Zieler, in 2023. (Images: Office of the State Attorney of the 20th Judicial District)
But the case went cold, unsolved for years.
"Detectives and Forensics personnel collected hundreds of pieces of evidence, to include DNA left behind by the killer/rapist," Sizemore said. "DNA technology in those days was primitive compared to today's standards, however their professionalism and thoroughness proved to be the deciding factor in this case 33 years later."
Zieler ended up on law enforcement radar when he was charged in 2016 with shooting his adult son with a pellet gun. Authorities in the shooting case managed to get his DNA. Zieler was convicted in 2019 of felony battery for shooting his son, and he was sentenced to five years in prison.
Regarding the homicide case, prosecutors in Lee County last year dropped a count each of sexual battery upon a child less than 12 years of age, sexual battery with a deadly weapon or great force, and first-degree burglary with assault or battery. They moved forward with two counts of first-degree murder. In their 2016 notice of intent to seek the death penalty, the state said that the killings were "committed in a cold, calculated, and premediated manner, without any pretense of moral or legal justification." They also noted that Robin was younger than 12.
When confronted at trial about his DNA being at the crime scene, Zieler baselessly asserted that he had slept with Jan Cornell months before the killings. He maintained that this would have been the only way his DNA was there.
"She's calling me a rapist and a murderer, and I'm calling her a pig because she doesn't wash her sheets," he said.
Speaking after the jury's recommendation, Jan Cornell said she wanted Zieler to spend the rest off his days in prison.
"It ensures that he will never walk another free day of his life to inflict his torture," she told WINK. "And he's an evil man. I don't even like to call him a man. He's evil to the core. Because you watch this. There was not one shred ever of any remorse."
Note: The original version of this story incorrectly had Zieler's age as 62. He is actually 61.
