Joseph Zieler v. State of Florida

── Joseph Zieler v. State of Florida ── Court: Supreme Court of Florida Date: April 16, 2026 Category: General Supreme Court of Florida ____________ No. SC2023-1003 ____________ JOSEPH ZIELER, Appellant, vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. April 16, 2026 PER CURIAM. The appellant, Joseph Zieler, was sentenced to death for the 1990 first-degree murders of R.C. and L.S. in Lee County. Zieler was unknown to investigators of the double homicide until 2016, when his DNA was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and triggered an alert. This is Zieler’s direct appeal. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. As we explain, we affirm Zieler’s convictions and sentences.  BACKGROUND Events Surrounding the Murders Jan C. lived in a condominium in Cape Coral with her daughter, 11-year-old R.C., and a friend/colleague, 32-year-old L.S. L.S. had recently moved into a spare bedroom in the condominium to share living expenses. On the evening of May 9, 1990, Jan went to her boyfriend’s home to watch a basketball game on television. L.S. and R.C. encouraged her to do so while they remained at home. Both were in their beds when Jan left. Jan, who had to get up early the next morning for work at a local hospital, had intended to return home after the game concluded. However, she fell asleep and did not wake up until 4 a.m. Jan then rushed home to get ready for work, and upon arrival, discovered that the front door that had been locked only at the deadbolt was also locked at the broken door handle. When the broken door handle was locked, it prevented entry from the outside. Jan did not immediately sense that there was a problem; instead, she thought that L.S. probably forgot about the broken door handle and mistakenly locked it before going to bed. Jan then walked around the unit to the patio and discovered that the sliding -2- glass door was open, and the vertical blinds were blowing out the door. After Jan entered the previously organized unit, she began to notice signs of disarray. She went upstairs and first reached the door of L.S.’s room where she saw L.S.’s nude body on the bed. When she called out to L.S., she did not get a response. Jan raced to the other bedroom and found R.C. face down on the floor at the foot of the bed. R.C.’s legs were spread apart, a vibrator was on the floor between her legs, and a pillow was located underneath her stomach. Jan called 911 as she began to administer CPR to R.C. As Jan performed CPR on R.C., she observed nasal congestion that suggested to her that R.C. had been crying a lot. Jan heard R.C.’s lungs aspirate. When law enforcement arrived, evidence indicated that an intruder entered the condominium, attacked, sexually battered, and suffocated both victims, and ransacked the unit. L.S. was found lying in her bed on her right side with a pillow partially covering her head. She sustained extreme injuries to her anal cavity and significant bleeding. There were scratches on her body, and a broken fingernail on her hand appeared to be a -3- defensive wound. An open pornographic magazine was found on her bed. Injuries to the mucosa of her lips and the presence of a pillow suggested that she may have been smothered to death. The search of L.S.’s room revealed an empty wallet with items missing, and an empty watch box that previously contained a watch that L.S. recently bought as a present. The watch was never located. R.C. had bruising and scrapes on her cheekbones and her lips were purple, which indicated that she had been suffocated. There was significant bleeding from her vaginal area. She had a cut in the middle of her bac