Alabama judge drops theft charge for former death row inmate
A Mobile man who spent 13 years on death row had a 2023 boat theft case dismissed after his lawyer argued he had already served time for the same crime in Mississippi.
By Olivia Miller ·
William John Ziegler is no longer facing a theft charge in Mobile County.
Mobile County prosecutors withdrew a receiving stolen property count against Ziegler on Thursday. The charge stemmed from a boat stolen in 2023. Ziegler, 51, had already been convicted of and served time for the theft in Mississippi.
Defense attorney Jeff Deen told FOX10 News that the new charge was redundant because Ziegler had already completed a three-year prison sentence and is currently on parole. Deen cited a 1980 Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals case to support his argument. He described the additional prosecution as beating a dead horse. Deen noted that the prosecutor decided to dismiss the case after questioning the judicial economy of proceeding.
Ziegler’s legal history traces back to a capital murder case from 2000. He was convicted of stabbing Russell Allen Baker Jr. at the Peach Place Inn apartments on Leroy Stevens Road. Ziegler spent more than a decade on death row before his conviction was overturned in 2013. Then-Mobile County Circuit Judge Sarah Stewart ruled that his original lawyers provided ineffective representation. Stewart issued a 218-page order finding that the system failed him at every turn. She noted that one attorney threw away key evidence that could have shown a co-defendant used Ziegler’s car to move Baker or his body. Stewart also found that prosecutors and investigators failed to turn over important evidence. Ziegler later pleaded guilty to murder as part of a deal that allowed him to end his prison term with a sentence of time served.
The dismissal of the Mobile County charge does not end Ziegler’s supervision. He will continue to be under parole supervision for his Mississippi conviction.
