Florida Murderer Elbows His Attorney in the Face Before Being Sentenced to Death

If you want to get away with murdering two people, it's probably best not to have irrefutable DNA evidence "to a frequency over 1 and 700 billion" linking you to the crime. And if you want to get the lightest sentence possible, it's probably best not to elbow your attorney in the face during your trial. 

Despite this, the convicted Florida murderer and rapist Joseph Zieler did both, and has been sentenced to death for the 1990 killings of Robin Cornell and Lisa Story. He also has the word 'killer' engraved in his teeth. Somehow, I don't think his legal council was to blame for the sentence. 

The jury for the Lee County Florida case recommended that Zieler face capital punishment. After appearing to beckon his lawyer Kevin Shirley over for discussion, he instead threw him an elbow to the face. 

"I'm fine," Shirley said. "I used to box, I've taken a lot better shots than that."

A few hours later, the judge denied a request for a retrial, and sided with the jury's recommendation. 

"It’s gotta be so tough to be a lawyer in Florida," @BWay124 commented on Twitter. "Every case is outlandish, just wild to the max."

Robin's mother Jan Cornell was in attendance for the decision. 

"Justice for Robin and justice for Lisa has happened," she said.