The results did not advance the state's case.  Chemical examination for the metals barium, antimony, and lead, which are used in the manufacture of cartridge primer caps, suggested that Charlie Mays, Perry Edwards, and Virginia Edwards all had recently handled or fired weapons. That information was not released to the defense until April.

The January 16 hearing would be the first public airing of the evidence against Tommy Zeigler.  But the heart of the evidence, the possible physical proof that Zeigler had killed four people on Christmas Eve, was still in the FBI Lab unexamined, when the two sides entered Courtroom E of the Orange County Courthouse.