Van Deventer said that he had advised Tommy and Eunice in April 1975 that the wills were not adequate for estate planning, and that they ought to consult with him and an insurance underwriter about life coverage.  Then, he said, Tommy told him in the first or second week of December that he had purchased some insurance.  "He indicated at that time that he had—I believe his terminology was 'beefed up' the insurance provisions, both for he and Eunice, in order to meet the estate tax requirements."

Eagan had hardly challenged most of the eyewitnesses.  But he closely cross-examined Van Deventer, in a manner that the Sentinel Star described as "angered."  Van Deventer admitted that Eunice did not independently own a share of the family corporation, or any of the family's real estate properties; in case of her death, the estate tax liabilities would have been limited.

Over Hadley's objection, Eagan asked Van Deventer about a conversation he had had with insurance agent Russell Courtney at the memorial service for Eunice on December 31.

Q (EAGAN): At that memorial service did Mr. Russell Courtney ask you about this insurance and what your idea—

A (VAN DEVENTER): No, he didn't really ask me, he told me.

Q: What did he say to you?

A: He said that his company had furnished insurance to Mr. Zeigler, both for Mr. Zeigler and Mrs. Zeigler, in the amount of $250,000.

Q: Did you tell  him at that time, either in these words or words to this effect, "Well, I don't know anything about it?

A: My words to him were I did not know it was with his company or the amount.

Q: Did you state to him—I want a yes or no on this, please, sir—"Russell, I didn't know anything about it"?

A: Not in those words, no.

Alton Evans testified that the sheriff's property receipts did not mention Eunice's two diamond rings and two $20 bills, which the defense contended she had with her when she went to the store on Christmas Eve.

Gene Annan presented the photo Thomas Hale had identified as being of the car Zeigler was driving on Christmas Eve; Annan denied Eagan's suggestion that he had hoodwinked Hale into identifying the wrong Oldsmobile.

Late in the afternoon, Hadley presented the defense's forensic expert. Roger Morrison, a former criminalist at the Sanford Crime Lab, was now an owner of the private forensics laboratory where the defense had sent its physical evidence for testing.

Morrison said that hair trapped in the dried blood on Charlie Mays's shoes was consistent with hair from certain of the Zeiglers' cats.  More of the hair was