RichardWanke.Com

By Leonora LaPeter Anton, Times Staff Writer

It was a Sunday, visiting hours in the Death Row Cafe.

(…) The men in orange jumpsuits sat at stainless steel tables with relatives, friends, pen pals. They ate microwaved burgers purchased for a dollar at a tiny window. They laughed and played dominoes and Scrabble. They clutched hands with women in dresses and heels.

McEachern, dressed in black Velcro sneakers and a Florida State University ball cap, paid them no heed. He was waiting to see Tommy Zeigler, on death row for the murder of his wife, in-laws and a customer at his Winter Garden furniture store in 1975.

There was Zeigler, 65, coming through the door. He was thinner than McEachern remembered. It had been four months since his last visit.

(…)

McEachern is 72. He’s got grandkids. He runs a dog treat bakery with his son in Land O’Lakes. He’s a staunch Republican. He’s a firm believer in the death penalty.

But he spends his days trying to set Zeigler free.

via Unlikely advocate wants to free death row inmate – St. Petersburg Times.