The Nation : TV Intoxication Case Conviction Upheld

A federal appeals court in Atlanta upheld the 10-year-old murder conviction of a Florida teen-ager who said his attorney made a mockery of his defense by arguing that “television intoxication” led to the slaying. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said the evidence against Ronny Zamora was so overwhelming as to overshadow any claims of ineffective counsel. Zamora, 15 at the time, was convicted in 1977 of murder, burglary, robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm in the slaying of his elderly neighbor, Elinor Haggart, in Miami Beach, Fla. Zamora received concurrent sentences of life imprisonment for murder, 25 years each for burglary and robbery and three years for the firearm charge.