Arraign Zinzer in Forrest Slaying

ZINZER, FORREST

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 3/3/2013 at 10:14:13

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; Jan. 1981

ARRAIGN ZINZER IN FORREST SLAYING

TOLEDO (Jan. 23)--Jeffrey Allen Zinzer, 23, of Ferguson was arraigned Friday in Tama County District Court for the alleged Nov. 30, 1980 slaying of Penney Sue Belcher Forrest, 18, of Grinnell.

District Judge Harold Swailes set Zinzer's first degree murder trial for May 11 and continued bond at $150,000, pending a bond-reduction hearing set for 2:30 p.m. this Friday.

Penney Forrest's partially nude body was found near Montour in Tama County's Indian Village Township. The cause of death has been listed as strangulation, although other injuries reportedly were present.

Zinzer answered calmly as Judge Swailes asked him if he was aware of the trial information filed by Tama County Attorney Jeff Corzatt. Swailes appointed Marshalltown attorney Barry Kaplan to serve as Zinzer's defense lawyer.

Appearing with Corzatt was Rob Blink of the Iowa Attorney General's Area Prosecution Division. Blink, who is expected to play a major role in the prosecution, was the successful co-prosecutor of Gordon "Butch" Earley in the recent Grinnell State Bank burglary case and the killings of Daniel and Dawn Kriegel.

Kaplan, who had only recently become involved in the case, asked the court for a delay in entering a plea. But Swailes said one delay had already been granted, and he allowed Kaplan and Zinzer to confer for 20 minutes to review the trial information filed by the state.

Following that 20-minute recess, Zinzer returned to the courtroom and entered a plea of not guilty to the homicide charge. He also waived his right to a speedy trial, a routine waiver in cases expected to go to trial.

Citing the "complexity" of the case, Kaplan asked Swailes for an extension of the usual 40-day period for filing motions including a possible motion for a change of venue.

A pre-trial hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on April 3.

Although the trial information is a matter of public record, minutes of testimony attached to that information have been sealed, Corzatt said Friday. Thus, no details of the lengthy Division of Criminal Investigation probe into the circumstances of the homicide are available.

Zinzer was arrested at his Ferguson home on Jan. 16. He remains in the Marshall County Jail in Marshalltown.