Double-murderer sentenced to death's chilling 3 words after elbowing lawyer in face

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A convicted double murderer sentenced to death said "Damnit, I missed" as he struck his lawyer in this face with his elbow.

Joseph Zieler attacked attorney Kevin Shirley in courtroom full of people after beckoning him over. The lawyer approached Zieler as he believed he wanted to discuss his testimony ahead of his upcoming sentencing, the Mirror reports. "Throughout the trial, Mr Zieler would seek to confer with me, and since I was seated the farthest from him, he would wave me over and frequently called me 'Mr Shirley,'" Shirley told the Mirror."For this particular occasion, he waved me over and called me 'Kevin,' and he seemed to be in haste."The bailiffs closed in and watched closely as Shirley approached and Zieler motioned for him to lower his head."I assumed it was because the microphones were there and he did not want anyone to hear what he was going to say to me," he said. "So, I leaned my head down, and I was facing a little bit away from him."That's when Zieler seized the moment and struck Shirley "near the right eye with his elbow.""At some point during that, he said, 'Damnit, I missed,'" the attorney said.Shirley believes Zieler had been trying to strike him harder but had been unable to due to his handcuffs.The lawyer believes the convict lured him close so he could strike him by taking advantage of the "good working relationship" but does not think the attack was personal."I'm just happy he didn't strike my co-counsel or, more specifically, our mitigation specialist," he said. "She was seated at the time, and he was closer to her until I walked over near him."Shirley said Zieler had anticipated the death penalty so it was unlikely the attack was about rage for his sentence.In May, it was recommended