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A WISCONSIN MAN convicted in the killing of a woman that was the focus of the hit Netflix series Making a Murderer was denied a request for a new trial yesterday.
Steven Avery’s attorney said she planned to present new evidence to the court to try to revive his request after it was rejected by a state circuit judge. Avery had argued that his conviction in the 2005 death of photographer Teresa Halbach was based on planted evidence and false testimony.
“We have additional test results and witness affidavits,” Avery’s attorney Kathleen Zellner said in a statement.
“The scientific testing is not completed, we remain optimistic that Mr. Avery’s conviction will be vacated.”
Sheboygan County Circuit Judge Angela Sutkiewicz said in her ruling that based on the evidence presented so far, Avery failed to establish grounds to warrant a new trial.
Avery argued that new scientific tests cast doubt on evidence submitted at his trial, presented alternate theories about the killing and questioned motives of police.
Given the totality of evidence submitted at the trial, no reasonable probability exists that a different result would be reached at a new trial, the judge said.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel praised the decision, saying it “brings us one step closer to providing justice to Teresa Halbach’s family”.
He said the Department of Justice would continue to vigorously defend Avery’s conviction.
Avery, 55, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the 2005 death of Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer.
Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, confessed to detectives he helped his uncle rape and kill Halbach at the Avery family’s salvage yard.
A judge overturned Dassey’s conviction last year, ruling that investigators took advantage of the then-16-year-old Dassey’s cognitive disabilities and tricked him into confessing.
The state is fighting that ruling and a federal appeals court heard arguments in the case last week. Dassey remains in custody while the appeal is pending.
Both Avery and Dassey maintain their innocence. The case gained national attention in 2015 after Netflix aired Making a Murderer, a multi-part documentary examining Halbach’s death.
The series spawned conjecture about the pair’s innocence, but those who worked on the cases accused the filmmakers of leaving out key pieces of evidence and presenting a biased view of what happened.
The filmmakers defended their work and supported calls to set both Avery and Dassey free.
America land of the free eh?
They wanted to jail Dassey and they wanted Avery jailed, no matter the cost.
Regardless of being guilty or not they wanted them jailed
@Barry Somers: especially as they’re murdering rapists.
On the other side of your coin, a biased TV production has people wanting him freed whether he’s guilty or not, no matter what the cost. Like a white OJ, the actual guilt is becoming irrelevant to the infotainment TV audience.
@Greg Blake: both?
I think you’ll find even a court of law disagree with you about Dassey
@Greg Blake: Did you watch the video of the boy? If anybody who saw that and thought it was a real confession they lack any understanding of human beings.
@Greg Blake: you’re some clown.
@Barry Somers:
Remember the pos that prosecuted him, Ken Kratz?
Well he resigned from Office in disgrace some years later after making inappropriate sexual advances to domestic violence victim whose husband he was prosecuting.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sexting-wisconsin-da-formally-resigns/
@Feach News: wow I never knew that, what a creep
Everyone is a lawyer when it comes to this. That documentary was so one-sided, how you can make a claim he is an innocent man is beyond me. I would have to see if from the police’s side before I could make a decision.
@themanwiththeplan: There are a lot of holes in the case. It was a very weak prosecution
@themanwiththeplan: Not really. Certain police were not meant to be anywhere near the crime scenes. They then were given access and after that evidence was found even though searches had already been carried out. That alone taints the entire case based on the evidence found.
That alone is enough of a problem with the case.
@themanwiththeplan: christ almighty. The bedroom scene alone is enough to know it was a stitch up.
@themanwiththeplan: there may have been bias in how Steven Avery’s case was presented in the documentary but the Brendan dassey conviction was a disgrace. You only had to see the confession interview to know it was totally fabricated and none of the other evidence backed up anything he said. The Wisconsin police and state prosecutors looked extremely dodgy. They just wanted a conviction and didn’t care if they had the right people or not.
@themanwiththeplan: what that documentary showed was overwhelming reasonable doubt, which by the way is all the defence has to prove for him to be found innocent. You seem to forget that innocent until proven guilty is the law , not the other way round
If he got a new trial, and it showed how wrong the police were, it would be devastating to their police department. Can you imagine the amount of requests for retrials? Too much work.
@Rosie Murray: tis the $ ‘s they’re more worried about……..Avery got stiched up from the get go but he was no angel either. Even without Netflix I always believed he geniunely got set up for the fall
If they where rich he would not be there , how he and the other fella were put in jail makes no sense, they way the bedroom was described and how it looked, even the photos of of the crime scene. The cop stopping the woman’s car days before, the guys voice mail, how the cops dierect to were the car be found, if you went to the trouble of burning the body would they not of did the same to the car even more so been car scrap yard. Even on these issues it could be thrown out , seen lest issues for cases been dismissed.
The ‘justice’ system in the US is corrupt beyond repair, they’re all so afraid of admitting mistakes that they’ll let innocent people rot in jail.
I can’t believe Dassey is still in jail.
I didn’t not kill no one, nobody, no more…. yeeeap. yeeeap.
He’s as guilty as sin. That documentary on Netflix was so one-sided favouring Avery’s innocence. The police really messed up the investigation adding to the stitch up theories. Anyone interested in podcasts should give a listen to The Generation Why, they did an excellent episode about this case. Avery is a creep and a madman.
@Linda Daly: Not convinced of Dassey’s guilt. I think he was pressured into saying things. But Avery, I would not be surprized if he did it. I too think the documentary, as good as it was to watch, was very one sided.
@James Bishop: Poor Brendan Dassey, the fella didn’t stand a chance. He was indeed co-orced by police but he was easily led. He would of done anything for his uncle a lot not by choice but fear.
@Linda Daly:
You know who’s actually a creep in all of this?
Ken Kratz, the prosecutor. Who resigned from Office in disgrace some years later after making inappropriate sexual advances to domestic violence victim whose husband he was prosecuting.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sexting-wisconsin-da-formally-resigns/
@Feach News: I know that.
I ain’t never even killed no body no more… Yeeeap. Yeeeap.
He is guilty
He’s more than likely guilty but but based on the mistakes the cops made and there dodgy investigation (biased on show or not) it should have been thrown out
Do the right thing let the man go
Were you behind 911 Brendan?
Yeahh
Were you the mastermind behind 9/11 Brendan?
Yeahh
I just simply wish one member of the Avery family had just a few more brain cells.
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