Teresa Halbach’s Family: ‘Making a Murderer’ Is ‘Terrible’

The Steven Avery case has drawn worldwide attention, in the wake of the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer”.

The appeal, filed Monday in an appeals court in Madison, bears Avery’s signature and contains numerous spelling and grammar errors.

The documents show Avery is claiming Halbach’s vehicle wasn’t property sealed with tamper-proof tape – allowing officers to open and close the doors and plant evidence inside that vehicle. If the court decides to vacate Avery’s conviction based on his claims, prosecutors would have to decide whether to retry him without the impermissible evidence. Overall, he’s asking for the court to declare a mistrial.

The unnamed jury member is alleged to have repeatedly told cohorts that Avery “is f****** guilty”, according to legal motions in which Avery asks to be freed on bail.

On Jan. 11, 2016, Steven Avery filed several motions before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

Phone and email messages left with the former district attorney who handled the case, Ken Kratz, were not returned.

Recently, viewers of the Netflix series have sent a petition to the White House seeking Avery’s exoneration and that of his nephew Brendan Dassey, who also was sentenced to life in prison for his role as an accomplice. “The Zellner law firm is looking forward to adding Mr. Avery to its long list of criminal exonerations”, the news release states.

Avery was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in Halbach’s 2005 death. While Stachowski says she has not seen Making a Murderer, she maintains that the documentary was “all lies”.

Avery’s defense also implied key pieces of evidence in this case could have been planted, and that Avery was framed.

Following its release in December, a petition was started on social media, calling for the release of Avery.

At the time of Avery’s arrest, he had a pending $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County because he’d spent 18 years in prison for a rape that DNA evidence later proved he did not commit. But since they were charged at the state level, only Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker can issue a pardon – something he hasn’t done in his five years in office.