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White House on ‘Making a Murderer’ petition
Posted On Jan 14 2016
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The White House has denied a “We The People” petition to pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.
The official response is pretty lengthy as it includes a bar graph and explanation of POTUS’ pardoning power and the limitations that comes with it. “Since Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both state prisoners, the President can not pardon them”, the reply reads.
The 10-part Netflix series raised skepticism about how the the case was processed by Wisconsin’s criminal justice system, which was accused of having “embarrassingly failed both men” in the petition.
The power to pardon is reserved for the president when a person is convicted of a wrongdoing on the federal scale.
Since its December release, Netflix’s Making a Murder has inspired a wave of citizen action, including a petition asking President Obama to pardon the two felons at the heart of the docu-series.
The White House explained that President Obama can not pardon Avery. President Obama can’t do anything about this. “I think the relationship between citizens and the government and their expectation that if something like this garners 380,000 petitioners as it has, that that’s going to get a response from the government”.
Making a Murderer chronicles the story of Avery’s multiple criminal charges and Dassey’s eventual involvement.
Another petition on Change.org calling for Avery’s exoneration has gathered more than 342,000 signatures. After filing a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County, Avery was arrested and convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach along with his cousin Brendan Dassey.
However, a Presidential pardon wouldn’t actually help Avery because Obama only has the authority to grant pardons for federal crimes, and Avery’s case was not federal.
Avery is now serving a life sentence in jail without parole.
Earlier this week, Avery’s girlfriend told Action 2 News she was pursuing an attorney who she says is considered the best in the country to represent Avery.
