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‘Making A Murderer’ Petitions At Nearly 70,000 Signatures: Steven Avery Gets Support On WhiteHouse.Gov And Change.Org

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 14:20 PST, Jan 1, 2016

Making a Murderer has landed with a splash online as a much-discussed Netflix series. Making a Murderer focuses on Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Avery’s life in the county began as the Avery Family was pitted against others in the region because they worked in the auto repair business — one much different than the farmers in the county. The way that Steven’s journey would then entangle itself with the authorities and prison time displayed throughout Making a Murderer has caused viewers to launch Making a Murderer petitions to try and bring Avery justice.

As reported by the New York Post, the 10 episodes of Making a Murderer has caused viewers to try and go to bat for Steven by launching whitehouse.gov and change.org petitions to get him released from prison. The White House petition, named “Pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey for their alleged involvement in the murder of Teresa Halbach,” has gained more than 8,000 signatures. It’s quite a far cry away from the 100,000 signatures needed by January 19, to reach the goal.

The White House petition also brings in the plight of Brendan Dassey, who some see as the teenaged scapegoat who was pressured by authorities to admit a role in the murder of Teresa Halbach. Teresa was a freelance photographer who wrote for Auto Trader and other publications, but met with her death under mysterious circumstances.

“Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey should be given a full pardon by President Obama for their wrongful conviction in the connection to the murder of Teresa Halbach. Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives.

“There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriff’s department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as such, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible.”

One of the Change.org petitions seeking to free Avery has grown to contain more than 60,000 supporters, and combined with the White House petition, equals nearly 70,000 folks willing to sign their online signatures to support Avery. Making a Murderer has convinced some viewers that the man who was released in 2003 when DNA evidence exonerated him in a rape case after Avery had spent 18 years in prison, is once again being railroaded. In 2005, Avery was charged with Teresa’s murder. However, as presented in Making a Murderer, the killing of Halbach is questionable in the way that evidence appeared on Avery’s property. Questions of police planting evidence and setting up Avery have been suggested in the documentary.

“Avery’s unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process. Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by presidential pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the U.S. criminal and civil justice systems.”

Despite the petitions, Wisconsin prosecutor Ken Kratz claims the documentary didn’t show all of the reasons why Avery was convicted. People mad at the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office have called and emailed them. Yet Kratz says that Making a Murderer left out certain factors, as reported by Vocativ, that would make people view the man differently.

Making a Murderer leaves out claims that Avery told a prisoner that he planned to make a sex chamber to torture and kill women, claims Kratz. Kratz also claimed that Avery had been called “creepy” by Teresa, and that Steven allegedly used certain methods to block his phone number when he called the 25-year-old Halbach, but didn’t use the phone number blocking techniques when Avery allegedly called her phone after her death.

[AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, Pool]

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