Lawyer Representing Steven Avery Files Motion Claiming ‘Making A Murderer’ Convict Was Framed
A lawyer representing Steven Avery filed a motion on Friday demanding access to evidence she believes will exonerate the Making A Murderer convict. The attorney wants to conduct extensive testing on the evidence using methods not available during Avery’s 2007 trial.
Steven Avery, the subject of the Netflix hit documentary Making A Murderer, was convicted of participating in the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach and sentenced to life in prison. Believing Avery was framed, attorney Kathleen Zellner says the new tests “will conclusively establish his innocence” and reveal the identity of the real killer.
“Mr. Avery is requesting, and is willing to pay for, the most comprehensive, thorough, and advanced forensic testing ever requested by a criminal defendant in the State of Wisconsin,” Zellner wrote in the motion.
Last year, the Netflix series Making A Murderer brought national attention to the case. Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were both convicted of killing Halbach after she visited the Avery Manitowoc County salvage yard in October 2005. Throughout the trial, defense lawyers argued the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department framed Avery.
“That was a huge discovery because the car doesn’t appear on the Avery property until November 5,” Zellner told Newsweek. “It’s a problem when some of [the investigators] are planting evidence and others are honestly doing their job and documenting their malfeasance.”
According to Zellner, Halbach’s car was moved to the Avery property from the Fred Radandt Sons, Inc. quarry using a road that connects the property to the quarry. In the 45-page motion, Avery’s lawyer claims the blood evidence discovered in the vehicle was placed there by investigators sometime before the car was found on Avery’s property.
Other claims in the motion pertain to two “non-law enforcement” individuals that were on the Avery property after the murder, but at a time when it was not open to the public. Joshua Radandt, identified only as “Individual A” in the motion, told police there was a fire on the Avery property sometime in the afternoon on October 31, 2005.
The documents state Individual A was on the property at least four times for undisclosed reasons. According to Avery’s lawyer, Individual A must have lied because Avery’s backyard cannot be observed from the quarry road, where the individual claims he was when the fire was seen burning.
An “Individual B” is also named in Zellner’s motion. This person is likely Halbach’s ex-boyfriend Ryan Hillegas. Zellner contends this individual lied about the turning signal light on Halbach’s vehicle being broken weeks before the murder.
“The victim’s blinker light was displaced sometime during the sequence of events of either the crime or the transport of the victim’s car onto Mr. Avery’s property,” the motion states. “The blinker light was picked up and placed in the rear cargo area of the victim’s car by the perpetrator or the individual who moved the car onto the Avery property.”
The motion filed by Avery’s attorney requests several pieces of evidence currently in the hands of the Calumet County Sheriff’s Office. Zellner wants DNA testing of this evidence.
“Since 2007, more sensitive forensic DNA techniques have been developed that can recover sufficient DNA for profiling from…fingerprints,” states the motion. “If the unidentified fingerprints on the victim’s vehicle match either Officer [Andrew] Colborn or Officer [James] Lenk, it would be significant evidence of their involvement in moving the victim’s vehicle onto the Avery property.”
Other evidence Zellner wants tested is a lug wrench found in Halbach’s car, various items from a deer hunting camp owned by Radandt as well as three locations in the vehicle where blood evidence was supposedly found. A hood latch and the key to Halbach’s car will also be tested using new DNA techniques if the motion is approved.
[Photo by Tim Swoboda/AP Photo, Pool]
