(WTAQ-WLUK) – Steven Avery has appealed a judge’s ruling denying him a new trial or evidentiary hearing on his conviction for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
Avery is serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of Halbach, a freelance photographer. Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey was also convicted. Their cases received worldwide attention with the 2015 release of the Netflix series “Making A Murderer.”
In an August decision, Sheboygan County Judge Angela Sutkiewicz denied Avery’s request for a new trial or hearings based on claims there is an alternate suspect actually responsible for Halbach’s murder.
In a 57-page document filed Friday with the Court of Appeals, attorney Kathleen Zellner argued that decision was in error.
“The circuit court’s decision, denying Mr. Avery an evidentiary hearing on his new evidence of (the alternate suspect’s) possession of Ms. Halbach’s vehicle, is based on an irrational premise “that (he) could have been in possession of the car that night . . . to help hide evidence to protect the two individuals directly linked by forensic evidence to this murder and convicted of the crime. First, the circuit court is hugely mistaken in presupposing that Brendan Dassey was ever linked forensically to the crime. He was not. Second, the circuit court erroneously relies upon evidence that was barred from being considered at Mr. Avery’s trial, such as Brendan Dassey’s “confession,” to support its decision to deny Mr. Avery an evidentiary hearing,” Zellner wrote.
She argued Judge Sutkiewicz improperly applied the standards courts must use when evaluating if a suspect would be allowed to blame another party for the crime.
Zellner asked for oral arguments before the appeals court, which are relatively rare.
She asked for one of the following remedies:
- Reverse the Orders Denying Postconviction Relief and grant an evidentiary hearing;
- Reverse the judgments of conviction and the orders denying Postconviction Relief and remand for a new trial; and
- Grant any other relief this Court deems appropriate
Prosecutors have not responded to the filing, and no hearings have been scheduled.
Dassey has no appeals pending. His latest appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
Comments