MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Steven Avery’s attorney says she has another witness to back up a theory someone else is responsible for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
Avery is serving a life sentence for the freelance photographer’s 2005 murder. Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey was also convicted. Their cases received worldwide attention with the 2015 release of the Netflix series “Making A Murderer.”
Dassey has no appeals pending — his latest appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018. Avery has continued to file a series of appeals and post-conviction motions.
In Avery’s most recent post-conviction motion, attorney Kathleen Zellner places the blame for the murder on another witness at the trial. She has requested an evidentiary hearing so that the court can hear from an eye witness who says they saw this alternate suspect with Halbach’s vehicle, which Zellner claims was then used to plant evidence against Avery. Prosecutors have opposed the request.
No charges have been filed against the person Zellner tabs as responsible.
In the new filing Friday, Zellner offers an affidavit from another witness, who Zellner says she became aware of earlier this month.
The witness says he saw the alternate suspect driving Halbach’s vehicle days after her disappearance. The witness claims he told a Brown County detective about his information in 2006 or 2007 but was ignored and told a relative about it in 2017 or 2018.
Prosecutors have not replied to Friday’s brief.
Sheboygan County Judge Angela Sutkiewicz is currently assigned to the case. No hearings have been scheduled. The judge can either issue a decision based on the written arguments, which have been submitted, or she could schedule a hearing as Avery has requested.
