When Making A Murder captivated the public nearly 3-years-ago, the potential for a follow-up was clear to see. Due in part to its remarkable popularity, that potential became reality with the release of the second installment of 10 episodes hitting Netflix last month.
While waiting close to 3 years to be updated on your favourite documentary might be considered torture for many, the reality is there’s no need to wait.
Steven Avery’s post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, took to Twitter to reveal her latest findings and theories relating to the murder of Teresa Halbach back in 2005. What added to Zellner’s revelations, was her invitation to answer questions—for approximately 30 minutes following—from interested parties.
Prior to questions being taken, Avery’s attorney tweeted 19 bullet-point statements —not covered in MaM2—detailing events leading up to, and following Halbach’s disappearance on Oct. 31st, 2005.
Of note were Zellner’s assertions that Avery’s brother-in-law, Scott Tadych visited the Avery Salvage Yard (ASY) at ‘around noon,’ despite his claims to the contrary.
Tadych’s changing story, via multiple police interviews, has raised doubts over its validity. Interviewed twice in the month following Halbach’s disappearance, Tadych contradicted himself regarding his whereabouts, and whether he worked on the day of Oct. 31st, or visited his mother in hospital after she had surgery that same morning.
Further tweets claimed that after Halbach had contacted the Dassey’s landline—leaving a voicemail asking for directions—Zellner’s ‘suspect’ contacted her back with the address. Halbach phoned the Dassey landline at 11.43am, and although her cell phone records indicate no call back from the Dassey home number, Zellner was quick to point out that proof of her ‘suspect'[s] doing so was “not restricted to a call log.” Indeed, the potential for an address to be sent via some other medium is certainly feasible, a point highlighted by her response to a question relating to how communication occurred between Halbach and Zellner’s suspect.
Tweets drawing attention to witnesses seeing Halbach’s Toyota Rav4 leaving the ASY, along with ‘recent investigations show[ing] the Rav4 battery died,’ and that ‘it was replaced in order to move [it] to the ASY’ after being left at a nearby highway turnoff prior to its discovery, have raised yet more questions as to the validity of the state’s narrative used to convict Avery by exposing their key witnesses testimony at trial to be false.
For the full list of 19 key points that Zellner has learned through her investigation since the second instalment of Making a Murderer, and the entirity of her Q&A session please visit: https://twitter.com/ZellnerLaw
The timing of Zellner’s sharing of new information re her investigation of Avery’s case fell neatly between the release of MaM2 and her next filing in court, due Dec. 20th.
The filing, with the Court of Appeals in Wisconsin (COA), will likely expand upon Zellner’s assertions presented on twitter via a variety of sworn affidavits, scientific testing, and documentation refuting testimony given by key witnesses, prior, during, and after Avery’s trial.
Zellner’s aim—as has been since she took on Avery’s post-conviction case nearly 3-years-ago—is for her client to receive a new trial. With the appeals process beginning at the circuit court level, Zellner’s progress has been stymied due to the unwillingness of Circuit Court Judge Angela Sutkiewicz to consider evidence presented that rubbishes both state, and key witnesses version of events.
Within Sutkiewicz’s jurisdiction was the granting of an Evidentiary hearing—commonplace in cases where potentially key evidence of an exculpatory nature were not presented at a defendant’s trial—for Avery. Her denial, has lead to Zellner’s forthcoming brief with the COA.
While the COA is not a fact finding court, and will not consider Zellner’s findings, it is within their jurisdiction to remand the case back to the trial court for such a hearing in order to do so.
Whether Zellner can ‘solve’ who murdered Teresa Halbach remains to be seen. Indeed, as Zellner has made clear on more than one occasion, it is not her job to do so, but rather law enforcement’s—to which they ‘failed miserably’. What is likely more pertinent to Avery however, is his attorney continuing to prove that the state’s narrative presented at trial was impossible, and that their key witnesses who helped bolster that narrative, committed perjury on the stand.
Back in August of last year, Calumet County Sheriff’s Department began a ‘follow-up investigation regarding the Halbach murder,’ due to ‘allegations or questions raised in several filings of Steven Avery’s current defence attorney, Kathleen Zellner.’ The investigation—conducted by John Dedering, who investigated Halbach’s murder in 2005/6—was most notable for the questions it did not ask rather than those that it did.
With Zellner’s latest revelations, the prospect of further ‘investigations’ taking place by one of the officers originally involved in the case against Avery seems likely, yet just as likely looms the prospect of that investigation—as Zellner herself offered—being ‘lame.’
And therein lies the rub.
As Avery’s appeal plays out through the courts over the coming months, and potentially years, how far up the legal ladder will Zellner need to climb before the ‘right’ questions are heard? After all, if Avery’s appeal is viewed favourably and remanded back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing by the COA, it will be the trial court itself that conducts proceedings.
Evidentiary hearings are held at the court where the original trial took place, with the finder of fact during such hearings reserved for the presiding judge rather than jurors— as is the case at most trials . Predominantly, the judge presiding will be the same as that who oversaw the original trial due to their knowledge of past proceedings. At Avery’s trial, judge Patrick Willis presided, yet his retirement in 2012, lead to Angela Sutkiewicz taking over ruling on his appeals process at the trial court level.
With authorities at a local level—law enforcement and the circuit court—evidently not interested in either asking the relevant questions, or having those questions heard via a hearing, it will firstly come down to the COA to address their reluctance to do so. The COA’ ruling on Zellner’s impending brief looks set to offer how ‘local’ corruption regarding Avery’s case is harboured.
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Criminal Justice Reform Journal 
Typo in first section,”installment” is misspelled.
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I’ve been following this case for years. I can’t understand how the jury found Steven Avery guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The corruption by Manitowoc is so obvious and the lack of evidence. Steven is innocent and I can’t wait for justice to be served. Kathleen Zellner is a ROCKSTAR and won’t stop until the truth is found. #freestevenavery
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One of the seemingly , at least in my estimation, flaws in our judiciary branch of United States government is the lack of accountability local judges have with regards to the voters. I’m sick and tired of voting pamphlets that give benign information on judges that do nothing to inform the voter of the leanings and records/ rulings of the judge running. Half the time they’re running against no one. Blind voting really.
How can on let a sitting judge know hat they’re accountable again? We seem to have no reserve for a Supreme Court nominee … let’s take it back!
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I find that if I look at the donations made to their campaigns I can draw a conclusion as to which way they lean. For example if they recieve donations from The Chamber of commerce they probably lean towards the right and are more sympathetic to corporations.
But yes, I agree with you. I don’t like the so called bipartisan ballots.
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It’s an outrage that at the state level it seems judges are protecting verdicts of the wrongfully convicted at all cost. The biggest cost, however, is the devastation and loss of life to everyone involved. Families spend every dime and all their energy to reverse the injustice. The justice system (which should be renamed, the injustice system) denies every attempt by post-conviction attorneys to introduce new evidence. They have too much power! Innocent people spend 10, 20, 30 years in hell awaiting justice.
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I also feel that BD needs to explain and seriously think about how he came up with this vivid story of how TH was murdered. After all, this is why he lost his appeal in the higher court as the judges could not fathom how he could conceive such a story with out it being embedded in his brain. What his defense should have concentrated on was taking this story apart, sentence by sentence and shining a light for the judge to clearly see how this was impossible to happen, rather than just trying to sweep it under the carpet with no real explanation as to how this version of events was arrived at. Notice the way that the prosecution replayed the tape for the judges mind to contemplet, unfortunately BD lawer Laura Nirider didn’t do this, it’s a classic case of concentration on case law and forgetting that Judges are human and need to be sold a true picture. To do this, she would have had to spend many hours with BD figuring out exactly how he came up with such a detailed story. FB led him but he put it into words. What did he see or read, where, how did he get access, when did he get assess, what was he doing to get Access.
The following needs answers
What
When
Where
How
Why
Who
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Brendan did tell everyone where he got the story from. The book and (given his I. Q.) most likely the movie named, Kiss the Girl” starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. What they did to him was so wrong. I have worked with special needs kids and they are very easily led. The investigators should be brought up on abuse charges and spend time behind bars.
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There is a comment that TH left a voice message on BT phone to ask for directions, strange as she had been out there at ASY 4 times previously. Motive is key and who has motive, who has opportunity and who has the ability? To kill someone is one thing, to dismember and burn a body is completely different. These little burn barrels would need enormous amounts of fuel to generate the heat needed to burn a body even if dismembered. To dismember a body takes knowledge as to having experience with animals and cutting them up, who has this knowledge and tools. Think of the smell of burning flesh. I Have personally experienced both and there is a horrible smell that never leaves you, it peremates everywhere. That makes it wholey improbable that SA would burn body parts in an open burn pit which could never reach the temperature necessary to turn a body to Ash.
I would focus on TH and her personal private relationships and connected parties first and foremost as if we accept BD false confession as complete BS, then who has massive motive to kill a young women. Was there something sinister in her background or her dealings with shady people, this type of work can bring one into contact with all sorts of unsavoury characters. Let’s assume that none of the obvious characters were involved in her murder and only became involved after her car was found, and this only because a truck driver spotted it (which in itself is strange as it wasn’t according to him well concealed and there was a hugh search for it in the vacinity and many people would have driven by where he said it was?) and then phoned the cops. Its was possible only after the R4 was found did the planning and planting of evidence to frame SA take shape.
I feel TH girlfriend and phone records could throw more light on the true killer and much more focus needs to be concentrated on her relationships with both men and women?
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From us watching all over the world and hear in Chicago can clearly see the evil and corruption displayed by These people. The entire counties are all involved….THE FBI,THE sheriff’s,judges,etc are corrupt!!! We praying for him and his family to overcome IT all.
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Ya they tried to get me on a murder back in 1987 I sat in county jail for 515 days 17and half months but then they dismissed it now but I got an attorney now I started having seizures while I was in costody at the county jail I told them you have the wrong guy but they didn’t believe me at all til they set me free I sat there from June 3rd 2015 til October 28th 2016 it was a missable time for me but my attorney working on getting me some money they made me say I kill this woman but in my heart I know I didn’t do it for god sach I help the women call the police because there was a party up stairs and the music was so loud but now I don’t trust the police anymore because they are so sneaky about stuff just needed to get this out there and off my chest and I sure hope they relese the Avery guys because that police department seems so corrupt as hell and I am always watching the documentary on these guys so good luck to them both and the family god bless them they get the right killers !!!!
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So then, if this is all true is Ms Zellner saying then that police did not conspire in any way to so called “frame” Steven Avery? Is she saying then that this other suspect planted the key and did all the work to frame Steven Avery. After all that’s been said about the police framing Steven how do you leave them out of the big frame up?
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Will Steve Avery ever be free. Please free him. He is innocent.
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Well-written. Thanks.
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Court rulings are decided on the golf course, not in the court room.
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I admit I have been “spellbound” watching Making a Murderer part 1 & 2 and I am in disbelief at the inadequacy of the US Justice system. Of course, I only watched the case from the Netflix documentary’s perspective and some of Zellner’s tweets but I am still horrified at the mistakes and fantasies uttered by the prosecution to the media etc. This is truly scary. We should all be scared as this could happen to any of us. It happened twice to Steve Avery and once to Brendan Dassey and neither certainly comes across as the “monsters” the prosecutors were making them out to be. There is something seriously wrong with the justice system to allow for such travesties to go on and continue to go on. It seems once someone is accused of something like this it is nearly impossible to get vindicated, certainly in the public eyes. We are directing out outrage at the tragedy of what happened to the victim to anyone accused and put the blinders on. Any reasoning goes out the window. This is what typically happened with the witchcraft mobs of the middle ages. I’d like to think that we have evolved from that but perhaps not so much.
It troubles me that we put the faith of making the most important decisions in the hands of 12 people that may not be well equipped to discern facts from fiction and to see through all the BS that prosecutors or defense attorneys may come up with. Many may be retired, and perhaps not as mentally sharp as they used to be, and many may not be well educated. It seems that most of those best able to be good jurors, cleverly get themselves dismissed as they have better things in their mind to do with their time. This is a big problem as it undermines the whole concept of being judged by your peers. Steven’s original defense attorneys seemed to do a great job with what they had at their disposal, yet the verdict did not come in their favor, due to the mockery of the justice process committed by the prosecution using the media and the deep prejudice some of the jurors had because of it.
Furthermore the uphill battle one faces when miscarriage of justice has taken place is a huge problem. It is clear that if you have improperly been found guilty, the burden is now on the accused to prove that he/she is innocent. This may in many cases be almost impossible to do, unless you are lucky enough to have someone of Ms. Zellner’s caliber on your team. Few of us would be so lucky. If this case and the misconduct it shows is not that uncommon across the country it is horrible to think about how many innocent people may actually be sitting in jail for crimes they did not commit.
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They are railroading this guy and his family and your its a shame.
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If I recall correctly, the only thing Ms. Zellner has said the police didn’t do was plant the blood evidence in the Rav4. I think she still believes that they moved the car to the Avery lot and planted the bones on Steven’s property, tampered with the bullet evidence, purposely mislabeled evidence, scrubbed the time stamps on the call dispatch when AC called in to verify the plate number . Oh and lets not forget not allowing the coroner any where need the crime scene,
And threatening to arrest her if she pushed the issue. And then blocking her from testifying to those facts, for the defense. And the Judge siding with the prosecutor. Actually the real killer or killers got lucky. The cops didn’t want to pay out the millions Steven was suing for on his wrongful conviction. So, they framed him. Which forced him to settle for $400,000, so he could pay a lawyer to represent him in the murder case they framed him for, only to wrongfully convict him once again. Unbelievable!!! All these people should do as much time and more then Steven and Brendan.
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The levels of corruption that are evident in all forms of justice and government is disgusting. Everywhere in the world it’s the same, there needs to be a new formation of government/judicial system (keep the same laws). Design the system to be corruption free that serves the people and not the people in powerful positions. I await for a better world though I realize I will never see one. Well done Kathleen Zellner for properly investigating a horrible crime, something that should have been done at the beginning by law enforcement instead of the municipality finding a scapegoat that would save them millions of dollars. I hope when Steven is free he sue’s the damn pants off that ridiculous place and it goes bankrupt and becomes a ghost town. Can’t trust much of anything these days……. sad……
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If I recall correctly, the only thing Ms. Zellner has said the police didn’t do was plant the blood evidence in the Rav4. I think she still believes that they moved the car to the Avery lot and planted the bones on Steven’s property, tampered with the bullet evidence, purposely mislabeled evidence, scrubbed the time stamps on the call dispatch when AC called in to verify the plate number . Oh and lets not forget not allowing the coroner any where near the crime scene,
And threatening to arrest her if she pushed the issue. And then blocking her from testifying to those facts, for the defense. And the Judge siding with the prosecutor. Actually the real killer or killers got lucky. The cops didn’t want to pay out the millions Steven was suing for on his wrongful conviction. So, they framed him. Which forced him to settle for $400,000, so he could pay a lawyer to represent him in the murder case they framed him for, only to wrongfully convict him once again. Unbelievable!!! All these people should do as much time and more then Steven and Brendan.
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Kathleen seller is right on the button
I can’t believe the injustice that’s going on there. Steven and Brendan are victims just like Theresa. I wish she could come out and tell the truth. I am very sure she is very frustrated that her killers are walking free. If only Theresa could talk
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Go get em Kathleen! You are a force to be reckoned with! I am following your tweets and articles daily. Show America the truth. For Steven, Brendan AND Theresa.
Bobby and Scott, buckle up boys. Life’s gonna get real bumpy soon.
#freestevenavery #freebrendandassey
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