The lawyer representing Steven Avery, the convicted killer of Teresa Halbach whose case made international headlines when it became the subject of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, has said she has collected new DNA samples as part of her campaign to have Avery’s conviction overturned.
Kathleen Zellner revealed on Twitter that she had visited Avery, who is serving a life sentence without parole at the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, to attain a fresh sample of his DNA.
Fifth trip to Steven Avery. Collected samples for new tests. The inevitable is coming--he was smiling so were we. #MakingAMurderer #Science+
— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 20, 2016
Avery, 53, has become a cause celebre since his story was featured in the Netflix documentary.
Making a Murderer outlined how he had been wrongly convicted of a sexual assault in the 1980s, and was released from jail after serving 18 years for a crime he did not commit.
Later, when suing the local sheriff’s department and seeking damages of $36m for wrongful conviction, Avery became the prime suspect in the murder of a young photographer, whose last known sighting was on his family’s auto yard.
Revealing the defence mounted to save both Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey from jail, the documentary ends with both men serving time for a crime both strenuously deny.
Early in the new year, following the phenomenal success of the documentary series, Kathleen Zellner and the Midwest Innocence Project revealed the body had taken on Avery’s case. Filing a fresh appeal, seeking the court grant Avery a new trial, Zellner has since been updating those following the case of her progress using Twitter.
In January, she also said that the advances made in forensics in the last decade could prove to be the turning point in Avery’s case.
“Since 2007, there have been significant advances in forensic testing, and so clearly we’re going... the clearest way to do this is with scientific testing and that’s what we will be asking to do,” she said.
Manitowoc County’s public prosecutor had asked the court to grant more time to gather documents in the case. Granting the request, county officials now have until March 2nd to comply.
