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Making A Murderer: He Didn't Do The Crime, But He'll Do The Time

The Steven Avery Case

By Francesco Joseph Published 3 years ago 14 min read
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Making A Murderer: He Didn't Do The Crime, But He'll Do The Time
Photo by Victor B. on Unsplash

"We can all say we will never commit a crime, but that doesn't mean you won't be accused. If that happens, you'll understand the importance of the presumption of innocence." - Jerry Buting, Defense Attorney

Our criminal system was built on the foundations, that if you do the crime, then you will do the time, however that is not always the case. There is a wide misconception that says if you are innocent, then you have nothing to worry about, or getting a defense lawyer is only for guilty people.

Today in the public eye just being accused of a crime is the same thing as being guilty. The court systems were designed to punish you, regardless of your innocence.

There is no greater crime than the crime of committing an injustice. Injustice can be committed in many ways. It can be committed by an individual toward another individual, or it can be committed by an institution toward an individual, Steven Avery knows the latter all too well.

Making A Murderer

Netflix's Making A Murder is a case study in that regard. It is unlikely that Steven Avery committed the act, but he'll do the time, whether he wants to or not. He'll do the time because he became a murderer in the eyes of the media and today just by pointing the finger is good enough as a conviction. 

The decision of the court system to trial Avery was a mockery of justice on an institutional level.

Steven Avery has a history of being convicted for crimes he didn't commit. In 1985 he was convicted of the rape and attempted murder of Penny Beernsten. Avery's case is not unique as it does happen time and time again, because of how the system operates. That's why the Innocence Project was formed, to prevent wrongful convictions.

Presumption of Innocence

Steven Avery was not a model citizen. He had a history of burglary and petty offenses. This gave Manitowoc Sheriff's department a motive to find and charge Steven Avery with any serious crime. On the afternoon of July 29th, 1985 they got the ammunition they needed when rape and attempted murder were committed toward Penny Beernsten.

The Sheriff's department, already aware of Steven Avery's presence decided to charge Avery without any serious investigation. Despite Mr. Avery's 22 witnesses, the courts didn't care. They were all called liars, fabricators in a gigantic conspiracy to cover up this act of rape and attempted murder. Avery's presumption of innocence was entirely eroded.

18 Years Lost

After 18 years of false imprisonment, DNA evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Steven Avery was innocent. Most disturbing was all the evidence pointing to someone else, despite the real rapist confessing to it in 1995, the Manitowoc Sheriffs department still hid the facts from surfacing.

Steven Avery was released on September 11th, 2003 with a huge sign of relief and great excitement for his friends and family. Personally, I just love the "I just got out of prison after 18 years of being wrongfully convicted for attempted murder and rape," look.

Making A Celebrity

Steven Avery was becoming a Rockstar in the Criminal Justice System, Mayors would do photo ops with him. Politicians would speak out of the injustices committed and the corruption of the Manitowoc County Police department. Legislators would draft up new bills to reform the criminal justice law. The Avery Task Force bill was passed into law on November 1, 2005. Steven was filling a lawsuit for 36 million dollars for all the years of wrongful imprisonment.

This would be a good way to end the story and say how he lived happily ever after with his friends and family. However, that was not the case when lighting struck twice on November 3, 2005, when a young woman photographer, Teresa Halbach was reported missing. Before a body was even found the local law enforcement automatically expected Steven Avery.

Presumption Of Guilt

The same politicians who held him up and praised him turned their backs and condemned him. The media spun the story as an innocent man sentenced for a crime he didn't commit then 20 years sentenced for a crime he did commit, or so they thought. The Wisconsin Innocence Project took down Avery from their website. Once again the presumption of innocence was non-existent. Once again Avery had to vindicate himself from the presumption of guilt.

The Teresa Halbach Case

From the beginning, this whole investigation was compromised with a conflict of interest between Steven Avery and the Manitowoc Police Department. Calumet, a neighboring police department was supposed to investigate the Avery Salvage yard by themselves which they did not.

Calumet Police Department's role was to act as watchdogs for the Manitowoc Police Department, a role that must've weren't even aware of because Manitowoc did not tell them. A role that is so unprecedented that their police department never had to do in the history of a murder investigation. The investigation was not looking at who could've done it, instead, it was about proving how Steven Avery did do it.

Because of this conflict of interest between Avery and Manitowoc questioned the entire credibility of the entire investigation since anything found would've been under questionable circumstances. The Manitowoc Police Department went back on Avery's property an unprecedented 18 times, the first times they found nothing it wasn't till the 5th or 6th time that they found the victim's car keys in a spot that was already cleared days earlier.

From the beginning, Steven Avery was the primary suspect because he was one of the last people to see her. Talbach was a photographer taking photos of a van for a magazine that did business with the Avery Auto Salvage. The case centered around Mr. Avery and his property because he went public saying he was the last person to see her, he did not hide this from anyone.

If Avery did do it why would he tell law enforcement and the local news that he saw her last? He was fully cooperative with law enforcement, letting them check his house without any warrant. At first they found nothing so left.

Investigators questioned the entire Avery family and cousins, but never questioned the people closest to the victim. No one asked the people closed to the victim for their alibis including a roommate who didn't report her missing for 3 days or a creepy strange ex-boyfriend who had too much involvement in the search of Avery's Auto salvage yard. At court Teresa's ex testified stating he never even felt like a suspect.

Cell phone records show Somebody tampered with her cell phone, erasing voicemail records. The ex-boyfriend and brother both testified admitting they knew the password but were candid about anything more regarding the cell phone.

On the day of the alleged incident, Steven told everyone he had to be home to let Teresa Halbach take photos of a car. His whole family knew this, if Steven were to kill her it would be nonsensical to tell everyone that he was going to meet her.

The Search of Avery Auto Salvage Property

Steven Avery's actions were strange for a guilty man, as he was fully co-operative with the police, allowing them to look in his property, Avery's Auto salvage yard without a warrant. On paper, the search was done by a Calumet police department since Manitowoc Police Department wasn't even allowed to be on the scene because of their history with Avery. Many of the officers were deposed and there was a 36 million dollar lawsuit Steven Avery was currently suing them for.

Avery's past made it a clear conflict of interest for the department to get involved, regardless they still searched Steven's property and lied to the public saying they did not.

Who had a conflict with Avery from the past? 

There's only one answer to this and that is the Manitowoc Police department.

They had motive and opportunity.

The Framing Defense

Avery's lawyers, Dean Strang and Jerry Buting were going with an unorthodox approach in court, the framing defense. Prosecutors and police were offended by this position, but it was one that had to be taken. Steve and his lawyers weren't just claiming the police framed Avery, but they had proof too.

Lack Of Evidence/ Tampered Evidence

To Outside observers it would seem like an open and shut case however this was not the case to the viewers of the "Making A Murder" series. In it, all the evidence comes into question.

The District Attorney's case was very inconsistent and did not explain the evidence found at the crime scene or establish a consistent timeline. District Attorney should be seeking the truth of what happened however, Ken Kratz was only seeking the conviction of Steven

The Bedroom

The prosecution claims that Teresa was tied up on a bed in Steven's bedroom, stabbed multiple times, throat slit, and blood gushing out everywhere. With such a graphic story one would expect to find tons of the victim's blood everywhere, however that was not the case. Even after investigators tore that room apart, leaving no stone unturned they couldn't even manage to find a shred of DNA linking the victim to the alleged scene of the crime.

There was no blood found anywhere in the room, no DNA evidence that Teresa had ever entered his home. If Teresa was there, then blood would've splattered everywhere on the walls and furniture, on the ground and mattress however there wasn't, meaning Steven Avery must be the world's greatest cleaner of evidence or simply the crime did not happen there.

The Keys

Interestingly enough after days and days of investigating, the victim's keys appear to have been found in the room by the Manitowoc Sheriffs department. After their countless searches, they found keys under questionable circumstances. Suspicion about the keys arose not because of the DNA evidence of Steven Avery on it, but the lack of DNA evidence from the victim, Teresa Halbach. It was speculated that somebody scrubbed the keys clean from whoever had the keys last, erasing Teresa's DNA and put Avery's DNA on the keys. But who could've done such a thing?

Toyota Rav4

Teresa's Toyota Rav4 was found on the Avery Auto salvage yard. If he was the killer that would be a horrible place to leave it even if it did get mixed in with the thousands of vehicles he had on the lot, second there was a crusher on the property and Steven knew how to use it. Not a lot of killers have the means to dispose of the victim's car, but Steven did. If he was the killer why didn't he try to dispose of it that way? He was seen using the crusher the day before the Toyota was found.

Blood in Car

Steven's blood was in the RAV4 but the blood drops were not consistent with a bleeding person. Blood drops were placed in random places in the vehicle. Some spots were opposite ends of each other it did not look like a trail of blood, but rather random placements of blood.

The defense argued it was blood taken from the clerk's office where they took blood from Avery for his previous time served. When they investigated the vile of Steven's blood there were signs that the seal of the box was opened and a needle punctured the vile to take blood.

The Burn Pit

The burn pit in the back of Steve Avery's house was where Teresa's body was disposed of, however, they also found another burn pit miles off the property. From speculation and evidence, it appears the bones were moved from this off burn site onto Avery's property. The bones were not found at the beginning of the search either.

Even with dogs no bones were found on November 6th and 7th of the search on Avery's property. On November 7th, bones from a burn site are found off the Avery property alerted by cadaver dogs. Then the next day on the 8th the bones were shockingly found on Avery's property. It's believed whoever found the original burn site, moved the bones onto Avery's property.

The prosecution claims after the gruesome bedroom murder, where they couldn't find any DNA of the victim, the body was burned in the backyard however, this contradicts the bones found off the property in another burn site and bloodstains from the victim found in the back of the Rav4. If Teresa was killed in the house and burned right outside then there would be no reason to transport the body in the car, unless it was to the off-site burn site.

Making An Accomplice 

One of the most unbelievable parts of the whole case was the confession of Steven's nephew Brendan Dassey. It was unbelievable for both sides for different reasons. On the prosecution's side, they couldn't believe how cold and callous the two killed that young woman together like a family picnic, and it was unbelievable for the defense to believe the credibility of this confession.

From a background perspective investigators interrogated Steven Avery's entire family and relatives to find anything they could use, they found their mark with Brendan Dassey.

Dassey's false confession

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYOaIDxirHE&t=9s

On paper, it seems like an open and shut case he confessed so what else is there? What prosecutors neglected to say was Brendan Dassey is a learning disabled young man who is incredibly suggestive and would agree to anything that he is told.

The detectives manipulated Dassey by telling that if he confessed to doing it then he will be released, but if he didn't tell the police what they wanted to hear then it will be worse and they will tell Dassey's mom that he was lying to them.

After six hours of being called a liar, Brandon Dassey was coerced into giving investigators a false confession. They were strongly manipulative, every time Dassey said something they didn't want to hear they forced him to change his statements constantly until it fit the narrative of this horrific crime story to feed to the public, about a young boy being forced to commit horridness acts by his sweaty 43-year-old uncle.

Coercing

Police coercing a false confession from a 16-year-old learning challenged boyFrom the confession it is clear that Dassey didn't know anything about the crime, he later admits to having been guessing the whole time. Dassey had no information about secret facts that were kept from the public, every secret detailed fact came from the investigators feeding him the information. How the victim died was the biggest secret kept from the public, if they could've got Dassey to say it then they would've had something. In the end investigators, Fassbender and Wiegert were so frustrated that they came out and asked "who shot her in the head," Dassey again guessed by saying he did it.

Brendan Dassey's confession is an intriguing case study of police coercing false confessions from suspects. False confession do happen to the weak, suggestible and manipulated people who just don't understand the consequences of their words.

The Verdict 

After hearing all the evidence from both sides, the jury went into deliberation to decide that man's fate. After 20 hours of deliberation, Steven Avery was found guilty and sentence the life without parole. Going into deliberations jurors always vote to see where they stand, it started with 7 nonguilty, 3 guilty and 2 undecided, unfortunately, it didn't stay that way by the end.

Post-conviction Trials

January 2010 Steven motions for a new trial and is denied. In August of 2011, the Wisconsin appeals uphold the previous decision of guilty. In December 2011 the Wisconsin supreme court refuses to even hear the case. By this time Steven exhausted all his appeals and is no longer entitled to have a court-appointed lawyer.

The Netflix series has helped his case, gaining more attention with many believing in his innocence. Avery should get a new trial, but it's unlikely even when new evidence has come to light over the years.

In 2016 Making A Murderer fan/ lawyer, Kathleen Zellner takes on Steven's case. Zellner has 17 exonerated cases of people wrongfully convicted, the most than any american attorney in history. Kathleen hopes to add Steven Avery to that list one day and get the justice he deserves.

Takeaway

We can all say we won't commit a crime, but that does not mean we won't be accused of one. Today the accusation of doing wrong is incredibly damaging, in some cases it's even more damaging than the deed itself. You can be found innocent of the deed, but you'll never get your innocence back in the eyes' of the public.

The bill of rights guarantees the protection of accused persons to have a fair trial, the right to an attorney, and the right to remain silent. Being educated for our rights shouldn't just be for lawyers, judges, and police officers, it should be for every citizen within its jurisdiction.

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About the Creator

Francesco Joseph

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