On November 15, 2005 Steven Avery Was Arrested For The Murder of Teresa Halbach

I thought that it would be interesting to do a hypothetical list of questions that Steven Avery's attorneys Steven Glynn and Walt Kelly would likely have asked both Denis Vogel and Tom Kocourek. Perhaps if readers understand the wealth of information that had been uncovered by Kelly and Glynn up to and including Kusche's aka "The Pencil" deposition it would help them to recognize just how "concerned" Manitowoc County Sheriff's Officers as well as the Manitowoc County District Attorneys (current and former for both agencies) truly were at the end of October 2005.

First let us give a little background information to set the mood. Steven Avery had been released on September 11, 2003 after [post conviction DNA testing that the Innocence Project campaigned for proved he was not responsible for the attempted murder and sexual assault of Penny B as many people had repeatedly informed both Kocourek and Vogel from the very first day he was arrested. In fact not only were people telling both of these men it wasn't Avery-they were also telling them that Gregory Allen was the person responsible. Immediately after Steven was exonerated there was an attempt to do damage and fallout control by the Manitowoc County DA's office.

The "official" request was made on September 19, 2005 and Wisconsin DCI S/A Deb Strauss (yep the one and only) as well as S/A Amy Lehman were assigned to investigate how Steven ended up being wrongfully convicted. They spent about six weeks investigating how the conviction occurred and then after some modifications released a fifteen page report absolving Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department and District Attorneys office of any wrongdoing. Basically they blamed the victim Penny B for the entire thing. That did not go over very well with Steven Avery or Walt Kelly who had represented Avery during some of his post conviction years. They both knew that not only was Steven intentionally wrongfully convicted, he had also been allowed to remain that way and they had the documents to prove it. Steven filed his civil suit in October of 2004. He named Manitowoc County as a whole as well as the former Sheriff Tom Kocourek and then former DA Denis Vogel individually. He was asking for $36,000,000.00 in damages. Now there are many people who claim that Steven would never have received that much and Manitowoc County had insurance and it was not a big deal. What they fail to mention is that Manitowoc was severely underinsured in 1985. In fact [the entire country was feeling the effects of the insurance crisis. There were two policies in effect in 1985 and they likely would have covered the payout. The issue with that though is that it still would have been felt by Kocourek, Vogel and others as they were invested into these insurance companies. There is a great Reddit OP titled "Ignore the Man Behind The Curtain" that explains this well. Here is an excerpt:*

"Manitowoc County became a founding member of Wisconsin Municipal Mutual Insurance Company (WMMIC), Calumet County became a part of Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation (MCMIC) and the City of Manitowoc became a part of Cities & Villages Mutual Insurance Company (CVMIC). Though over the years these municipalities have carried other additional insurance policies from separate sources and various other liabilities (i.e. workman’s comp), each has remained a member of their respective MIC. Most of this information came from searching for the MIC on Google, as well as searching Financial disclosures of each municipality*

"Based on these policies, even if SA did win all he was asking for, it appears the insurance would have covered the payout. Still, this would have just as big of an effect as that resulting from MC, TK and DV having to pay out of pocket. Reason being, these MICs generated income for their members, and this payout would have a ripple effect reaching all members.*

*Interestingly, one of these members was La Crosse County, who have been a member of WMMIC since 1989. What makes this particular member so interesting is that Special K was Assistant DA in La Crosse County from 1987-1992, after which he was appointed DA of Calumet County. Thus his work to put SA in prison would certainly benefit his previous employer’s bottom line.*

*Even more interesting is the fact that, at the time of his appointment to the bench in 1997, Judge P Willy was not only the city attorney for the City of Manitowoc (since 1977), but he was also the Vice President of the Board of Directors for CVMIC. Though not the same MIC, he had an intimate understanding for the underpinning importance of protecting such entities.*

*Municipal Property Insurance Company of Wisconsin (MPIC), a collaborative effort with the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and Wisconsin Municipal Mutual Insurance Company (WMMIC) is flourishing. MPIC is an independent property insurance company that is designed to meet the long-term property insurance needs of Wisconsin municipalities. As of November 30, 2016, MPIC has bound coverage for 380 entities including 41 CVMIC members. These policies reflect more than $10 million in premium and $17 billion in insured values. MPIC is governed by a seven member board of directors consisting of two representatives from each organization and the executive director from MPIC. "

Basically this information establishes that Calumet county also had an interest in Steven Avery's civil suit as well. In fact it would not surprise me to learn that all of the agencies that participated in the investigation intentional wrongful conviction of Steven for the Halbach case were all financially better off because of civil suit not continuing.

Greed is a powerful motivator in maintaining ones' silence about wrongdoing. Could you imagine the lawsuit payout if someone in law enforcement had crossed the blue line and come forward to announce that Manitowoc County was in the middle of framing Steven Avery AGAIN??? Then you have the victims of Gregory Allen that would not have been harmed if Dvorak, Kusche, Kocourek and Vogel had not intentionally framed him (Kusche literally) in 1985. Then the officers who never said a word or assisted in helping or continuing the wrongful conviction. This is where Petersen, Lenk and Colborn come in. Even though they were not employed with Manitowoc in 1985-the decision to not follow up on the outcome of the phone call in 1995 was coming back to bite them in the ass in a big way. Lenk, Colborn, Petersen and Kusche were all deposed during the month of October- Kusche was the last deposition taken on the 26th just five days before Teresa Halbach would disappear.

There was a retired officer by the name of Kolancyzk who was deposed on August 5th, 2005. For some reason this is the only deposition that Tom Kocourek attended. Steven and Jodi were there as well.

Kolancyzk's deposition was almost two hours long and is over one hundred pages. He is the only Manitowoc officer-retired or still active-actually he is the only one deposed who did not constantly state the words "I don't recall" in response to questions damning to the department or sheriff. When I saw that Kocourek had attended his and only his deposition it piqued my curiosity. Why this depo? Hell he didn't even attend his own=oh wait his was fortuitously canceled. After reading the deposition a couple of times I developed much respect for Kolancyzk. He answered questions thoroughly and honestly-getting on the trial record very damning information to Kocourek, Kusche, Vogel and Manitowoc County.

Kolancyzk confirmed the following information:

Manitowoc Sheriffs Department and especially Kocourek communicated with the other law enforcement agencies regarding not only crimes and criminals but life in general. One thing Kelly and Glynn made sure to establish was that all the officers no matter what agency mingled with one another-going fishing, church, hunting and other activities as one would expect within the first responder community. Every officer in the county knew about Allen and his escalating behavior and likely that Manitowoc Police had him under surveillance trying to catch him in the act. Also that Kocourek and Kusche (and Dvorak by default) were all in the room with Penny B while Kusche was drawing copied Avery's mugshot. (It is important to note that Penny was punched repeatedly in her face and eye area and could not see to sign her statement that Dvorak wrote). Also remember that this picture of Avery that Kusche drew copied was on display in Kusche's office. Quite sadistic when you realize that Kusche knew that Avery was innocent. Manitowoc county knew that Avery did not frequent the stretch of beach where Penny was assaulted and that two years prior Allen had attempted to assault yet another woman. Vogel prosecuted pled the case down and Allen remained free. One thing that Kolancyzk mentioned in his deposition that would have led to many questions to Kocourek and possibly Vogel was that he knew of the phone call from Brown county and knew about it for quite a long time. This would establish that the call Colborn took and in 96 was common knowledge and discussed among the Police and Sheriffs department and likely the other county law enforcement agencies.

I also think Glynn and Kelly would have had some questions for Kocourek about the letter he wrote to Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson- is it an embedded confession that he carefully words the crime of which Avery was wrongfully convicted as being because of Penny's ID and yet he throws in the Morris incident and the letter to Lori? Yet fails to mention the absolute absurdity of Morris's allegations regarding the mid winter 4:30am edge of the road masturbation that Steven had timed so perfectly that he would somehow know she was going to be driving by and he would run out to the edge of the road (middle of winter in Wisconsin at 4:30am!!) with shoes on his feet and nothing else and while Morris is doing 45mph down a pitch black county road in 1985 she could see him, his manhood and the performance? Nor does he mention the police report that Judy Dvorak fabricated claiming that RM's mother in law saw Steven in the vicinity during the time an 11 year old girl was kidnapped and assaulted. Yet these incidents are used in the Penny B case-much like what we see with the outlandish allegations against Steven in the Halbach case. This should be a big red flag to anyone researching this case that the 2005 investigation is just as fabricated and full of intentional false allegations as the 1985 case.

I am sure Kelly and Glynn would have Kocourek discuss how he is in charge with keeping track of the county crime rates and as the sheriff he would see all the new arrests especially those involving the types of crimes Gregory Allen was up to. Then there is the fact that exactly two weeks prior to Penny B's assault Gregory Allen had attempted to sexually assault another woman (page 30 of the Manitowoc Police Department Gregory Allen files). The link is helpful in understanding the massive amount of crimes Allen was committing in the days and weeks leading up to Penny's assault on July 29, 1985. How would Kocourek be able to deny knowledge of these incidents. He was the elected sheriff of Manitowoc County. He had stated many times that nothing happened in his county without him knowing about it. Also telling is that the Wisconsin DOJ Investigation whitewashing of the 85 case is woefully incomplete when it comes to listings of all the Gregory Allen incidents in Manitowoc County. Many police reports were omitted. One has to question if this was intentional as we know from Assistant AG Tom Fallon and other's depositions that there was removal of the harmful information about Manitowoc County, Kocourek and Vogel done prior to the final report being issued.

Then there is Vogel and what Glynn and Kelly likely would have used to question him about his lies-including the absurd claim that he made in his DOJ interview that took place in 2003. It is also strange that there is redaction of all the DCI lab info throughout the entire 600+ page file-which is in reality lots of duplicate police reports and really weak interviews with zero attempt to get at the truth. (The interviews are mainly found in the last 200 pages).

Vogel's embedded confessions are easy to spot as well. The claim that there was ONE police report of Allen's in the prosecution file is absurd. First there are issues with the Bates stamping of the document. Second if he was honestly informing the defense about Allen there should have been a hell of a lot more than one police report. *Then there is the denial of providing a fake alibi yet multiple co-workers speak of this and DCI S/A Strauss prior to interviewing Vogel* called the Department of Wisconsin probation and parole and confirmed Allen was not on probation in July of 1985 anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.

The questioning I would have personally loved to have witnessed of former Manitowoc District Attorney Denis Vogel would have revolved around the multiple phone calls he made to Griesbach asking about the case and if there was a file on Allen in the Avery case file among some other things and then there is the letter Vogel wrote in 1986 to Manitowoc Police detectives in 1986 (one year after the Penny B assault)trying to discourage them from charging Allen in yet another case involving prowling at a young woman's home. Even though Vogel knew what Allen had done to Penny B and many other women he is still trying to keep him out of trouble and in society. Also there are the multiple times Vogel had private meetings with Allen while he was under criminal indictment and the fact that every time a case against Allen was brought to his office he either pled it out or dropped the charges all together. Yet Steven Avery no matter the offense would be given harsh if not the maximum sentences.

There is much much more that would have been revealed during the civil suit depositions had they continued. This discussion barely scratched the surface of the bizarre history of Gregory Allen, Steven Avery and the two men in charge of protecting the citizens of Manitowoc County Sheriff Tom Kocourek and District Attorney Denis Vogel.

Just think sixteen years ago today (well yesterday now) instead of Denis Vogel answering some very tough questions under oath (Tom Kocourek would have answered his five days before) Steven Avery was charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach. I think we all can agree that the timing in all of this is certainly remarkable.