Netflix has convinced the court of public opinion that the subject of its new series “Making a Murderer” was wrongfully convicted — but the man will remain behind bars unless new evidence comes forth, according to his lawyer.
“We’re all hoping the attention to this induces somebody who saw something, who heard something or who has been carrying a secret to come forward,” said criminal defense attorney Dean Strang, who represented Steven Avery with co-counsel Jerome Buting at his 2007 trial.
Avery, 53, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach. The true-crime serial has created a social media frenzy due to how police handled evidence, but producers did not unearth some new smoking gun that could free Avery.
Still, the show raises many questions about the case: For instance, Halbach was supposedly killed in Avery’s bedroom or garage, but none of her blood, hair, sweat or skin was found in either location, according to the documentary.
Rather, his blood was found in in her car — but Strang and Buting argued in the Netflix series that Avery’s sample was tampered with. They suspect that perhaps an old sample of his blood from a previous, overturned conviction was planted on the crime scene.
At the time of Avery’s trial, there was no satisfactory way to test whether the blood sample came from a test tube or from Avery’s body. Strang wants new testing, but would need court permission to access any physical evidence.
“We will not want to ask more than once, in part for the obvious reason that a court will not appreciate repeated requests,” he said, “and in part because some (but not all) tests necessarily consume or destroy in part the item tested.”
Avery still hasn’t seen the Netflix series that’s made him a social media sensation. “He was aware that it was coming out, and I think he’s getting mail. He’s certainly hearing from his family about the response they are getting,” said Strang, a partner at Strang Bradley in Madison and an adjunct law professor at the University of Wisconsin. “But as long as he is in prison, he will never see it.”
The docuseries has also turned Strang and Buting into household names. Strang has received thousands of emails from strangers in Singapore, Iceland, Northern Ireland, New Zealand and Brazil.
“This was a great moment for fostering a national dialogue on the criminal justice system, because there has been some momentum over the past couple of years with police shootings and police interactions with the community, and that’s a piece obviously of a broader criminal justice conversation,” he mused.
“But the [emails] from Europe and English-speaking countries tend to be troubled by what they view as the shortcomings of the U.S. justice system, which they always thought was a world model,” he added.
This new outpouring of response is a welcome change from what he and Buting received during the original trial.
“I’ve gotten very little negative reaction this time around, and during the Avery trial, negative is all I got,” Strang said. “I got threats and just nasty stuff, as did [Avery’s] family, so this is the flip side. It feels good.”
Bingewatchers have been so inspired that 160,000 people have signed onto petitions to free Avery. And several web pages have also popped up to seek funds for reopening the investigation. Avery’s family warns many are scams.
“I’m glad for Steven and Brendan, that their cases are getting this attention,” said Strang. “I think the film does a good job of raising broader systemic issues that could have happened anywhere.”
Strang and Buting, a partner for the Wisconsin firm Buting, Williams & Stilling, S.C., continue to represent Avery and visit him.
“We are still working for free for him informally – and I suspect it’s going to get more formal soon here,” Strang said.
