Steven Avery files motion asking for new DNA testing of evidence

MANITOWOC, Wis. (WBAY) - Steven Avery is asking for new DNA testing of evidence that was previously used to convict him.

In a new motion filed Thursday, Avery’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said the motion is to request testing for touch DNA in the RAV-4 that belonged to Teresa Halbach.

Avery is serving a life sentence for the 2005 rape and murder of Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County.

Halbach was murdered on Oct. 31, 2005, after she visited the Avery Salvage Yard in Mishicot to photograph vehicles for a car sales magazine. After Halbach was reported missing, her RAV-4 was found at the Avery Salvage Yard on Nov. 5, 2005. Investigators found bone fragments in a burn pit on the property.

As previously reported, Zellner has pointed to a third-party suspect in Halbach’s murder. Action 2 News is not publishing the name of the third party at this time as no criminal charges have been filed. That person was a key witness against Avery at trial.

In the latest filing, Avery’s attorney argues a witness who was delivering newspapers on November 5, 2005, saw two people, one a shirtless man, pushing a dark blue RAV-4 down Avery Road towards the junkyard.

“Shirtless driver and others deposit skin cells all over seats, gear shift, hood releases, hood prop, license plate, lug wrench, blinker light, etc,” Zellner said in a post on X.

“The guilty do not request DNA testing but the innocent do,” she wrote.

Avery has made multiple attempts to appeal his conviction and get a new trial. In a motion filed in February, Avery’s lawyer argued that the court wrongly relied on false facts and misapplied law, specifically its interpretation of what’s called the “Denny Standard” for admitting third-party suspect evidence.

Avery contended in the February motion that newly discovered evidence undermines the prosecution’s key witness and the integrity of the forensic evidence used against him.

The case gained an international following through the Netflix docuseries “Making a Murderer.”

Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, was also convicted of killing Halbach. He will be able to ask for parole in 2048. Dassey appealed his conviction to the United States Supreme Court. The justices declined to hear his case.

Dassey’s attorneys are asking Gov. Tony Evers to consider clemency or early release. They argue Dassey’s confession to the crime was coerced by detectives. Dassey was 16 at the time of his confession and was considered to have a low IQ.

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