8 NEW Things To Know About Steven Avery's 'Making A Murderer' Case
You've watched the documentary, but Avery's story keeps going.
A lot of people have finished watching Making A Murderer and are asking a lot of questions about our justice system. Steven Avery was found guilty for the murder and sexual assault of Teresa Halbach, and was sentence to life in prison without parole.
Many viewers are starting to think he shouldn't have been found guilty and that Avery was set up as a result of him filing a lawsuit for being wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years. Although you may have watched the series, you don't know everything about Avery. Here are seven things you must know after watching the series.
1. Police claimed Avery called Teresa Halbach after she was freaked out by him.
The case's prosecutor Ken Kratz is critical of the documentary and claims it left out evidence that makes Avery look guilty. He claims Halbach visited Avery on October 10, 2005 and he answered the door in just a towel. After that, she told her employer she wouldn't go back because she was freaked out by him.
Kratz also told People, "Phone records show three calls from Avery to Teresa's cell phone on Oct. 31. One at 2:24 [PM], and one at 2:35. In both calls Avery uses the *67 feature so Teresa doesn't know it's him."
He continued, "Then one last call at 4:35 PM without the *67 feature. Avery first believes he can simply say she never showed up, so tries to establish the alibi call after she's already been there, hence the 4:35 call. She will never answer ,of course, so he doesn't need the *67 feature for that last call."
Kratz also said they found sweat under the hood of Teresa's car.
2. Kratz claims Avery was planning to make a torture chamber.
In an interview with Maxim, Kratz believes Avery is guilty because of something he was allegedly planning.
"[In prison] he created diagram of a torture chamber, [telling other inmates] 'I intend to torture and rape and murder young women' after his release," said Kratz. "The judge decided not to allow that evidence. He said it was too prejudicial."
3. Jurors might have convicted him only because they were scared for their own safety.
A jury's job is to give a verdict based on evidence, but one juror told the filmmakers that their guilty verdict was based on something totally different.
"[The juror] told us that they believe Steven Avery was not proven guilty," Laura Ricciardi told The Today Show. "They believe Steven was framed by law enforcement and that he deserves a new trial, and if he receives a new trial, it should take place far away from Wisconsin."
So why didn't the juror fight harder?
"They told us that they were afraid that if they held out for a mistrial, it would be easy to identify which juror had done that. And that they were fearful for their own safety," Moira Demos explained.
4. Viewers of Making A Murderer are calling for a pardon on his behalf.
Not only were people horrified by watching the case, but they decided to put their outrage to action. More than 200,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling for a pardon.
The petition reads: "Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the U.S. criminal and civil justice systems."
5. Anonymous plans to release documents proving Avery was set up.
Anonymous will be releasing documents to prove Steven Avery is framed by police in the Teresa Halbach murder case. pic.twitter.com/f49yW19fuD
— Anonymous (@LatestAnonNews) December 31, 2015
The hacktivist group claims it has access to emails and phone records containing evidence that the police were the ones who killed Teresa Halbach. According to Bustle, the group tweeted to two police officers who were accused of planting evidence in the case. The group gave the sheriff's department 48 hours to release the records themselves.
6. Attorneys Dean Strang and Jerome Buting are still there for him.
Although Avery's chances of getting out seem pretty slim, his defense attorneys have stayed by his side.
"We correspond," Strang told The Cap Times. "Jerry [Buting] and I both sort of remain pro bono resources to him."
7. Multiple jurors may have had a huge bias with the police.
According to Journal Sentinel, one of the jurors had a son who worked for the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, and another had a wife who worked for the Manitowoc County clerk of courts office. That definitely should've raised some eyebrows, since Avery already had a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County.
8. Steven Avery says his own brothers might be responsible for the murder.
According to TMZ, Avery filed legal documents in 2009 claiming that his brothers Charles and Earl might be responsible for the crime that he is serving life for. Avery says both his brothers have a history of violence and sexual assault against women. The documents claim that multiple women were allegedly harassed by Charles approximately one month before Teresa was murdered.
Not only that, but Avery alleges that his brothers had a motive: they were jealous of his multi-million dollar settlement, and they were fighting over the family business.