Netflix to stream new documentary on Steven Avery

STEVEN Avery was once the poster boy for the falsely accused, having spent 18 years in jail. Then his life took a vicious turn.

WHEN Steven Avery walked free from jail it was a defining moment for the mid-western US state of Wisconsin.

Avery had spent 18 years in jail for a rape he did not commit.

So when he was finally exonerated by DNA in 2003, it spurred a change in the law to prevent further wrongful convictions.

Avery became the poster-boy of the falsely accused, a shining example of what happens when authorities get it wrong.

He regularly spoke out against the system that robbed him of almost two decades and was invited to testify at hearing into state legislature concerning his past.

He also launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit against those he claimed were responsible for putting him away.

But two years after Avery walked free he found himself in trouble with the law again — this time for murder.

Avery was accused of killing 25-year-old photographer Tersea Halbach who had visited his home to take pictures of a car he supposedly wanted to sell.

He claimed he was innocent, arguing authorities set him up because of the multi-million civil case he had lodged against them.

But DNA, which was once used to free him, would also be used to convict him.

Now Avery’s story is the subject of a Serial-style documentary that is set to stream this Friday on Netflix.

It is the first true-crime program put together by the live streaming service which announced last week it was doubling it’s output of original content.

Making a Murderer is a 10-part series which examines the events surrounding Avery’s wrongful conviction, his release and his subsequent murder charge and conviction.

Steven Avery at the time of his arrest in 1985. Picture: Netflix

WRONGFUL CONVICTION

Steven Avery was just 22 when he was sent to prison for the alleged rape of Penny Ann Beernsten.

Ms Beernsten was running along Lake Michigan on July 29, 1985 when she was attacked by an unknown male who sexually assaulted her.

Police had put together a series of photos based on her description of the attacker and she identified Avery. He was arrested the next day and charged with rape.

According to the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which helped free Avery, despite providing 16 alibi witnesses, including a store clerk from neighbouring Green Bay, who recalled seeing Avery with his wife and children buying paint from the store an hour before the attack, the jury still convicted him based on Ms Beernsten’s testimony at trial that she was positive he was the man that raped her.

He was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

For several years, Avery protested his innocence only to have appeals against his conviction turned down.

However in 1995 a petition for DNA testing was granted.

During his original trial, a state forensic officer testified that hair found on Avery’s shirt was consistent with Ms Beernsten’s hair.

Penny Ann Beernsten. Picture: Netflix

The DNA test found scrapings taken from Ms Beernsten’s fingernails contained the DNA of an unknown person.

But it was not enough to eliminate Avery and a motion for a new trial was denied.

Then in 2002, lawyers with the Wisconsin Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of 13 hairs recovered from Ms Beernsten at the time of the crime.

Using the FBI DNA database they were able to link a hair found on Ms Beernsten to Gregory Allen, a man who was already serving a 60-year prison term for sexually assaulting a woman in Green Bay after the attack against Ms Beernsten took place.

On September 11, 2003 Avery was released.

Two years later, with the support of Ms Beernsten and Avery, the Wisconsin Department of Justice adopted a new model for eyewitness identification protocol, in a bid to prevent what happened in their case from happening again.

Steven Avery at his arraignment in 2006. Picture: AP Photo/Morry Gash.

MURDER CONVICTION

More than two years after he was released, Avery and his 17-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey were charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach.

The 25-year-old photographer worked for the Auto Trader magazine and was visiting Avery’s rural Manitowoc County Auto Salvage Yard to take a picture of a car he supposedly wanted to sell.

When the young woman failed to contact her family and friends, a search began and led to Avery’s family property.

It was here that Ms Halbach’s Toyota Rav4 was found.

Shortly after police found bone fragments, teeth and camera and cellphone pieces in a burn pit near Avery’s trailer that were later confirmed through lab testing to be those of Halbach, postcrescnet.com reported.

Tests were carried out on her car which found Avery’s blood as well as Ms Halbach’s in the car, Avery’s DNA on her car key, and Halbach’s DNA on a bullet fragment found in Avery’s garage, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Avery was initially arrested on an unrelated gun charge but charged with Ms Halbach’s murder six days later.

According to reports, after his arrest Avery ignored legal advice against giving interviews protesting his innocence. He also reportedly said he feared authorities were trying to set him up because of his civil case. Avery was suing the county for $36 million for his wrongful conviction in 1985.

During the murder trial, his lawyers argued Manitowoc County deputies could have planted Avery’s blood at the scene from a vial that had been kept at the courthouse from his rape trial, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Steven Avery after he was arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach. Picture: Netflix

But it wasn’t just the physical evidence that had authorities were sure that this time they had charged the right man.

Four months after Avery’s arrest, his nephew, Brendan Dassey, then 16, allegedly confessed to helping his uncle carry out the crime.

Dassey, who was said to have learning difficulties, reportedly told police when he visited his uncle’s trailer on October 31, 2005 he saw Ms Halbach handcuffed, shackled and screaming.

He claimed his uncle invited him to have sex with the young woman but that he initially declined only to return to the trailer a short time later where he stripped then raped Ms Halbach.

After he said the pair decided to stab her, then slit her throat before moving her to Avery’s garage, where she was shot.

However there were some discrepancies about how many times she was shot.

Dassey said the pair burned her body in a pit, the Journal Sentinel reported.

However when it came to Dassey’s trial he recanted his confession. He also never gave evidence against his uncle.

The prosecution argued there was too much detail in Dassey’s confession that could not be ignored while the teen’s own lawyers argued police had spent months developing their theory of what took place based on the physical evidence and convinced Dassey to ‘parrot’ what they wanted to hear.

“Folks, if you believe that that poor boy was acting up there, we should all chip in and buy him an Academy Award,” Ray Edelstein, one of Dassey’s lawyers said during his trial. “He doesn’t have that kind of skill.”

His lawyer’s also argued Dassey was scared of his uncle.

He was convicted or murdering Ms Halbach as well as mutilating her corpse. He received a life sentence.

Avery also received life for the murder of Ms Halbach but he was never convicted of mutilating her body.

Last November, Dassey who is now 25, lodged an appeal to the federal court to have his conviction overturned arguing his arrest and conviction were not legal. He was 16 at the time.

Since being convicted in 2007, Avery has lodged several appeals with no success. His latest was filed in August this year.

Making a Murderer will be released this Friday, December 18 world wide.