Jan 27, 2019

New Motion in Making a Murderer Case Implicates Wisconsin Law Enforcement

Manitowoc County Sheriff Dept Lt., Andrew Colborn, (Ret),
was implicated in misconduct in the second Steven Avery
frame-up, becoming a major disgraced public figure, as
documented in Making a Murderer, and Wrecking Crew,
Demolishing The Case Against Steven Avery, (Ferak).
Numerous other Wisconsin law enforcement officials
have been implicated in criminal misconduct, uncharged
but not forgotten.

Framing innocents and conviction protection define Wisconsin 


Madison, Wisconsin — What do you call it when the police and prosecutors break the law to frame a man whom they know to be innocent?

Wisconsin, a state in which a disgraced ex-district attorney and sexual harasser Ken Kratz (who can longer practice law in Wisconsin) and his wife carry the public relations fight for wrongful convictions.

The Kratz are human garbage. After former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager passed away last year, Leah Kratz made jokes about her death on Twitter. The Kratz also support Donald Trump and assorted rightwing causes.

Manitowoc County is not Milwaukee, so Manty Co police do not kick the shit of a prone man for a traffic stop with the knowledge Mayor Tom Barrett is ready to support police misconduct, including murder, mayhem and beating a handcuffed man into convulsions and fracturing his face.

But Manitowoc and Calumet counties are cesspools of police corruption.

Police misconduct in Wisconsin's legal and political culture is like cold in Winter — it's the way it is, and human rights and social justice work are not going to change the cops or the weather, it is widely believed.

A motion filed Jan 24, 2019 by attorney Kathleen Zellner —  who represents the wrongfully convicted Steven Avery featured in the Making a Murderer docuseries —  seeks post-conviction relief because the Calumet County Sheriff's Office secretly and knowingly transferred evidence of a murder victim, Teresa Halbach, to private custody in 2011, in violation of state statutes that govern preservation of physical evidence collected, subject to criminal investigations.

Plot, evade, hide and deny everything is the motto of Wisconsin law enforcement, and Zellner's client, Avery, is another victim.

The new Avery motion was made in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District Two as part of a post-conviction strategy demonstrating violations of Avery 's Constitutional rights by multiple jurisdictions of Wisconsin law enforcement.

The post-conviction news draws national headlines.

From Kelly Wynne in Newsweek:

Bones that could have been tested for DNA in the case of Steven Avery have been returned to Teresa Halbach’s family, though it’s unclear if the bones were hers. Wrongful convictions attorney Kathleen Zellner filed a motion to have the bones tested in December, but that motion was quickly denied.

Zellner filed a second motion Thursday, which asserts the state violated Avery’s 14th amendment rights by denying DNA testing and failing to inform Avery’s prior legal council that the bones would be returned to Halbach’s family. The motion argues this amounts to an attempt by the state to 'destroy evidence' in the case.

The motion claims the bones were returned to the Halbach family in September 2011 at the Wieting Funeral Home by the Calumet County Sheriffs Department. 

As seen on Making A Murderer, the bones in question were found in the Manitawoc gravel pit, off of the Avery property. Much of Avery’s conviction was based on forensic evidence found on his property, according to the motion. Zellner explained if Halbach's bones were found in another location, it would negate the state’s arguments about how and where Halbach was killed, possibly clearing Avery’s name. The bones have never been tested for DNA.

The decision to give the bones to the Halbach family is in violation of Wisconsin’s 'preservation statute,' Zellner told Newsweek.

'We are very curious to hear the State’s explanation for violating the Wisconsin preservation statute,' she said. 'No notice was given to Avery or his attorneys at the time. The State claimed at trial there was no evidence the quarry bones were human, so why were they given back to the Halbachs? Giving the bones to the Halbachs confirms the State’s belief that not only were they human—they belonged to Teresa Halbach. The State cannot have it both ways. The destruction of material evidence is a serious constitutional violation.' 

The trial of Avery was a feast of lies and perjury committed by cops.

The Appleton Post-Crescent reports:
The attorneys argued that the appeal should be temporarily halted so the case can be sent back to the circuit court to determine if Avery's due process rights were violated. The motion came a little more than a week before a deadline for Avery's attorneys to file a brief before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

A spokesperson with the Wisconsin Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to Avery's attorneys, the state violated the law by failing to preserve certain suspected human bone evidence and failing to notify Avery and his attorneys of the state's intent to destroy it.

At trial, the state told the jury that all of the incriminating forensic evidence was in close proximity to Mr. Avery's residence and that bones found in his burn pit were the most important evidence against Avery, they wrote in the motion.

Jerome Buting, one of Avery's defense attorneys at trial, countered that bones found in the nearby Manitowoc County gravel pit were also important, but were glossed over by then-Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz because they didn't fit with the state's theory of Avery's guilt.

Kratz dismissed defense attorneys' claim that those bones were human, saying it had not been scientifically verified, Zellner and Richards wrote in their motion.

However, by giving the bones back to Halbach's family, the state implicitly admitted that they were human and belong to Halbach, they wrote.

The identification of the Manitowoc County Gravel Pit bone fragments as Ms. Halbach's is material because it is apparently exculpatory and potentially useful in proving the murder and mutilation did not occur in a location tied exclusively to Mr. Avery, Zellner and Richards wrote. No reasonable trier of fact could conclude that, if Mr. Avery murdered and mutilated Ms. Halbach in the Manitowoc County Gravel Pit, he would move her bones from the gravel pit to his own burn pit and thereby incriminate himself.

If this latest motion were filed before an unbiased and rational state appellate court, this would be an explosive development shaking the foundations of Wisconsin law enforcement.

In Wisconsin, however, the judiciary is corrupt and acts as little more than a shield for corrupt public officials in law enforcement in criminal law cases.

Reads Avery's motion in part, (with some links added):
STATE OF WISCONSIN, Plaintiff-Respondent, STEVEN A. AVERY, SR., Defendant-Appellant.

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT'S MOTION TO STAY APPEAL AND REMAND THE CAUSE FOR PROCEEDINGS ON CLAIMS FOR RELIEF IN CONNECTION WITH THE STATE'S VIOLATION OF WIS. STAT. § 968.205 AND YOUNGBLOOD V. ARIZONA

Defendant-Appellant, Steven A. Avery, Sr., ("Mr. Avery'') by his undersigned attorneys, Kathleen T. Zellner and Steven G. Richards, moves this Court to stay this appeal and remand the cause for a hearing on a claim for re ... [links added]

Supporters across the world look to Wisconsin with appropriate disgust.


The Constitutional violations are blatant; stay tuned.

To paraphrase Archibald Cox: Whether we shall continue to be a state of laws is now for ultimately the Wisconsin people to decide.

This would be easier if a handful of Wisconsin jurists acted in good faith.
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