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| Wisconsin's Dept of Justice will decide if it will pursue truth in post-conviction litigation of two men wrongfully convicted, featured in Making a Murderer. |
Wisconsin is waiting for an answer to grave questions.
Will new Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) work to shine light on an injustice, two wrongful convictions featured in the Making a Murderer docuseries?
Will Kaul defend the indefensible course of action of Wisconsin, blocking and delaying action on the product of police misconduct, what any rational observer knows is the wrongful conviction of two men by corrupt Wisconsin law enforcement?
Post-conviction attorney Kathleen Zellner — who represents the wrongfully convicted Steven Avery featured in the Making a Murderer docuseries — filed an explosive motion Jan 24, 2019 seeking a hearing because the Calumet County Sheriff's Office secretly transferred evidence of a murder victim, Teresa Halbach, to private custody in 2011, in clear violation of state statutes that govern preservation of physical evidence collected, subject to criminal investigations.
Will Kaul act in accordance with case law, the United States Constitution and the cause of justice? I have no idea. Noone does.
But I have lived in Wisconsin all my life.Zellner's latest motion is the first legal filing new AG @JoshKaulWI has had power with which to influence the state's reaction. Be interesting to see if any early lines are drawn. #MakingAMurderer— James Didcock (@51kikey) January 28, 2019
I know public officials have a deep capacity to act from perceived concerns of convenience and ease of career, a Wisconsin commitment that would shame the worst of Oklahoma, Georgia and the rest of the deep south.
Here's a link to the motion Jan 24, 2019.— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) January 29, 2019
Now, we wait. But Steven Avery is not the only one on trial. Josh Kaul is on trial every bit as much.
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.
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