Wisconsin Wants Innocent to Remain in Prison — Misconduct Looms

The work of wrongful conviction attorney,
Kathleen Zellner will likely lead to the exoneration
of two innocent men. A second-order consequence
of Zellner's work is the exposure of the most
spectacular law enforcement scandal in
Wisconsin history that could ultimately lead
to the downfall of Wisconsin Attorney
General Joshua Kaul (D).

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Like a cop's knee crushing life out of a man, the state of Wisconsin is determined to keep an innocent man in prison, continuing a perverse crusade.

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice filed a new brief this week in the post-conviction litigation of Steven Avery, featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer documentary (Newsweek).

The State brief demonstrates Wisconsin 'law enforcement' will do anything to prevent a new trial, or even an evidentiary hearing, that shines public light on the police and prosecutorial misconduct that remains key to keeping Mr. Avery behind bars — and by extension, another wrongfully convicted man, Brendan Dassey.

Avery and Mr. Dassey were convicted for the same 2005 homicide of Teresa Halbach in separate 2007 trials that featured two mutually exclusive versions of the killing presented to juries by a prosecutor with no credibility, a disgraced sex offender — Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, (1992-2010).

No hearing on the evidence, no new trial, nothing to see here, is the position of the State taken in the brief.

Kratz claimed misconduct that forced him to resign from office in 2010 was committed because of uncontrollable impulses he suffered relating to medical conditions that include narcissistic personality disorder, multiple addictions and his assessment that he is a "dick." [This is not hyperbole.] Kratz resigned his suspended law license after a complaint by the editor of this website, Mal Contends, that accused him of fraud, (State Bar of Wisconsin).

Kratz has not publicly commented on when his medical condition began, and whether he was suffering from his mental illnesses during the Avery and Dassey prosecutions.

The State stands by Ken Kratz' prosecutions.

The case is State v. Steven A. Avery, Appeal Number 2017AP002288.

Avery's deadline for a reply is June 11.

After the much criticized investigations of Avery and Dassey, the fraud perpetrated upon two small-town juries, the post-conviction misconduct of the State and an obstinate county court abusing its discretion stand out as well (see Work with KZ).

Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, commented on the development of the State brief to Kelly Wynne in Newsweek:

'Mr. Avery is not concerned about the State's brief. It demonstrates a poor grasp of the facts, uses boilerplate language and tries to erect every procedural hurdle to obscure the real issue that Mr. Avery suffered numerous constitutional violations that should result in an evidentiary hearing and/or a new trial,' Zellner explained via email.

The State will not address its own misconduct in post-conviction litigation and virtually ignores the many claims of law enforcement misconduct that the state has demonstrably committed.

State’s brief in Avery largely deflects from merits of claims by instead arguing procedural obstacles. Brief mentions “procedurally barred” 24 times, “insufficiently pled” 24 times & “forfeited” 12 times, elevating form over substance.#MakingAMurderer

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) May 29, 2020

In a March 2019 legal filing, the DoJ argues procedural objections, as well, including Avery's charges of bad-faith evidence destruction, deceit, concealment and deception, all of which present Due Process questions, (Steven Avery legal filings; #Work with KZ, WBAY, WLUK).

This May 2020 brief continues the State strategy of avoiding mention of charged state lawlessness in appellate court, eschewing Avery's charges that the Calumet County Sheriff's Office secretly transferred evidence, the remains of a murder victim, Teresa Halbach, to private custody in 2011, in violation of state statutes that govern preservation of physical evidence collected; among other allegations.

Commenting on the State's March 29, 2019 legal filing in Newsweek Magazine, Avery's post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said:

'Of course the State cannot address the merits of Avery's claim, because it is blatantly guilty of evidence destruction. Its charade continues without the slightest inclination to discover the truth. Significantly, one of the culprits in the whole sad scenario authored the State's Response. Unfortunately, the citizens of Wisconsin are the recipients of this mockery of justice.'

Zellner’s refers to the DoJ litigation team and Thomas Fallon, who helped oversee the decision to return the alleged human bones to the Halbach family, a scheme in direct contravention of Wisconsin statute.

So, in sum Wisconsin law enforcement has engaged in frame-up schemes, lies, misconduct and a stubborn determination to avoid even discussion of these matters in open court, as two innocent men suffer behind bars.

U.S. Supreme Court Gives Corrupt Parties a Win on Gerrymandering in a 5-4 Defeat for Voters

Republican justices dismissed the constitutional rights of voters.

No surprise.

Constitutional rights of citizens do not rise to the jurisdiction of federal courts, say Republican justices. That's the implication of the rejection of claims of violations of voters' First and Fourteenth Amendments by mostly the Republican Party.

Is United States Supreme Court as Corrupt as Wisconsin's — Thursday, June 27 Will Tell

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is a Republican Party operation.

This is a fact not in serious dispute, (Mal Contends, Democurmudgeon).

On Thursday, morning, June 26, the United States Supreme Court will release its rulings on two blockbuster legal-political issues — gerrymandering and a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

The rulings will tell us if we still have an independent federal high court.

Both sets of cases are intended by Republicans to degrade the power of minority Americans and protect Republican Party rule.

"The Chief [Justice] just announced that the court will be back tomorrow, and tomorrow will be the last day," reported Amy Howe on SCOTUSBlog at 9:22 AM on Thursday.

The gerrymandering cases are: Lamone v Benisek and Rucho v. Common Cause.

The Census citizen case is Department of Commerce v. New York.

Noone appears to know. Few are optimistic.

Tune into SCOTUSBlog for answers tomorrow morning at 10 Eastern time; 9 Central.

Wisconsin DoJ Maintains Silence on Steven Avery Wrongful Conviction

Madison, Wisconsin — There is not a specific crime in the Wisconsin Criminal Code for a police frame-up committed for the purpose of wrongfully citing, arresting and convicting an innocent.

Police routinely engage in lying, character assassination and frame-ups in fabricating false police reports, testilying (purjury) and evidence manipulation.

But it takes a particularly insular, corrupt and self-entitled department to manufacture and destroy evidence for the purpose of a murder frame-up—Manitowoc County, for example. The Wisconsin Dept of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation is another.

But for Wisconsin's top law enforcement official, there's nothing to see here.

Faced with the discredited work of the disgraced Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz (1992-2010) that resulted in the wrongful convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) has chosen to defend Kratz and others' dishonesty, evidence concealment and destruction by first avoiding even a mention of these acts of state lawlessness in post-conviction litigation, and now engaging in silence before the Manitowoc County Circuit Court to which Wisconsin v. Avery has been remanded.

Kaul also chose silence when two appellate attorneys representing the DoJ were caught red-handed trying to deceive Avery's attorneys and the Court in an errantly placed phone call in February 2019.

The State's silence is deafening. Not so easy to unring the bell of evidence destruction. @lifeafterten @Newsweek @BBCWorld @michellemalkin #MakingAMurderer2 #RunningbutnotHiding

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) March 26, 2019

Kaul has chosen silence because he cannot credibly defend lawlessness.

Impact Tremors Hint at Coming Earthquake to Shake Wisconsin Law Enforcement and Legal System

I live on Avery Road, do you? Supporters of Steven Avery
and Brendan Dassey are legion in the UK.

Madison, Wisconsin — Would you help imprison a man whom you know to be innocent?

It's a question implicit in the Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey affair in Wisconsin, featured in Making a Murderer.

The answer is slowly corroding the pillars of Wisconsin law enforcement, because the law and many people across the world demand that no innocent be convicted and imprisoned.

The latest developments saw the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, led by Attorney General Josh Kaul, urge Avery to drop post-conviction litigation after hiding and then lying to the defendant and presiding state appellate Court about exculpatory evidence. Kaul has conducted post-conviction litigation deceitfully and writing legal filing that are in a word, snotty.

The Court was not amused and ordered Avery's case sent back to circuit court on Feb. 25, 2019 where effectively Wisconsin law enforcement will be on trial.

The political culture as a whole cannot perceive it yet, but the the foundations of the Wisconsin legal system are shaking.

SA’s DREAM OF FREEDOM is a NEW REALITY as COA lets us reveal all the State’s BAD FAITH, DESTRUCTION & SUPPRESSION of evidence-misdeeds cannot be undone. State’s old way of doing business is OVER. #WreckingCrew #WorkWithKZ #TruthWins #Losers=Guilters #KratzRatzShipSinks

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 26, 2019

Steven Avery's Win Gets Critical Court Hearing; But State Law Enforcement Conduct May End Up on Trial

Wisc Court of Appeals ruling takes under-stated jab at DoJ

Update: Anticipated County Circuit hearing was never ordered.

Update: See John Ferak's latest for updates on legal developments calling into question broad swaths of Wisconsin law enforcement.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Kathleen Zellner represents the wrongfully convicted Steven Avery featured in the Making a Murderer docuseries.

Zellner filed an explosive motion Jan 24, 2019 seeking a hearing in circuit court because the Calumet County Sheriff's Office secretly transferred evidence, purported to be the remains 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.

Yesterday, Zellner won her hearing.

The evidence Zellner and advocates have complied implicates multiple levels of Wisconsin law enforcement, widely regarded as guilty of an ad-hoc scheme to frame Steven Avery in 2005.

Wisconsin law enforcement has a partner — the Wisconsin Dept of Justice working to cover up crimes of law enforcement, and avoid the hearing ordered yesterday.

The DoJ has not performed ethically in post-conviction litigation. In fact, DoJ has been demonstrated as unethically scheming to mislead in litigation.

There is a significant point made in the Feb 25 Court of Appeals ruling that speaks to the DoJ's conduct.

Reads the Feb. 25 Court ruling in part:

The State’s objection does not address the merits of Avery’s claimed statutory and constitutional violations, and it has not responded to Avery’s supplemental filings alleging the possible destruction of evidentiary items which, it appears, the parties previously agreed to preserve.

The State suggests that the appeal is languishing and that if Avery wishes to pursue new claims outside the scope of the WIS. STAT. § 974.06 postconviction orders presently on appeal, he could dismiss the pending appeal, or wait until its conclusion to file his new claims. As to the former, Avery understandably disagrees, aware that dismissing this appeal will preclude review of the underlying orders entered to date. (emphasis added)

The State previously suggested to the Court in its Dec. 28, 2018 filing that Avery and Zellner drop their appeal without the state ever having "admitted or disclosed that it had given the bones back to the Halbach family in 2011 without notice to Mr. Avery or his counsel," notes Kathleen Zellner her Feb. 1 Reply filing.

The appellate court took Zellner's point.

Writes Zellner in part:

The State's response conveys an attitude of impunity for its past actions of withholding exculpatory evidence and its current action of continuing the concealment of its destruction of potentially exculpatory or useful evidence. ...

The State wants this Court to overlook the undisputed fact that 2 weeks ago, on December 28, 2018, when it filed its response to Mr. Avery's request for new DNA testing of the bones from the Manitowoc Gravel Pit, it never once admitted or disclosed that it had given the bones back to the Halbach family in 2011 without notice to Mr. Avery or his counsel. (Plaintiff-Respondent's Response in Opposition to the Petition to Stay the Appeal and Remand this Case to the circuit court, December 28, 2018, pp. 1-8). Instead, the State carried on its charade of concealment by claiming that Mr. Avery could voluntarily dismiss his pending appeal. (pp. 1,2)

So, the Court of Appeals agreed with Zellner.

Now, in layman’s terms the state has "to explain why they gave to Halbach family quarry bones that KK [ex-Distict Attorney Ken Kratz] claimed at trial were non-human. KZ [Kathleen Zellner] wants to prove with new DNA technique they were TH [Teresa Halbach], as further proof she wasn’t burned at SA’s [Steven Avery's] property," (Twitter, Atty Jerome Buting, former trial counsel to Steven Avery, uninvolved in post-conviction litigation).
--
The Wisconsin Department of Justice does not want to appear in Sheboygan County Court, the jurisdiction to which the case has been sent back, to explain in a public hearing why the state violated state law in giving likely exculpatory evidence to the family of a murder victim.

But the DoJ has other trouble.

On Feb. 13, 2019, Mark Williams and Thomas J. Fallon, attorneys with the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, were caught red-handed continuing their pattern of lying and obstruction.

Red-handed as in DoJ co-counsel Williams attempted to phone DoJ Asst Attorney General Fallon on Feb. 13, and instead accidentally phoned Steven Avery's post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, and left a voicemail.

In Williams' voicemail message, Williams contradicted the DoJ's numerous assurances made since 2016 about the status of critical pelvic bones that Zellner wants to test with advanced DNA analyses.

Listen to the voicemail because it appears more deceitful and conniving than the transcription.

The voicemail is transcribed below:

Hi, Tom. This is Mark Williams. Um, I'll send you an email later today, but I don't think we should do anything or respond to her [Zellner] at all until tomorrow, uh, when we look into the bag and-and see exactly the pelvic bones are in there or not. Um, so I-I would not respond, uh, until we look into the bag, uh, tomorrow morning and then we can talk about it, uh, before we send a response. Thanks a lot. Bye.

The state has assured atty Zellner and the Court since 2016, that the state has possession of the pelvic bone, and now atty Williams is caught saying, he doesn't know.

There has been no explanation made public by the DoJ why they were telling the Court and Zellner one thing, and secretly telling each other the opposite.

Zellner did not hide her contempt for the DoJ's conduct in her filing of Feb. 13.

As the record of misconduct of police and prosecutors mounts, advocates are optimistic and Kathleen Zellner keeps pleading her case in legal filings.

SA’s DREAM OF FREEDOM is a NEW REALITY as COA lets us reveal all the State’s BAD FAITH, DESTRUCTION & SUPPRESSION of evidence-misdeeds cannot be undone. State’s old way of doing business is OVER. #WreckingCrew #WorkWithKZ #TruthWins #Losers=Guilters #KratzRatzShipSinks

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 26, 2019

Concludes attorney Jerome Buting, commenting on the appellate court's ruling:

It’s smack-down of State’s snotty, disingenuous suggestion that KZ could just dismiss this appeal. “Avery understandably disagrees, aware that dismissal of this appeal will preclude review of the underlying orders entered to date.” This protects existing appeal.#MakingaMurderer https://t.co/IPpTk1WXDA

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) February 26, 2019

Making a Murderer Defendant Gets Legal Win — Panel Sends Avery Case to Circuit Court to Hear Due Process and Evidence-Destruction Claims

Kathleen Zellner, depicted above in image, has shown
beyond serious dispute Wisconsin has framed, destroyed
exculpatory evidence, and secretly broken state laws, all
to convict and protect the convictions of two innocent
men. Zellner won a significant legal victory in
Wisconsin appellate court. Image from
innocence supporter, JamesBond 007, UK.

Updated Madison, Wisconsin — In a major victory for wrongfully convicted Steven Avery, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, (District Two), has sent his case back to circuit court to pursue post conviction litigation pleading violations of due process and the state law mandating preservation of evidence in criminal cases.

The order means Avery can now appear through his attorney in a public forum to argue proven and willful violations of state law and the Due Process Clause by Wisconsin law enforcement should result in the vacating of his conviction or the reversal of his conviction.

We are going to have an extraordinary number of constitutional violations when we are done. The COA is letting us create an avalanche of evidence in this record. Higher courts rule. #TruthWins @michellemalkin @EFMoriarty #MakingaMurderer #WorkWithKZ

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 25, 2019

The case is: State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery, Case No: 2017AP2288.

Avery will plead his case in a hearing, but the state of Wiscosnin, law enforcement and especially the Dept of Justice will be on trial.

SA’s DREAM OF FREEDOM is a NEW REALITY as COA lets us reveal all the State’s BAD FAITH, DESTRUCTION & SUPPRESSION of evidence-misdeeds cannot be undone. State’s old way of doing business is OVER. #WreckingCrew #WorkWithKZ #TruthWins #Losers=Guilters #KratzRatzShipSinks

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 26, 2019

Avery through his attorney, Kathleen Zellner, has 40 days to present to the Circuit Court grounds for relief in an opening brief.

This development of remanding or sending back the case to Circuit Court has been opposed by the Wisconsin Dept of Justice which declined to argue Due Process violation and the destruction of the murder victim's bones by Wisconsin, but used procedural delaying tactics.

With this ruling, the State is forced into open court.

Reports Kelly Wynne in Newsweek: Zellner told Newsweek it's a big win for Avery. "The appellate court granted our motion to supplement the record with the evidence the bones were destroyed," she explained. "The case is being remanded back to the circuit court to conduct proceedings, which can include a hearing. The circuit court can grant a new trial, or if not, back to appellate court who can reverse the conviction and/or grant a new trial. Either way, the State opposed this motion and lost. This evidence has the potential to undo the whole case, so it is a big win."

Advocates and legal counsel cheered the development late Monday afternoon:

Avery Update: We Won!!!!!! Back to the circuit court. #TruthWins @llifeafterten @ZellnerLaw @TManitowoc @michellemalkin #MakingaMurderer

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 25, 2019

In late January, attorney Jerome Buting, Avery's 2005 co-counsel uninvolved in the post-conviction litigation, noted:

In layman’s terms: State wants to avoid a hearing on this where they have to explain why they gave to Halbach family quarry bones that KK claimed at trial were non-human. KZ wants to prove with new DNA technique they were TH, as further proof she wasn’t burned at SA’s property. https://t.co/kXzjULsgFm

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) January 31, 2019

Avery along with Brendan Dassey are widely acknowledged to be innocent of the murder of Teresa Halback in 2005.

Yet, both men face a hostile Wisconsin Dept of Justice working to cover up crimes of Wisconsin law enforcement.

A Feb. admission by the state that it destroyed evidence by giving bones to the family of the murder victim is significant because, as Zellner told Newsweek, "This admission proves these bone fragments were returned to the family and it is undisputed there was no notice given to Steven Avery or his attorneys and that violates Wisconsin law, ... When any of these bones were returned to the Halbach’s Wisconsin State law and due process were violated. The State has confirmed returning many of the bones to the Halbach’s so the court should grant our motion to stay and remand."

Lawyers at the Wisconsin Department of Justice do not want to appear in open Sheboygan County Court, the jurisdiction to which the case is remanded or sent back, and explain why the state violated state law in giving likely exculpatory evidence to the family of a murder victim.

Updates coming as breaking story develops.

Social Media Effort Focuses Press Attention on Wisconsin Dept of Justice Misconduct, Following DoJ Scandals Blacked-out

In Wisconsin, Cops Are the Criminals, and Most Corporate Press Is Cowed

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — What does one do when crooks and liars conspire to convict, imprison and cover-up crimes against innocent citizens?

Alert the media.

Calling Wisconsin cops isn't going to help as law enforcement here resembles a disorganized, sprawling crime family, protected by the cult of the police.

The cult is everything. Innocent people: Frame them, assassinate their characters, imprison them. And never publicly criticize a fellow cop, no matter what.

Amelia McDonell-Parry's feature-length piece in Rolling Stone updates a story in Wisconsin.

Cops in multiple law enforcement jurisdictions framed an innocent man for a 1985 attempted murder and rape, (exonerated after 18 years in prison), were exposed, then framed the same man (and a 16-year-old Brendan Dassey) for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, just as Steven Avery was deposing cops for a $36-million civil rights suit for his first wrongful conviction, and were exposed again.

Steven Avery has spent over half of his 56 years in prison, wrongfully convicted of twice, framed, and featured in Making a Murderer that has finally brought world-wide attention on the Wisconsin human rights problem.

Now, in 2019 the Wisconsin Dept of Justice has been caught in a new and dirtier cover-up.

Advocates last night staged a Twitter storm on social media, #WakeUpWisconsin, to draw attention to what the Wisconsin Dept of Justice is doing, and what most of the state press is not doing: Reporting on the spectacle of criminality committed by all manner of law enforcement.

Innocence advocates made the DoJ cover-up the number one story in the United Kingdom, (at right) and trended world-wide.

Some Wisconsin media outlets follow the story: WBAY-TV, WGBA-TV.

But most of the press here black-outs major developments, in accordance with the cult of law enforcement — the authorities, the state, the sovereign, the collection of ass-hats led by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D), carrying on the cover-up tradition begun by Kaul's mother, the late Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager (D), (2002-2007), in a sick family tradition.

McDonell-Parry's piece in Rolling Stone updates this story as post-conviction litigation has taken a bizarre-even-for-Wisconsin twist: The DoJ is misleading the state appellate court and Avery's counsel, in an attempt to stop a circuit (County) court from examining why the state destroyed evidence, in violation of Wisconsin state statute and Avery's Constitutional rights.

Writes McDonell-Parry:

Attorney Kathleen Zellner has filed a new letter with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on behalf of her client, Steven Avery, accusing the Attorney General’s Office of 'trying to deceive' her and the Court about the status of key forensic evidence in the Making a Murderer case. Zellner’s letter, submitted on February 13th, is actually her second letter to the court in as many days; both letters supplement a January 24th motion that accused prosecutors of violating state law and Avery’s constitutional rights by destroying evidence. Zellner tells Rolling Stone that she has since learned that a key piece of evidence — suspected human pelvic bone fragments, which could exonerate her client — may have been destroyed as well. And, she says, prosecutors are 'obstructing' her efforts to find out.

According to a newly discovered police report and updated evidence control ledgers, on September 20th, 2011, 'human bone' fragments recovered during the investigation were removed from the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department’s evidence control unit. They were transferred to a local funeral home, which then 'returned' the bones to the family of murder victim Teresa Halbach.

According to an affidavit from Avery’s former appellate attorney Suzanne Hagopian, the State never informed defense counsel of its intention to effectively 'destroy' key case evidence by giving it to the victim’s family. Wisconsin law requires law enforcement to preserve 'any biological material' and 'physical evidence' until the convicted defendant has been discharged from prison. Avery is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and the Wisconsin statute protects his right to retain evidence that 'may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate any person' in Halbach’s murder.

On Feb. 13, 2019, Mark Williams and Thomas J. Fallon, attorneys with the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, were caught red-handed continuing their pattern of lying and obstruction.

Red-handed as in DoJ co-counsel Williams attempted to phone DoJ Asst Attorney General Fallon on Feb. 13, and instead accidentally phoned Steven Avery's post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, and left a voicemail.

In Williams' voicemail message, Williams contradicted the DoJ's numerous assurances made since 2016 about the status of critical pelvic bones that Zellner wants to test with advanced DNA analyses.

Listen to the voicemail because it appears more deceitful and conniving than the transcription.

The voicemail is transcribed below:

Hi, Tom. This is Mark Williams. Um, I'll send you an email later today, but I don't think we should do anything or respond to her [Zellner] at all until tomorrow, uh, when we look into the bag and-and see exactly the pelvic bones are in there or not. Um, so I-I would not respond, uh, until we look into the bag, uh, tomorrow morning and then we can talk about it, uh, before we send a response. Thanks a lot. Bye.

The state has assured Counsel and the Court since 2016, that the state has possession of the pelvic bone, and now atty Williams is caught saying, he doesn't know.

There is speculation that all this is too much even for Wisconsin.

But noone really knows.

One thing is certain: #WakeUpWisconsin is keeping this story on social media, hell or high water.

Wisconsin DoJ Attorney Leaves Errant Voicemail to Opposing Counsel

Wrongful conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, has
achieved folk hero status. Zellner is currently working
to exonerate Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

Madison, Wisconsin—Mark Williams and Thomas J. Fallon, attorneys with the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, were just caught red-handed continuing their pattern of lying in Steven Avery's post-conviction litigation, featured in the Making a Murderer docu-series.

Red-handed as in DoJ co-counsel Williams attempted to phone DoJ Asst Attorney General Fallon on Feb. 13, and instead accidentally phoned Steven Avery's post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner.

Williams reached Zellner's voicemail in the apparent belief he was speaking on Fallon's voicemail.

In Williams' voicemail message, Williams contradicted the DoJ's numerous assurances made since 2016 about the status of critical pelvic bones that Zellner wants to test with advanced DNA analyses.

Williams urges Fallon not to contact Zellner until they determine if the State is in possession of the pelvic bones, contradicting past assurances made by the State. This appears to implicate the State in conducting post-conviction litigation in bad faith, with two men's lives on the line. Put another way, the DoJ is playing games in this grave litigation.

This development follows examination of the contents of some 300 documents obtained in a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) revealed the weekend of Feb. 8 by supporters of wrongfully convicted Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, that appear to implicate Wisconsin law enforcement in misconduct.

Advocates are planning an event entitled Wake Up Wisconsin on Feb. 15, Friday at 5:00 p.m. on Twitter to alert Wisconsin media about recent developments in the fight to free Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

Participants will tweet #WakeUpWisconsin and post messages in support of Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery.

Attorney Kathleen Zellner's letter to the district two appellate court is below.

The case is: State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery, Case No: 2017AP2288.

Wisconsin Is a State of Men and Women Because the Rule of Law Is Perishing; Attorney General Josh Kaul Is Complicit and Insidious

The Wisconsin Department of Justice continues to betray
and destroy as the world watches the degradation in
post-conviction litigation against Steven Avery.
Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) is on point, in
defending the work of disgraced ex-DA, Ken Kratz,
and the criminality of Wisconsin law enforcement.

The Whole World Is Watching Wisconsin -

Post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, will be offering a live question-and-answer session on Twitter, Feb. 12 at Noon.

Update: In response to questions from our friends overseas: Targeting people is in itself tyrannical.

Wisconsin does not have a state Grand Jury system. But when someone is transformed from a person of interest to a "target" in a probe or a grand jury (in other states) or a federal investigation, formal procedures and notifications kick in to protect the soon-to-be-accused.

Not so in the Avery case. Law enforcement targeted Steven Avery and then set about to plant evidence, manipulate and manufacture evidence, even destroying exculpatory evidence.

This is tyrannical and despotic — the opposite of what American criminal justice is supposed to be. And this is what Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is defending, in an unethical fashion to boot.
--
Madison, Wisconsin — "Despotism is a plan alone, without law and without rule, leading all its will and caprices," intoned the satirist, poet, and social contract theorist, Montesquieu. "To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them."

In opposing post-conviction litigation against the wrongful convicted Steven Avery, (Making Murderer), Wisconsin Attorney Josh Kaul (D) is offering polemics, pointless antagonism and defense of apparent criminality and willful violation of constitutional rights and state law committed by Wisconsin law enforcement. Avery's rights, no matter the misconduct of law enforcement, are to be opposed, believes Kaul.

Kaul is delaying the inevitable, defending a miscarriage of justice and doing dishonor to Wisconsin.

I have lived in Wisconsin all my life, and I do not see the bottom, though Josh Kaul is dredging the filth of Wisconsin as he blocks, obscures and delays, motivated from a pathology only Kaul can truly explain.

Post-conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner, will be offering a question-and-answer session on Twitter, Feb. 12 at Noon.

The event follows a new filing in Avery's case before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District Two.

And it follows new evidence demonstrating outright criminality, banditry, by multiple law enforcement jurisdictions.

AVERY: We are READY to do a Twitter Q & A tomorrow (02/12) at NOON re the missing MCGP bones. Have your questions ready. #AskZellner #WorkwithZellner #MakingAMurderer @Newsweek @guardian @BBCWorld @TheTelegraph__ @digitalspy @TheSun

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) February 11, 2019

Wisconsin media and citizens the world-over will tune in.

Yet, as each new piece of evidence pried from east-central Wisconsin law enforcement reveals duplicity and willful targeting of an innocent man, innocence advocates are already speculating what remedies exist to meet the challenge of systemic criminality.

We need a special prosecutor appointed, and independent and transparent investigation opened, and a complete audit of all evidence. @WisDOJ and @GovEvers quit tacitly supporting officials who aided and abetted murderer of Teresa Halbach!!! https://t.co/JcCkcZU7s6

— Lloyd R Bass II (@lloydbassII) February 12, 2019

#WakeUpWisconsin #WorkWithKZ https://t.co/2UPd9hQoCn

— Sara Dahlke (@sara2oz1019) February 11, 2019

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

Making a Murderer — Wisconsin Sheriff's Deputy Implicated by New FOIA Documents

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).

Update: Steven Avery's post-conviction attorney posts new filing Feb. 11 with Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Dist Two.
---
Madison, Wisconsin — Among the cast of rogues in the Making a Murderer docuseries is Manitowoc County Deputy Sheriff Andrew Colborn (ret).

Much of Colborn's public conduct as a public official was criticized at the public 2007 trial of Steven Avery.

But Colborn appears frightened.

So frightened that Colborn filed a defamation suit against Netflix and the creators of Making a Murderer earlier this year. Most legal observers believe that this opens Colborn up to extensive sworn examination and scrutiny.

The contents of some 300 documents obtained in a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) revealed the weekend of Feb. 8 by supporters of wrongfully convicted Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, appear to implicate Wisconsin law enforcement in misconduct.

The documents are housed online at Google Docs.

The documents are entitled CASO Ledgers for Calumet County Sheriff's Office (CASO).

One of the FOIA documents show Colborn's time-sheet is contradicted by his sworn testimony at the 2007 trial.

This supports a theory advanced at trial that Colborn came upon the murder victim's missing car and did not report the find.

The car later turned up mysteriously at Avery's property in plain view, a development that helped to convict Avery.

Writes one innocence advocate:

Colborn was most likely on duty on 11/4/2005 when [passer-by] Rahmlow told him about the RAV 4 in Mishicot. We asked MTSO [Manitowoc County Sheriff Dept] for clarification, and they provided time cards that show Colborn was off the 4th-6th. Weird, bc [because] he testified to working 5th and 6th. Hmmmmm.

Colborn was most likely on duty on 11/4/2005 when Rahmlow told him about the RAV 4 in Mishicot.

We asked MTSO for clarification, and they provided time cards that show Colborn was off the 4th-6th. Weird, bc he testified to working 5th and 6th. Hmmmmm.#MakingAMurderer pic.twitter.com/JmWdrtXUdw

— AC (@Rookie1082) February 11, 2019

Revelations such as the above lead advocates to speculate that the 2007 trial may be vacated soon, a development hat may lead to Avery's (and by logic Brendan Dassey's) exoneration.

Advocates for Wrongfully Convicted in Making a Murderer Get FOIA Docs — Law Enforcement Looks Guilty

Update II: Another tweet appears to indicate the Calumet County Sheriff's Office (CASO) changed evidence tags in an attempt to implicate Steven Avery.

If the interpretation of innocence advocates is correct, then Wisconsin law enforcement has been caught red-handed planting evidence.

That's EXACTLY what they did. https://t.co/v9e1IV9Rrb

— John Jackson (@Jacks1961) February 9, 2019

Update - Advocates demand statement from Gov Tony Evers (D) and Attorney General Josh Kaul (D).

Reads one Tweet:

"You are in power? You have JUSTICE SYSTEM and LE [law enforcement] not fit for purpose. Any other state or country with that label would be ashamed and the CEO would be fired and thrown in jail for the state yours is in."

@WisDOJ @GovEvers You are in power? You have JUSTICE SYSTEM & LE not fit for purpose. Any other state or country with that label would be ashamed & the CEO would be fired and thrown in jail for the state yours is in. #Corruption MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT #MakingAMurderer @ZellnerLaw

— Iain Tivey (@40kin3weeks) February 10, 2019

Madison, Wisconsin—Advocates for two wrongfully convicted men are elated and outraged about the contents of some 300 documents obtained in a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Wisconsin law enforcement appears to implicated in obstruction of justice.

Several innocence advocates speculate the information will provide a new basis for legal motions seeking a hearing to vacate the 2007 conviction of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassay, featured in the Making a Murderer documentaries, Netflix.

The documents are housed online at Google Docs.

The documents are entitled CASO Ledgers for Calumet County Sheriff's Office (CASO).

Advocates are sorting through the documents now, and are responding to questions asking for explanations:

New Freedom of Information request of 300 pages. Evidence of switching tags of blood stain of unknown male in Avery's trailer with alleged blood found in quarry. Blood of unknown male in Avery's trailer supports theory that killer went there to get blood to plant in Rav.

— Lloyd R Bass II (@lloydbassII) February 9, 2019

We have obtained the CASO Evidence/Property Custody Documents for all ledgers and evidence tags listed in this report:... https://t.co/KXiMw5RFAd

— Steven Avery Project (@BraverySAP) February 9, 2019

They KNOWINGLY & DELIBERATELY sat back on their smug arrogant asses while they patted themselves on the shoulder for FRAMING a citizen FOR THE SECOND TIME! Malicious fiends!!!

— Debra Sullivan (@Deboryn123) February 9, 2019

These Dirty Little Bastards. Would you look at that, manipulating item numbers. Obviously they were manipulating documents, and evidence. So if blood was found to be in the trailer, you can almost bet you're ass it was planted in the Rav4. We've been given nothing but lies.

— OB1.Benobie (@BenBarr80) February 9, 2019

Just the tampering of evidence or cross mixing tag numbers evidence numbers whatever you’d like to say is grounds for https://t.co/OtBUdhtMrM trial
If that evidence was struck from the trial would it help to prove his innocence. https://t.co/csXmtbh8RO

— Littlegirl (@littlegirl108) February 9, 2019

I think this document more then explains that the now Sherrif of Calumet county knew exactly what those bones were and where they came from. Not an oops, not an accident, not a typo. #blatantplanting #ticktocktimesup #WorkWithKZ https://t.co/46Tg6Xj5DO

— Julie Nash (@justiceseek35) February 9, 2019

Making a Murderer Frame-up Blasted by Attorney Dean Strang — "Utterly Unsustainable as a Factual Matter"

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice is caught in multiple
dilemmas as it continues to block a hearing for the
wrongfully convicted Steven Avery,
framed for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.

"Where is any of the blood?!"

Madison, Wisconsin—The ex-district attorney and sex offender Ken Kratz' versions of events that allegedly chronicle the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach are ridiculous.

Steven Avery's 2007 co-counsel, Dean Strang, calls the state's narrative of murder offered at the trial of Brendan Dassey, (contradicted by the state in its two different narratives at two different murder trials), "utterly unsustainable as a factual matter."

Mark Wiegert, (Calumet County Sheriff), and Tom Fassbender (Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation investigator), are liars, unindicted felons, and they still work in Wisconsin law enforcement.

They framed two men whom they knew to be innocent.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) has thrown the state DoJ 100 percent behind Kratz and perhaps the most spectacular law enforcement scandal in state history.

Rich Lomurro sits down to talk with Dean Strang about the Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey trials at the center of the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer. Video is below:

Making a Murderer Case Is Atop a Precipice of Scandal and Depravity That Could Break and Send Cops to Their Doom

Wisconsin Either Gave Animal Bones to Murder Victim's Family, or Intentionally Destroyed Material Evidence Proving Innocence

Madison, Wisconsin — The Wisconsin Dept of Justice is caught in multiple dilemmas as it continues to block a hearing for the wrongfully convicted Steven Avery, framed for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.

For bad measure, Mark Wiegert, (sergeant (and now Sheriff) at the Calumet County Sheriff's Office), and Tom Fassbender (Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation investigator), goaded another innocent, Brendan Dassey, to mutter words portrayed as admission of guilt, supporting a lurid, contrived tale of Avery's guilt in this malicious prosecution of Avery, (Ferek, Appleton Post-Crescent). Former Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R) (2007-2015) announced on May 2, 2008, Wiegert and Fassbender, received the Meritorious Service Award from the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators, (Wisconsin Dept. of Justice).

This is Wisconsin law enforcement. No cop, retired or active, speaks out against the bad faith and routine depravity.

Wiegert and Fassbender are typical Wisconsin cops. Would you work to convict someone whom you knew be innocent?

Kathleen Zellner wouldn't.

Zellner — who represents the wrongfully convicted 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, the remains 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.

Zellner's Jan 24 motion in state appellate court seeks an order to remand, send back, the case to circuit court for the hearing.

The Jan 24 motion, followed by the state's Jan 29 reply motion and Zellner's Feb.1 response, is a potentially devastating development for the state because Zellner shows either the state of Wisconsin gave the Halbach family animal bones in 2011 and told the family the bones were the remains of Teresa Halbach; or the state conspired to illegally destroy exculpatory evidence.

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.

In a state other than Wisconsin, this misconduct and the crusade against Steven Avery would have resulted in multiple criminal charges against dozens of corrupt cops.
Notes attorney Jerome Buting, Avery's 2005 co-counsel, uninvolved in the post-conviction litigation:

In layman’s terms: State wants to avoid a hearing on this where they have to explain why they gave to Halbach family quarry bones that KK claimed at trial were non-human. KZ wants to prove with new DNA technique they were TH, as further proof she wasn’t burned at SA’s property. https://t.co/kXzjULsgFm

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) January 31, 2019

Cops have many secret weapons, one of which is the Lautenschlager-Kaul family.

After Steven Avery was exonerated for the first (1985) wrongful conviction, "Lautenschlager, Wisconsin's Attorney General [2003-07] in 2003, directed the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate the merits of the 1985 wrongful conviction of Steven Avery. The DOJ released an 18-page report on Dec. 17, 2003, finding 'there is no basis to bring criminal charges or assert ethics violations against anyone involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case,'" (Ferak, Appleton Post-Crescent).

Lautenschlager is the current Attorney General Josh Kaul's (2019-present) late mother.

Kaul inherited his mother's taste for defending wrongful convictions and police misconduct.

Or, maybe the Oshkosh-Fond du Lac family drank too much of Lake Winnebago's increasingly polluted waters. One wonders if Lautenschlager told her son the truth about she did, and warned Kaul to keep the bad work top secret.

In any event, now Kaul is pursuing a reckless and hostile battle against Avery in post-conviction litigation with the mission of drowning out truth at any cost: Even humiliating a murder victim's family and mocking an innocent man's effort to prove what Kaul knows is a frame-up.

Corrupt Wisconsin law enforcement has met a determined adversary.

Writes Zellner in part:

The State should not benefit from concealing a report, failing to give notice, and facilitating the destruction of biological evidence. The State's opposition to Mr. Avery's motion is tantamount to asking this Court to sanction a rule where "prosecutor may hide, defendant must seek." Banhs v. Drethe, 540 U.S. 668, 696 (2004). Such a rule "is not tenable· in a system constitutionally bound to accord defendants due process." Id. After all, the State, in its response to Mr. Avery's motion, makes no effort to deny the due process violations Mr. Avery alleges, i.e., that the State concealed a  police report, failed to give statutorily-mandated notice to Mr. Avery and his attorneys of its intent to destroy biological evidence, then facilitated the destruction of the same evidence. The State should not now reap the benefit of its past statutory and due process violations. Such an outcome would contravene the sense of basic fairness inherent in our justice system. (p.7)
--
Yes.

Wisconsin's New AG, Josh Kaul, Shows Colors in Delaying Wrongful Conviction Litigation

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) proves
himself as corrupt and hypocritical as his drunken,
late mother in protecting wrongful convictions in
Steven Avery's current post-conviction litigation.

'Very Disappointing Response by Wisconsin Attorney General'

Update: Steven Avery's post-conviction attorneys file a reply brief in state appellate court.
 ---
Madison, Wisconsin — A sub-culture of people who believe it's wrong to convict and imprison innocents were waiting for the new Wisconsin attorney general to weigh in on a new motion in Steven Avery's post-conviction litigation featured in the Making a Murderer docuseries.

The news was delivered yesterday.

Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) disappointed, continuing his predecessor Brad Schimel's knee-jerk and corrupt reaction against any post-conviction motions that shine light on this miscarriage of justice.

Kaul proved anew Wisconsin Democrats are as complicit as Republicans in defending wrongful convictions, deflating hopes the Wisconsin police-prosecutor state is under serious challenge by reformists.

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.

But Kaul is just another corrupt prosecutor who believes defending the indefensible must prevail over truth and justice for the innocent, lest the local police states such as Manitowoc and Calumet counties are exposed as corrupt and criminal.

Kaul's brand of politics goes back a long time. Make no mistake, what Kaul is doing is calculated politics, and not procedural just-doing-my-job fare.

Kaul disingenuously argued that Avery in seeking relief is delaying the litigation (Appleton Post Crescent).

Unfortunately, for the cause of justice, the state appellate court hearing this post-conviction litigation is full of the same type of corrupt, hypocritical jurists as Kaul who think protecting the reputation of Wisconsin law enforcement means imprisoning the innocent.

Wisconsin Democrats often make their political bones by persecuting and imprisoning as many people as possible, preferably black and brown people, then present themselves to the public as progressive prosecutors, ala Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate who has been courting Hillary Clinton donors since 2017 for her prosecutors are-for-us run.

What's particularly galling here is Kaul's mother, Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager (2003-07), did precisely the same thing with the police crusade against Avery, covering for the first wrongful conviction against Avery, and enabling later frame-ups against Avery.

Lautenschlager subsequently raced around the state to highlight drug prosecutions, until she was pulled over by the Dodge County Sheriff Dept in 2004 for drunken driving, which she tried to minimize. Lautenschlager was a good person. I knew her. She was also a flaming hypocrite.

With respect to Steven Avery, I guess if lynching is a family affair, that makes it okay, to Kaul's way of thinking.

Kaul's action is provoking derision on social media, and rightfully so:

Its very disappointing to see were @WisDOJ has decided to show his intentions, I was hoping for better but just carrying on the family tradition. #MakingAMurderer #MakingAMurderer2 pic.twitter.com/3RagwSJ0Rp

— Diggem (@Diggem242) January 31, 2019

A very disappointing response by @WisDOJ Josh Kaul choosing to ignore evidence of breaking statutory law and judicial decree by DOJ lawyers and LE.#MakingAMurderer #Wisconsin #CORRUPTION #WorkWithKZ https://t.co/KCeBIJTQhN

— Lloyd R Bass II (@lloydbassII) January 31, 2019

This blows my fuckin mind @WisDOJ What the hell is going on! You are aware the WHOLE fuckin world🌎watching RIGHT?! do something and soon. Or you'll see the backlash this world gives you for this obvious injustice This is absolutely sickening! Break the cycle #workwithzellner https://t.co/kj9hjq2iAG

— Jenna (@Jenny4mthablock) January 31, 2019

How long did FALLON make KZ wait 4 the CD? Did she ask 4 times from Nov of 2017 & He didn’t cough it up till April of 2018 so she HAD to delay her appeal?? Isn’t their fight that all orig Defense has 2 Do was ASK 4 CD? She asked! How’d that work out? #MakingAMurderer #Liars https://t.co/TCYt1iwnJv

— 7 pairs-of-panties (@7pairsofpanties) February 1, 2019

We in Wisconsin expected better.