Showing posts with label Wisconsin Criminal Justice Law Enforcement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisconsin Criminal Justice Law Enforcement. Show all posts

Feb 7, 2023

Making a Murderer — New Filing Calls Wisconsin Legal System into Question

 Eugene Higgins, The Black Cloud. Wisconsin politicians, attorneys,
and judges betray rule of law, as innocents perish under cloud of darkness.
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Wisconsin-organized system of cruelty destroys value of single individual; drowns out truth, as State  opposes open hearings

Madison, Wisconsin — Innocents remain in prison today; human rights advocates here muse how favorably Democratic Party-run Wisconsin compares to other authoritarian societies — such as Russia, Belarus, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

In the criminal law cases of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, Wisconsin stands in shame as its crusade to keep those whom the State knows to be innocent in prison show anew an entire state government dedicated by convenience to remain vicious and dishonest.

In January 2023, amid worry innocents in prison present too embarrassing a political-legal scandal to be acknowledged by the Wisconsin criminal justice system, (Ferak, Patch-Wisconsin), Steven Avery filed his Jan 24, 2023 filing as the Democrat-run state of Wisconsin and Dept of "Justice" continue its defense of this notorious police-organized frame-up, featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer (Netflix), (Ricciardi, Demos).

The case is State of Wisconsin v Steven Avery, #122987 Manitowoc County Case Number 2005CF000381.

Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were convicted of first-degree homicide for the 2005 murder of a young photographer, Teresa Halbach. Both men are serving life sentences.

Most see the spectacle as revenge prosecutions of innocents by Manitowoc and Calumet counties, an insular region of the state known for small-town justice — injustice.

Avery wants an evidentiary hearing and a new trial, a request that has drawn baseless political attacks against his attorney, Kathleen Zellner, and reveals a perverse aversion to public hearings by the Wisconsin Dept of Justice.

Reports John Ferak at Patch-Wisconsin:

Zellner is on a quest to win Avery an evidentiary hearing before a local judge. An evidentiary hearing will give her a chance to convince the judge that Avery's first-degree murder conviction in the Oct. 31, 2005 death of free-lance photographer Teresa Halbach warrants a new trial for her client. Avery along with his nephew Brendan Dassey were convicted of the murder.

Zellner insists in her latest filing that Brendan Dassey's older brother, Bobby, is the real killer of Halbach.

'Mr. Avery respectfully requests that this Court grant him one of the following alternate remedies: (l) Grant an evidentiary hearing; (2) grant his Amended Motion for Postconviction Relief by ordering a new trial; and (3) grant the requested relief and grant any and all relief this Court deems appropriate,' Zellner stated. [p. 46,

Further driving the Avery and Dassey cases down the sewer is the full awareness of Gov. Tony Evers (D) and Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) that they are defending the work of perhaps Wisconsin's most reviled district attorney in modern times — Kenneth R. Kratz who prosecuted both the Avery and Dassey cases.

Ken Kratz was driven from office after Gov. Jim Doyle began removal proceedings in 2010 following assault and sexual harassment allegations leveled against Kratz by several women, (ABC News, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Kratz' defense? Kratz claimed he is a drug and sex addict and victim of a medically diagnosed Narcissistic Personality Disorder that made Kratz uncontrollably arrogant and malignant — transforming him into a "dick," as termed by Kratz in 2016, (p. 13, Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Huffington Post).

This is what criminal justice here has become.

 
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Aug 4, 2021

Wisconsin Got What It Wanted — Systemic, State Violence, Administered by the Badger Judenrat

Wisconsin Democrats administer the carceral state that sees
innocents swept off the streets and warehoused in prison,
and administrative bail-probation-parole complexes.
Municipal and other Judenrat are rewarded handsomely.
Madison, Wisconsin — The attempted destruction of the European Jews stands as the beginning of modern world history.

But not because of the defeat of totalitarianism and anti-Semitism as political systems.

Not because by-standers, compliance, and acting out of convenience in the face of moral horror became imprecatory to human affairs. 

Totalitarianism won. Hate won. 

The Judenrat won.

The fight continues, but the proposition that human beings retain rights to life and liberty is a sick joke to anyone with a fleeting understanding of American post-war foreign policy and the modern domestic police state.

Prison-state America has destroyed countless lives, and the best one generation offers now is to cancel people on social media not anointed of their taboo morality and contrived, ahistorical understanding of America and its inception.

Tens of thousands of municipalities have become mini-police states, some of the modern-day Judenrat becoming so enamored of their offices of authority, local police load up with military weapons, and face down imaginary threats to the community, in self-defense of course.

Domestically, and Wisconsin is a paradigm, many statist Democrats erected a police-prison state that shamed the cause of liberty and made the 'progressive state' the worse place to be black and brown in America. 

Police roadblocks, William Rehnquist was right jurisprudence has dominated Wisconsin Democratic Party politics for decades, though ultimately as least roadblocks and show-me-your-papers operations were rejected by voters, putting Democrat Kathleen Falk out of political business.

Who could be stupid as to not realize black and brown people doing nothing except driving do not want and deserve encounters with police as a condition of driving? Wisconsin Democrats.

Democrats are back at it of course, and any acclamation of the Fourth Amendment is met with suspicion by police-state Democrats.

It used to be reasonable to believe that Democrats like Gov. Tony Evers (D), Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) were simply clueless about what police do to harm black and brown people.

This is folly. You meet a cop on the road, and your life is at risk. 

This is the way Democrats want it.

Community outrage continues today against such recent police killings in Wisconsin of Paul Heenan (Schenider, The Capital Times (2013)) (killed by Madison Police Officer Stephen Heimsness who resigned in June 2013 (Erickson, Wisconsin State Journal), Tony Terrell Robinson Jr. in Madison (Dean, The Capital Times), Michael Bell in Kenosha (2004), and Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee (Luthern, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; Mal Contends). Too many victims to list. See also Paul Gottinger in CounterPunch.

Democratic judges are aligning with the disreputable Democratic-led Dept of Justice to keep an innocent man, Steven Avery, in prison.

Until Steven Avery and his equally innocent nephew, Brendan Dassey, are free, I will never cast a vote for any Democrat again.

Meanwhile, police repression continues in Kenosha, in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, the whole god-damn state of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice announced it is looking for a new head of the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

Don't worry, I'm sure the Democratic-led police operation will find the perfect man for the job.

Someone who can reliably implement solutions well.

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Jul 28, 2021

Making a Murderer — Appellate Court Gives Avery a Defeat

In Steven Avery's quest for a second exoneration of an apparent
frame-up scheme by Wisconsin law enforcement, the State worked
successfully to block a hearing on its misconduct and numerous
Brady violations.

Dem-led DoJ Champions Disgraced ex-DA and Sex Offender, Ken Kratz.

Wisconsin Appellate Court Delivers Political Decision on Police Frame-up Scheme before Mid-Terms

Paths remain for Avery to pursue Post-conviction litigation

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Steven Avery's quest for a second exoneration moved backward today as the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (CoA), Dist Two ruled against his request for a lower court hearing.

The case is State of Wisconsin v Steven Avery, featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer docuseries.

The ruling by a unanimous three-judge panel is a Court statement that the Wisconsin judiciary and Wisconsin Dept of Justice share a commitment to blocking paths to exoneration for clearly innocent people convicted, and behind bars.

With this ruling, Wisconsin joins the worst of states nationwide who work to keep innocent people imprisoned.

The ruling follows a spectacular development last April that saw witness Thomas Sowinski of Manitowoc swear in a statement that he saw the prosecution's key trial witness plant the murder victim's RAV4 vehicle on the property of the man convicted of homicide in 2007.

Wisconsin Democratic Party officials, Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Joshua Kaul, have made the political decision to work for law enforcement, including the disgraced ex-district attorney, Ken Kratz, against the wrongfully convicted.

So, it was expected in the innocence community that the Democratic-aligned appellate judges — Lisa S. Neubauer and Jeffrey O. Davis — would brush aside state misconduct and new evidence to politically support Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Joshua Kaul, who work against the innocent.

Both Evers and Kaul are running for reelection in 2022, and a scandal implicating Democratic Party elected officials would likely prove disastrous to the Party.

In order for the Court to reach its conclusion today, Democratic partisan judges who joined with Judge Paul F. Reilly had to overlook official misconduct, including evidence tampering, false testimony, multiple Brady violations and other suppression of critical information by all manner of law enforcement, including the state Dept of Justice.

The decision was met with wounded howls and derision by those who fight for the wrongfully convicted around the world.

But Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, noted that there are paths still open for a clearly innocent man, even against a corrupt Democratic Party and Wisconsin judiciary.

Said Zellner in a social media post this morning, "Not deterred by the appellate court decision—-it pointed out the specific doors that are still open for Mr. Avery’s quest for freedom. We appreciate the careful review."

Still, the unmistakable message of the Wisconsin judiciary to the wrongfully convicted seems clear: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

In the face of the Dept of Justice working to block a hearing on new evidence, the Court decided that "Simply put, Avery’s appeal cannot continue indefinitely," in effect rewarding the DOJ for its stalling tactics, and denying Avery a hearing to argue against prosecutorial misconduct.

Today's ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin; another motion can made at the County Circuit Court level, in accordance with today's opinion.

But readers should make no mistake, the State of Wisconsin and the Democratic Party have worked to arrest, convict and keep imprisoned a man whom they know to be innocent.

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May 30, 2020

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.


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.
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Apr 8, 2019

Evidence "Inexplicably Released" — Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul Defends Concealment in Filing; Famed Wrongful Conviction Attorney Zellner Signals New Disclosure of State Deception This Week

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 — Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) is trying to stop the exoneration of Steven Avery, the wrongfully convicted man featured in Making a Murderer.

The state Dept of Justice's (DoJ) legal effort defending a police frame-up in post-conviction litigation is drawing howls across the world.

Calls abound for the DoJ to change its continuing concealment efforts in this litigation, agree to new DNA testing and change its conduct that appears unethical, and arguably criminal.

The post-conviction ligation is, State v. Steven A. Avery, Appeal Number 2017AP002288, now before Manitowoc County Circuit Court.

In its late-March legal filing, the DoJ argues procedural objections to 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).

Continuing its strategy of avoiding mention of charged state lawlessness in appellate court, the State's conduct now before County Circuit Court again appears striking in avoidance of the merits of 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:

Wisconsin Dept of Justice is painting itself into a corner
in its effort to keep innocent men in prison. "The State
is thumbing its nose at the appellate court once again,"
wrongful conviction attorney Kathleen Zellner told Newsweek
on April 2. "That court specifically ordered that the merits of the
alleged bone destruction be addressed. Rather than follow the
court's directive, the State has constructed a convoluted
procedural argument that defies logic or precedent."
'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 last point refers to the DoJ litigation team and Thomas Fallon, who helped oversee the decision to return the alleged human bones to the Halbach family. Fallon wrote the state’s response, according to Zellner.

The post-conviction ligation is State v. Steven A. Avery, (Appeal Number 2017AP002288), now before Manitowoc County Circuit Court.

Before Zellner won her motion for a remand (sending back) the case to Circuit Court, Zellner argued in her Feb. 1 legal filing.

The [State] ... 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) (emphasis added).
The Court of Appeals agreed with Zellner, (Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Feb. 25, 2091).

The sheer multiplicity of law enforcement misconduct makes this litigation a spectacle.

Now, the deception of the DoJ attorneys in defending this miscarriage of justice threatens to become another spectacle, a la attorney state attorney Mark Williams leaving a Feb errant voicemail message to Thomas Fallon plotting how to mislead Zellner.

And Fallon along with state attorney Norman Gahn not only worked together to illegally destroy evidence, the two DoJ attorneys are now writing legal filings opposing Zellner's March 11 call for a reversal or new trial.

Zellner claims convincingly to have uncovered at least six Brady violations committed by the prosecution, any one of which could result in a new trial or reversal.

Stay tuned this week:
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Mar 26, 2019

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.
Kaul has chosen silence because he cannot credibly defend lawlessness.
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Mar 3, 2019

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.

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Feb 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.
Concludes attorney Jerome Buting, commenting on the appellate court's ruling:
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Feb 25, 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.

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.

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:

In late January, attorney Jerome Buting, Avery's 2005 co-counsel uninvolved in the post-conviction litigation, noted:
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.
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Feb 16, 2019

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.
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Feb 14, 2019

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.
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Feb 12, 2019

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.

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