Wisconsin DoJ Attorneys Thomas Fallon and Norman Gahn Are Under Cloud in Steven Avery Case

Madison, Wisconsin — Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz affirmed a key fact in her August 8, 2019 decision and order in Manitowoc County Circuit Court in Steven Avery's post-conviction litigation.

Steven Avery is featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer documentary series.

Judge Sutkiewicz writes, "The report of [Calumet County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Hawkins] indicates that he, Sergeant Investigator Mark Wiegert, [DoJ] Attorney Thoman Fallon and [DoJ] Attorney Norman Gahn removed materials stored in evidence, and released them to the [murder victim Teresa] Halbach family," (p 2).

The state appellate case is State v. Steven A. Avery, 2017AP002288.

This is an important admission from Sutkiewicz because the Wisconsin Dept of Justice's Fallon and Gahn have been gas-lighting the Teresa Halbach family, Avery and his attorneys and indeed the entire state of Wisconsin.

Fallon, Gahn and Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) claim they do not know if the biological remains that Fallon, Gahn and the Calumet County Sheriff Dept secretly and illegally released to the Teresa Halbach family in 2011 are in fact the remains of Teresa Halbach.

You read that right. It is the official position of the State of Wisconsin that the State misled a murder victim's family into believing the State had returned to this family the bodily remains of someone whom they now claim may not be Teresa Halbach.
 
Avery's attorney — Kathleen Zellner, Steven Richards and Douglas Johnson — are expected to file a brief with the presiding appellate court within weeks.

The Wisconsin statute 968.205 - Preservation of certain evidence is clear. Among other duties assumed by law enforcement when destroying evidence in its custody, the State must send "a notice of its intent to destroy the evidence to all persons who remain in custody as a result of the criminal conviction, delinquency adjudication, or commitment, and to either the attorney of record for each person in custody or the state public defender."

This statute is not a suggestion of best practices.

The State of course sent no such notice. See Avery legal filings.

The law was specifically changed in 2005 with the legislative intent to allow law enforcement to destroy evidence after meeting all the prescribed conditions necessary for the State to commit this act.

Reads the Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau of ASSEMBLY BILL 648, [LRB−3492/1RLR:wlj&lmk:rs   2005 − 2006 LEGISLATURE]; 

However, if a law enforcement agency, DA, court,or crime laboratory informs every person in custody in connection with a piece of evidence of its intent to destroy the evidence and none of the people either requests preservation of the evidence or files a motion for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing of the biological material contained in or included on the evidence, the law enforcement agency, DA, court, or crime laboratory may destroy the evidence.

This bill provides that a law enforcement agency, DA, court, or crime laboratory must retain evidence that includes biological material and was collected in connection with a criminal investigation that resulted in a conviction, delinquency adjudication, or commitment order only if the biological material is either from the victim of the offense for which the conviction, adjudication, or commitment order was imposed or the biological material may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate any person for the offense. Also, a law enforcement agency, DA, court, or crime laboratory need retain the evidence only in an amount and manner sufficient to develop a DNA profile from the evidence. [Emphasis added]

The State now wants to substitute scientific certainty as the new definition that determines the incriminating or exculpatory value of DNA evidence and replace the "may reasonably be used" language that resides in the law and legislative intent.

Instead of "biological material [that] may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate," as is the legislative intent and plain language of the statute, Judge Sutkiewicz references the testimony of one scientist from trial to support the State's position.

Surly, it is reasonable to infer that giving a murder victim's family bodily remains purported to be a murder victim's may reasonably be determined to possess exculpatory value, in accordance with Wisconsin statute 968.205 - Preservation of certain evidence.

As attorney Zellner notes 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)

What we in Wisconsin need to determine as well is the intent of Calumet County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Hawkins, Sheriff Mark Wiegert, and DoJ attorneys Thoman Fallon and Norman Gahn through a criminal investigation.

You better believe this gang is culpable in the crimes of 946.65 Obstructing justice and 946.12 Misconduct in public office, for starters.

And a federal probe would certainly help.

These people broke multiple laws in their plot to frame an innocent man, and then destroy evidence to conceal their crimes.

Steven Avery Appeal Filed — Shines Light on Wisconsin Law Enforcement Corruption in Fight for Exoneration

Is the government required to follow the law when the state
investigates, and litigates against a defendant? Yes,
Steven Avery argues in a 135-page brief filed today in
Wisconsin appellate court. Avery argues the law enforcement
team that conspired to destroy biological evidence engaged
in an illegal scheme that runs afoul of the effect of  two
critical cases protecting innocents. Reads the brief in part,
"[T]e Youngblood test examines the government’s role
  in  the  circumstances  that  led  to  the  destruction  of
the evidence. 488 U.S. at 56–58. If a criminal
defendant can satisfy either  test,  then  a  court 
will  rule the destruction of evidence was a violation
of due process and reverse the defendant’s conviction. 
Youngblood, 488 U.S. at 54; Trombetta, 467 U.S. at 484." 

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — A much-anticipated appeal from Steven Avery was filed in state appellate court this morning, court records indicate, (State of Wisconsin v. Steven A. Avery, Appeal Number 2017AP002288).

The 135-page appeal asserts numerous instances of law-breaking committed by Wisconsin law enforcement including DNA evidence destruction, evidence concealment, myriad Brady violations, and deprivations of Due Process and Constitutional rights that helped to convict and illegally block post-conviction litigation efforts of a man whom millions world-wide believe to be innocent.

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

Steven Avery is featured in the Emmy-winning documentary, Making a Murderer.

The text of the appeal is posted on social media and the site, WorkwithKZ, and can be found here as well.

Attorneys Kathleen T. Zellner and Steven G. Richards are Mr. Avery's attorneys.

The bizarre post-litigation case includes a flaunting of Wisconsin's evidence preservation law in a law enforcement scheme that saw the remains of murder victim Teresa Halbach illegally transported to the Halbach family in 2011 by Calumet County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Hawkins, Sergeant Investigator Mark Wiegert,and DoJ Attorneys Thomas Fallon and Norman Gahn.

Chutzpah and Wisconsin Law Enforcement

Fallon and Gahn helped to prosecute the Avery case in 2007, then in 2011 destroyed biological evidence in their scheme, presenting to the Halbach family numerous bones as Teresa Halbach's remains.

Now, Fallon and Gahn argue in state appellate court that since the evidence they destroyed is forensically worthless because of contamination, its exculpatory value to defendant Avery can no longer be ascertained.

Fallon and Gahn argue that the evidence they helped destroy was "inexplicably released" from the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department’s evidence control unit in their March 29, 2019 legal filing, (p 13).

"Inexplicably released" is a disingenuous characterization for the illegal destruction of evidence that not only implicates Fallon, Gahn and Wiegert, but also is a clear violation of the Due Process Clause, and is a Brady violation under Wisconsin judicial doctrine.

Avery in his brief today argue that Wisconsin's "DNA evidence preservation statute presumes that every violation constitutes 'bad faith,'" (See pp 128-1320.)

The brief is also critical of the lower circuit court's handling of the post-conviction litigation by Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz, arguing the judge abused her discretion in several instances, and that her reasoning on several points is deeply flawed.

Abusing discretion. That's legal language for grave misconduct that in this case prevents Avery from receiving a fair hearing in post-conviction litigation.

Judge Angela Sutkiewicz is blasted in Steven's brief as "abusing [her] discretion" many times. Abusing discretion is reaching conclusions against reason and law — blocking a fair trial. AS reached predetermined results, then used slipshod reasoning to support her order.

— Michael Leon (@mal644) October 17, 2019

Brady Violations

Violations of the Brady Rule, prosecutors’ duty under the Brady v. Maryland (1963) case to turn over to the defense exculpatory evidence are "epidemic," to borrow a term from an opinion from former Judge Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (Cassens-Weiss, ABA Journal).

The state of Wisconsin law enforcement conducts
its Brady obligations as though these constitutional safe-
guards were optional, and of no importance. Steven
Avery is arguing against this position and Avery is
on strong footing as he attempts to gain his freedom.

In the coming weeks, the Wisconsin population may learn what a Brady motion violation is, and why the state's Brady violations should also result in vacating this wrongful conviction in this case, as is argued in the brief.

The state of Wisconsin's failure to disclose exculpatory evidence in its litigation against Avery should result in a reversal or a vacating of the 2007 conviction.

In Feb 2019, notes the Evidence Prof Blog, the burden is now on the state in Wisconsin to follow the dictates of Brady after a powerful opinion in State v. Wayerski, 2019 WL 471276 (Wis. 2019):

[T]he Supreme Court of Wisconsin issued an opinion that might have huge implications for the Brady doctrine. Under that doctrine the prosecution has an affirmative obligation under the Due Process Clause to disclose material exculpatory evidence to the defense. In its opinion in State v. Wayerski, 2019 WL 471276 (Wis. 2019), however, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that Wisconsin courts had shifted the focus from the State's misconduct to the defense's due diligence and issued a course correction.

To read the State's position in State of Wisconsin v. Steven A. Avery, misleading the defense, concealing evidence and destroying evidence are effectively not a matter of Constitutional importance.

See also:

• WorkwithKZ
• State v. Steven A. Avery, Appeal Number 2017AP002288, Court of Appeals District 2, Court History
• Manitowoc County Case Number 2005CF000381 State of Wisconsin vs. Steven A. AVERY #122987

Wisconsin Evidence Preservation Law Fails When DoJ and Other Cops Dismiss Duties Mandated by Statute

Wisconsin's biological evidence preservation law is clear:
" ... Except as provided in sub. (3), if physical evidence
that is in the possession of a law enforcement agency
includes any biological material that was collected
in connection with a criminal investigation
that resulted in a criminal conviction, delinquency
adjudication, or commitment under s. 971.17 or 980.06
and the biological material is from a victim of the
offense that was the subject of the criminal investigation
or may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate
any person for the offense, the law enforcement agency
shall preserve the physical evidence until every person
in custody as a result of the conviction, adjudication,
or commitment has reached his or her discharge date."

Madison, Wisconsin—As a Wisconsin circuit court judge—Sheboygan County Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz (substituting)—works on crafting her opinion to sabotage the post-conviction litigation of an innocent man, a state law meant to preserve evidence is one focus of legal filings this year by wrongful conviction attorney, Kathleen Zellner (McDonell-Parry, Rolling Stone Magazine).

The case is State v. Steven A. Avery, Appeal Number 2017AP002288, brought by Steven Avery, featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer.

The prosecution led by Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) and his legal team—including Mark Williams, Asst Attorney General and Special Prosecutor Thomas J. Fallon, and Special Prosecutor Norman Gahn—have not challenged the fact that law enforcement destroyed evidence in violation of state statute.

In fact, Department of Justice Special Prosecutors Thomas J. Fallon and Norman Gahn plotted to destroy evidence in 2011, and now Attorney General Joshua Kaul has both Fallon and Gahn defending the wrongful prosecution of Avery—discredited work of the disgraced sex offender and ex-Calumet County District Attorney, Ken Kratz—who foisted a fraud upon two separate juries arguing two conflicting sets of facts to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

This is a bizarre development in which two DoJ attorneys break the law, represent the state in post-conviction litigation, and then refuse to engage the arguments pleading the facts and implications of their unlawful conduct.

The legal strategy of the State protecting the conviction of a man whom they know to be innocent is to present a serpentine, internally inconsistent procedural argument that does not address the merits of the willful and unlawful destruction of evidence and the Due Process implications of this lawless state action committed in 2011 (Avery legal filings).

Worse, the State DoJ is continuing its effort to obstruct attorney Zellner, while Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz continues her strategy of running legal interference on the circuit court level to whom the case was sent back by a state appellate panel on Feb 25, 2019.

This is a spectacle of lawless Wisconsin law enforcement that is largely blacked out in the Wisconsin media.

As Amelia McDonell-Parry reports in Rolling Stone Magazine in Feb 2019:

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.

Calumet County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Jeremy Hawkins states in the 2011 police report that Sgt. Investigator Mark Wiegert, and attorneys Thomas Fallon and Norm Gahn, were involved in removing the bones from evidence control. Wiegert was a lead investigator in the case, while Fallon and Gahn were on the trial prosecution team. Fallon is now an Assistant Attorney General, and he and Gahn continue to represent the case on behalf of the state of Wisconsin as Avery appeals his conviction. Rolling Stone sent Fallon and Gahn a detailed request for comment on the claims outlined in Zellner’s court filings; a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office replied to say that they 'cannot comment on ongoing litigation.'

The September 20th, 2011 police report, which Zellner says she received in December from an anonymous third-party, has exposed a lot more than just a violation of state law. A thorough assessment of updated evidence control ledgers and crime lab unit reports (attached as exhibits to her four most recent court filings and reviewed by Rolling Stone) indicates that the 'human bones' recovered during the investigation were more plentiful than had ever been conveyed to the defense. And many of the bones that were returned to the Halbach family in 2011 were collected from locations that prosecutors claimed had nothing to do with her murder.

According to police and prosecutors, Avery fatally shot Halbach in his garage, dismembered and then burned her body in a pit next to his trailer. Investigators recovered charred human remains, namely bone, from Avery’s burn pit and a burn barrel. However, there was also evidence of a second burn location just over half a mile from Avery’s trailer. The Manitowoc County quarry is about a quarter mile from what used to be a back entrance to the salvage yard; that’s where investigators recovered another burn pile containing possible human pelvic bone fragments.

Avery’s trial attorneys theorized that the quarry bones were evidence that Halbach’s body was burned somewhere other than the Avery property. Prosecutor Ken Kratz, on the other hand, downplayed the possibility that they were human, telling the jury, 'These bones in the quarry, I’m going to take 20 seconds to talk about, because the best anybody can say is that they are possible [sic] human.'

Zellner has wanted to get her hands on the suspected human pelvic bones since November 2016, when the Wisconsin Circuit Court ordered new scientific testing on certain items of evidence. In September 2017, Assistant Attorney General Fallon agreed to allow a 'microscopic examination' of the pelvic bone fragments to determine whether they’re human. For Zellner, this examination is just the first step toward proving a longtime defense theory that Halbach was killed, dismembered and burned at another location.

'[Avery’s trial attorney] Jerry Buting even said, if her body parts are over in the quarry, then Steven Avery’s innocent because the prosecution said she never left the property,' Zellner says. 'Plus, he’s not going to bring the bones from the quarry and plant them in his burn pit!'

However, soon after the parties agreed to examine the bones, the circuit court [Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz] issued a seemingly hasty decision denying Avery’s petition for post-conviction relief, despite the fact that several court-ordered tests were still pending. Examining the bones has been put on hold, pending a ruling by the Court of Appeals.

State Appellate Court will make Steven Avery free, observers believe.

What is unclear at this point in litigation is how far Wisconsin law enforcement, led by Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D), will go to protect an unlawful and wrongful conviction. 

Making a Murderer — Judge Angela Sutkiewicz Covered for Corrupt DoJ Attys, Thoman Fallon and Norman Gahn

Wisconsin's Evidence Preservation statute is a focus of
Steven Avery wrongful conviction litigation.

Updated - A judicial ruling last week is widely misreported as 'Avery loses right to appeal.' Wrong.

The circuit court stop was a necessary procedural step in which the case was heard in front of the corrupt Judge Angela Sutkiewicz. Now, the case will be appealed to state appellate court, as Steven Avery's legal team indicated last Spring, the same appellate court that granted Avery's request to remand the case to circuit court. The question facing Avery was how long Sutkiewicz was going to take to issue her corrupt decision and order.

Sutkiewicz works backwards. Judicial result first, then draft an order and opinion to support the position of corrupt Wisconsin law enforcement.

Wisconsin police did not frame Steveny Avery in a vacuum. Law enforcement did so in a terrain in which police misconduct and criminality are protected in the state judiciary.

See April 21, 2019, for example:

Waiting for the predictable adverse ruling from the lower court so that we can return to the higher court where hopefully justice is not on a permanent holiday. @lifeafterten @michellemalkin #MakingAMurderer2

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) April 21, 2019

The prosecution led by Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) is employing the legal services of corrupt state attorneys including Mark Williams, Asst Attorney General and Special Prosecutor Thomas J. Fallon, and Special Prosecutor Norman Gahn.

Madison, Wisconsin — A ruling handed down in early August in Manitowoc County Circuit Court is an adverse ruling for Steven Avery, the protagonist in Wisconsin's Making a Murderer post-conviction litigation.

The ruling was widely expected. The Aug 8 decision and order in online here.

This case will be decided in appellate court.

Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz again failed to schedule any proceedings though Sutkiewicz was ordered in a Feb 25, 2019 state appellate court ruling to "conduct any proceedings necessary to address the claims raised in the supplemental postconviction motion ... ."

Attorney Kathleen Zellner file 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, (Avery Legal Filings).

"[T]he 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.," writes Zellner in a Feb 1 legal filing.

Judge Sutkiewicz divined that the State destruction of evidence accomplished by a conspiracy that includes two of the DoJ attorneys now defending the conviction in post-conviction litigation was done in good faith.

Sutkiewicz also determined what the state purported to be a murder victim's remains was not scientifically established as a murder victim's remains, hence the State may secretly destroy the evidence, and the defendant has no recourse.

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 Zellner in her Feb. 1 legal filing.

In other words, law enforcement may hide evidence it claims is a murder victim, destroy this evidence, hide the destruction, then claim the evidence cannot be determined to be exculpatory.

Good enough for Judge Sutkiewicz who acknowledges what Zellner uncovered.


Writes Sutkiewicz: "The report of Deputy [Jeremy] Hawkins indicates that he, Sergeant Investigator Mark Wiegert, Attorney Thoman Fallon and Attorney Norman Gahn removed materials stored in evidence, and released them to the Halbach family," (p 2).
---
Can you imagine if Fallon and Gahn had to explain themselves as witnesses in open court, had Sutkiewicz held proceedings to determine the status of claims of potential exculpatory value of the remains that law enforcement illegally destroyed? How about an examination of Fallon and Gahn's motives to determine good faith?

Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul continues to allow these two DoJ attorneys who disregarded Wisconsin's Evidence Preservation statute to argue this post-conviction case, though their conduct is suspect and worthy of a criminal investigation in itself.

Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz covered for Thoman Fallon and Norman Gahn, who along with a host of Wisconsin law enforcement are a criminal element.


In the coming weeks, the Wisconsin population may learn what a Brady motion violation is, and why the state's Brady violations should also result in vacating this wrongful conviction.

Further, as the Wisconsin DoJ and local law enforcement are incapable of policing themselves, surely a FBI probe is needed here in Wisconsin.

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.

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:

Avery Update: The court will be hearing from us this week. The deeper we dig the more deception we uncover. I guess they do not realize the whole world is watching. ⁦@lifeafterten⁩ ⁦@michellemalkin⁩ ⁦@Newsweek⁩ ⁦#MakingaMurderer https://t.co/EGXlKYwY8o

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) April 7, 2019

Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul Is Promoting a 'Mockery of Justice' in Making a Murderer Case

Above, attorney Kathleen Zellner is shown walking with
innocent people for whom she and her legal team have won
exoneration and freedom. The world-renown attorney
faces perhaps her biggest challenge yet against corrupt
Wisconsin law enforcement, and a state judiciary hostile
to civil rights and stacked with corrupt jurists biased in favor
of police. Zellner has won a worldwide following of
admirers who object to the imprisonment of people known
to be innocent.

Innocent awaits ruling from corrupt county circuit court

Madison, Wisconsin — A wrongfully convicted man, Steven Avery, is awaiting a state circuit court ruling on his motion for an evidentiary hearing, and a new trial.

The Feb 25, 2019 appellate court order mandating "any proceedings necessary to address [Avery's] claims" points to a hearing after briefing at the circuit court to which the case had been sent back.

No such proceedings have been ordered to this date.
 ---
Steven Avery's story is abject demonstration of the determination of law enforcement to work against innocents, and the incapacity of Wisconsin society — corporate media, police, courts, bureaucracies, elected representatives and many citizens — to even acknowledge the perverse efforts of the Wisconsin Dept of Justice (DoJ) now led by Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D), to keep innocents in prison.

Kaul is working to shield criminal acts committed by Wisconsin law enforcement by blocking examination of evidence, opposing all court hearings, and promoting "finality in criminal litigation" so that police and prosecutorial misconduct are protected, and the innocent remain imprisoned, (p.4. State's Response to Defendant's Motion for New Trial Based on Alleged Youngblood Violation, March 29, 2019).

Steven Avery is featured in the Emmy-winning documentary, Making a Murderer.

Kaul has the discretion to accede to Avery's requests for transparency and open examination of evidence and state misconduct.

The case is now before Sheboygan County Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz who is expected to issue a ruling within weeks on Avery's legal motions. 

Sutkiewicz is a corrupt judge who does the work of police and prosecutors against people and the cause of truth.

Advocates for truth in the Avery case expect their efforts to be won in state appellate court after an anticipated adverse ruling by Sutkiewicz.

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

State of Wisconsin Criminality 

In its late-March legal filing, the DoJ argues only procedural objections to Avery's charges of bad-faith state 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 criminality and lawlessness in litigation, the State's conduct is striking in its 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 refers to the DoJ post-conviction 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, and is defending his own misconduct.

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 and other advocates for the innocent Avery argued in her Feb. 1 legal filing:

The entire #CorruptiwocCounty case against Steven was based on a house of cards composed of lies, deceptions, fabrications, planting, hiding & destroying of evidence, smoke, mirrors, & the distractions of drugged out narcissistic ex-DA. No wonder they can't keep story straight. https://t.co/KYN3BQ22sK

— Lloyd R Bass II (@lloydbassII) April 13, 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.

Wisconsin Keeps Innocents in Prison — Knowingly, in Disregard of Truth

Wisconsin's Dept of Justice will decide if it will pursue truth
in post-conviction litigation of two men wrongfully
convicted, featured in Making a Murderer.

Madison, Wisconsin — There is a waiting game in progress in Wisconsin. The stakes are life-and-death.

Wisconsin is waiting for an answer to grave questions.

Will new Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) work to shine light on an injustice, two wrongful convictions featured in the Making a Murderer docuseries?

Will Kaul defend the indefensible course of action of Wisconsin, blocking and delaying action on the product of police misconduct, what any rational observer knows is the wrongful conviction of two men by corrupt Wisconsin law enforcement?

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

Will Kaul act in accordance with case law, the United States Constitution and the cause of justice? I have no idea. Noone does.

Zellner's latest motion is the first legal filing new AG @JoshKaulWI has had power with which to influence the state's reaction. Be interesting to see if any early lines are drawn. #MakingAMurderer

— James Didcock (@51kikey) January 28, 2019

But I have lived in Wisconsin all my life.

I know public officials have a deep capacity to act from perceived concerns of convenience and ease of career, a Wisconsin commitment that would shame the worst of Oklahoma, Georgia and the rest of the deep south.

Thanks for the support. #MakingAMurderer #TruthWins https://t.co/aYlxpbDL0B

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) January 29, 2019

Here's a link to the motion Jan 24, 2019.

Now, we wait. But Steven Avery is not the only one on trial. Josh Kaul is on trial every bit as much.

From Kelly Wynne in Newsweek:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Appleton Post-Crescent reports:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Democrat-led Wisconsin Dept of Justice Is Terrified of Evidence Hearing in Making a Murderer Case

Eugene Higgins, The Black Cloud, oil on canvas,
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Democrats Block Public Light on Police Misconduct

Madison, Wisconsin — Misstatements, defamation, and refusal to address merits of Steven Avery's legal quest for a second exoneration define Democrat-led Dept of Justice misconduct in post-conviction litigation in State of Wisconsin v. Steven A. Avery, (Appeal Number 2017AP002288).

Unreported in Wisconsin corporate media is the fact the DOJ has gone to unprecedented lengths to block a hearing on law enforcement misconduct that helped frame two innocent Wisconsin men. The State strategy is to delay, defame and make political appeals to corrupt judges and other Wisconsin Democrats who have made the state the worst place to be innocent.

"If Mr. Avery's conviction truly has integrity it will withstand the scrutiny of an evidentiary hearing. Without such scrutiny the question of the integrity and fairness of Mr. Avery's trial hangs like a dark cloud over the Wisconsin criminal justice system," writes Avery attorney, Kathleen Zellner in his Aug 2021 petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, (p. 9).

Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were convicted of first-degree homicide in Wisconsin in 2007 for the murder of a young photographer, Teresa Halbach.

Avery is appealing to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in post-conviction litigation, seeking a new trial or an evidentiary heating in his August 2021 petition.

Since assuming office as attorney general in 2019, Democrat Joshua Kaul has acted perversely in opposition to requested hearings on evidence, garnering disbelief from advocates for the wrongfully convicted and human rights activists.

Kaul is defending the bad work of the odious Ken Kratz, who admits numerous pathologies during his tenure as Calumet County District Attorney to explain away sexual and ethical misconduct in office, before being driven from office, and later resigning his license to practice law in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin attorney Jerome F. Buting has been practicing law here for 40 years. Buting has seen a lot in his practice.

But even Buting was apparently shocked by the conduct of the Democrat Dept of Justice — defying fairness and any sense that a defendant should obtain legal recourse to misconduct — blocking an evidentiary hearing.

Writes Buting on social media after the DOJ penned a bizarre response to Avery's petition before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a DOJ reponse since publicly rebutted by Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, devastating the DOJ.

WI’s phobia of an evidentiary hearing in Avery’s case can only be because they know truth would be revealed. Better to cover up #corruptiwoc than seek real justice. But it will only increase public distrust of American justice. #makingamurderer #illusionofjustice #brokensystem

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) September 9, 2021

State’s response to Avery’s @ZellnerLaw petition opposes SCOW review, claiming SA was not treated differently because his case was “the subject of a television show.”
Really? In no other case has WI fought so desperately to avoid any evidentiary hearing. https://t.co/xa4AdS69zX

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) September 9, 2021

It would be difficult for the Wisconsin Judiciary to fall any lower than it has.

The Wisconsin Judiciary has demonstrated that as a branch of government it is no longer an impartial body. Wisconsin courts can be counted on to take the side of corrupt police and dishonest prosecutors no matter how blatant the misconduct in criminal justice litigation.

It is expected in the innocence community that the Democratic-aligned appellate judges — Lisa S. Neubauer and Jeffrey O. Davis — would brush aside state misconduct 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, so Party functionaries on the bench and other branches are trying to bury Steven Avery.

Moreover, in the Avery case, Kaul's mother, Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager (2003-2007), was deep into covering for Manitowoc County's misconduct after the first wrongful conviction of Avery. Attorney General Kaul is covering for his Mother's old flacking for crooked police.

Wisconsin's evidence preservation law

One illustration of the DOJ and Democratic judges' perfidy concerns the State's returning the murder victim's remains to the Halbach family, a law enforcement scheme revealed when Avery sought to conduct DNA testing, and found out the bones had been destroyed without notice to him, in violation of Wisconsin's evidence preservation law.

Flaunting the evidence preservation law, in 2011 Calumet County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Hawkins, Mark Wiegert,and DoJ Attorneys Thomas Fallon and Norman Gahn secretly sneaked the remains of Ms. Halbach, and illegally transported the bones to the Halbach family.

The State previously suggested to the Appellate Court in its Dec. 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 [illegally] without notice to Mr. Avery or his counsel," notes Zellner in her Feb. 2019 legal filing.

In other words, law enforcement hid evidence it claims is the murder victim, destroyed this evidence, hid the destruction, lied about the destruction, then claimed the evidence cannot be determined to be exculpatory because it has been destroyed.

In short, the State acted in bad faith at every turn.

Even the prosecutor-biased Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz acknowledges in 2020 what Zellner uncovered: Writes Sutkiewicz: "The report of Deputy [Jeremy] Hawkins indicates that he, Sergeant Investigator Mark Wiegert, Attorney Thoman Fallon and Attorney Norman Gahn removed materials stored in evidence, and released them to the Halbach family," (p 2).

The Appellate Court hearing the case in July 2021, however, divined, "The Halbach family requested these bone fragments for purposes  of  its  own—likely  for  closure ... ."

Yet, even the DOJ's Thoman Fallon and Norman Gahn who implemented the scheme disconfirm this attempt by the Court, contriving a State-Halbach family scheme, to cover for illegal evidence destruction.

Fallon and Gahn argue that the evidence they helped destroy was "inexplicably released" from the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department’s evidence control unit, March 29, 2019 legal filing, (p 13).

Fallon and Gahn, in effect, assert Fallon and Gahn cannot explain why they released and destroyed the evidence, and state nothing about the Court-invented 'family did it' offering by the appellate court.

This 'Halbach family did it' invention appears nothing so much as a public signal to the Halbach family to speak up and get on board with the lie of moment.

"Inexplicably released" is of course a disingenuous characterization for the illegal destruction of evidence that not only implicates Fallon, Gahn and Wiegert, but also is a clear violation of the Due Process Clause, and is a Brady violation under Wisconsin judicial doctrine.

Lost in all the Court and DOJ lies is the fact an innocent man is litigating for his very life.