APPLETON, Wis. (AP) – A lawyer on Wednesday asked for a new trial for a Wisconsin man convicted in a case profiled in the “Making a Murderer” Netflix series.
Steven Avery’s conviction was based on planted evidence and false testimony, attorney Kathleen Zellner says in a 1,272-page document she filed. She contends Avery deserves a new trial “in the interests of justice” and because “the real controversy was never tried,” USA Today Network-Wisconsin (http://post.cr/2rCtIju ) reported.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment.
Avery, 54, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the 2005 death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County.
Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, confessed to detectives he helped his uncle rape and kill Halbach at the Avery family’s salvage yard. A judge overturned Dassey’s conviction in August, ruling that investigators took advantage of the then-16-year-old Dassey’s cognitive disabilities and tricked him into confessing. State attorneys are appealing that decision.