Avery lawyers make new appeal to SCOWis

Posted at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, August 26,2021

The Brillion News

MADISON - Attorneys appealing the conviction of Steven Avery for the murder of St. John native Teresa Halbach have filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Wisconsin (SCOWis) to challenge a decision of the state Court of Appeals rejecting an appeal.

The appeal is essentially based on three arguments:

1. That the courts should have held a hearing on new evidence before dismissing the introduction of the new evidence.

2. That the prosecution did not allow, as new evidence, information suppressed by prosecutors for 12 years.

3. That the courts acted in bad faith by not holding a hearing on evidence that was destroyed.

The first item was, the new petition claims, evidence that Avery's trial lawyer gave ineffective assistance.

The second item is based on the prosecution hiding a police report with evidence favorable to Avery.

The third item is based on the state's destruction of contested evidence that Avery attorney Kathleen Zellner claims could have helped Avery, sand violated Avery's right to due process.

[Photo of Atty Kathleen Zellner>>]

The appeals counsel said the appeal court imposed an unreasonable burden on new evidence.

"The Court of Appeals grossly misinterpreted the [prosecution's] forensic evidence," the petition filed on August 25 claims. "A court of appeals is certainly not qualified to act as an expert on scientific evidence."

A complete story on this new filing with the Supreme Court will appear in the September 2 print edition of THE BRILLION NEWS. This is only a brief of that story.