This is the latest installment of Making a Murderer fan attention affecting real people’s lives outside of the Netflix sphere.
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Nearly 200,000 people have signed online petitions seeking a pardon for Steven Avery, whose his case is the subject of “Making a Murderer”. If the White House petition received 100,000 signatures by January 16, then the government has to respond publicly. But more importantly, the documentary points out the possibility that evidence was planted – a vehicle, a key and Avery’s blood – on Avery’s property in order to get him convicted of the Halbach murder.
Avery was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
A new juror in the controversial Steven Avery trial, documented in Netflix’s new series Making a Murderer, has come forward to admit that he or she believes Avery was framed for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
“There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey”, the petition continues.
The petition is addressed to President Barack Obama and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and directly cites the popular Netflix series. DNA evidence later proved he was innocent of the crimes, and in 2003 his conviction was overturned.
A similar petition was started through Change.org, and has over 159,000 signatures.
The co-creators said that one of the jurors in the Steven Avery case disagreed with the guilty verdict, and felt that the Manitowoc, Wisconsin authorities framed Avery.
A Change.org petition argues for the exoneration of Avery “at once by Presidential pardon”, and that “Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable”. Avery had reportedly been attempting to sue the county for $36 million over his wrongful conviction when he was re-arrested in 2005.
But there’s a problem: Obama can’t pardon Avery or Dassey because they’re state prisoners, and the president’s pardon power is constitutionally limited to federal crimes. And what they told us was … they feared for their personal safety.
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Making a Murderer, which shines a light on the many flaws in the justice system, has spawned an outcry over Avery and Dassey’s cases.
