'Making A Murderer': 5 Things We Learned From Steven Avery's Lawyer's Twitter Q&A

Tom Nicholson
Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

From Esquire

As you know, Steven Avery's conviction for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach is far from a closed case: we've had two seasons of Making A Murderer to ruminate on exactly how safe his conviction was, and since Kathleen Zellner burst onto the scene it's looked more wobbly than ever.

Zellner, Avery's lawyer and the breakout star of the second season of Making A Murderer, held an extremely thorough Twitter Q&A on Tuesday running through pretty much any question anyone could have about where the legal process is up to, how Avery's doing in prison, and how those concerned can assist with the case. Here are the five most interesting things we learned.

Your amateur sleuthing is actually helpful

Deerstalkers on, truthers.

Kathleen Zellner is bang into true crime docs

If you're unfamiliar, Dream/Killer is another wrongful conviction-based doc following the case of Ryan Ferguson who was sentenced to 40 years for murder based on one person's memories of a night which could also just have been a dream - a case which Zellner launched herself into. I, Witness is another Zellner case about the slow unravelling of a father's confession to the killing of his three-year-old daughter.

Ken Kratz got dunked on repeatedly

The special prosecutor who oversaw the original cases against Avery and Brandon Dassey remains a favourite piñata. On a scale of one to 10, how grimy is Ken Kratz? "Wouldn't know. Maybe you'd have to swab him." How much do you want to punch Ken Kratz in the face? "I wouldn't want to damage his face any further." On a scale of one to 10, how sweaty is Ken Kratz right now? "Instead of 1-10, maybe we should measure it in buckets."

An Alford Plea hasn't and won't enter the equation

An Alford Plea is an odd legal gambit: it's a guilty plea, but it allows a defendant to maintain their innocence while acknowledging that the weight of evidence placed in front of a jury would likely be enough to see them found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Zellner says it's off the table for Avery, though.

Zellner wants the bones from the quarry - but it's good that things are moving slowly on that front

A reexamination of the bones found in the Manitowoc Gravel Pit is critical to showing whether Zellner's belief that whoever did kill Halbach moved her bones from there to Avery's property. In the original trial it was ruled that Halbach's body was burned in Avery's pit, but Zellner filed a motion in January to have the bone fragments apparently given to Halbach's family looked at again. That it hasn't been dismissed yet is encouraging.

('You Might Also Like',)