Making a Murderer convicted killer Steven Avery has broken his long silence from behind bars, maintaining his innocence in the 2005 murder of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach.
“The real killer is still out there,” Avery wrote in a three-page letter to Milwaukee news reporter Colleen Henry, responding to the WISN 12 News journalist’s interview request. “Who is he stalking now? I am really innocent of this case and that is the truth!!! The truth will set me free!!!!!!!”
Avery and his new team of attorneys have been battling for his freedom in the wake of the hit Netflix documentary, which raised serious questions about the investigation and trial that led to his 2007 conviction.
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In his handwritten letter from prison, the 53-year-old Avery asked Henry to “do an investigation of the sheriff of Manitowoc County,” one of several authorities whose methods and motivations have been called into question in the whodunit frenzy of interest in Avery’s case. At his original trial, Avery’s defense lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting argued his rights to due process were violated by cops who’d been out to get him over his $36 million lawsuit for a previous wrongful rape conviction—for which Avery served 18 years behind bars—planted evidence, and several other miscarriages of justice.
Avery’s ex-fiancee Jodi Stachowski, a figure of support in the docuseries, made a blistering appearance on Nancy Grace last week calling him a “monster” who she believes is guilty of the Halbach murder.
Word of her stunning denouncement seems to have reached Avery, who is serving a life sentence without parole. “How much money Jodi get to talk bad!” he wrote.
According to WISN 12 News, Avery said he’s willing to submit to an interview but is prohibited from doing so by the Department of Corrections. The station also said that Avery and his family members, many of whom are seen backing his innocence in Making a Murderer, wrote to WISN 12 News since his conviction but “this was the first communication since the documentary.”
Meanwhile, the state Department of Justice urged a judge to deny Avery bond in his latest appeals claim, which argues several points that Making a Murderer fanatics have latched onto since the Netflix docuseries premiere. His lawyers say he deserves a new trial because his property was illegally searched and that, in a revelation that came to light last month, a juror was compromised and pressured into voting guilty.
The State of Wisconsin insisted Avery should not be released on bond because he poses a flight risk and “has nothing left to lose.”
