Wisconsin (WBAY) – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has no plans to pardon Steven Avery and says its “case closed” until new evidence is presented.
This comes after a change.org petition called for presidential pardon of Avery, to which the White House responded was only something the state governor can do.
Gov. Walker tells Action 2 News that he’ll stick with his policy of not pardoning anyone, and has concerns about “Making a Murderer.”
“People watching a TV series calling for a pardon without having little or no knowledge of major pieces of evidence missing–is precisely why I haven’t done any pardons up until now, and I don’t plan on doing any in the future,” said Walker. “Documentaries tend to offer kind of a balanced approach. It’s really not a documentary– it’s a TV series. This is someone who was convicted by a jury of his peers, that conviction was upheld in the Court of Appeals and in the State Supreme Court.”
“Unless they can bring evidence forward that proves otherwise, the courts are going to not act again.”
However, a new team of lawyers standing behind Avery plan to do just that. In a statement to Action 2 News, Kathleen T. Zellner said, “We are continuing to examine every aspect of Mr. Avery’s case and all of his legal options. We are confident Mr. Avery’s conviction will be vacated when we present the new evidence and results of our work to the appropriate court.”
In a tweet sent from his official account Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker urged viewers of “Making a Murderer” against “jumping to conclusions” when it comes to the Steven Avery case.
“Viewers of Netflix series on Steven Avery should read unanimous Court of Appeals opinion b4 jumping to conclusions,” said the post from the @GovWalker account.
Gov. Walker links to the opinion filed August 24, 2011. Avery’s appeal argued that the court made an error in denying a motion to suppress evidence from the sixth search of his Manitowoc County trailer during the investigation into the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, for which he was convicted of 1st Degree Intentional Homicide.
The appeal also argues the court erred in barring his defense from presenting third-party liability evidence and that the dismissal of a deliberating juror violated his “fundamental rights.”
A State of Wisconsin Appeals Court denied Avery’s appeal. “We reject Avery’s challenges. We affirm the judgments of conviction and post-conviction order,” says the ruling.
CLICK HERE to read the full Court of Appeals opinion.
The governor’s tweet comes as viewers of the 10-part Netflix series urge him to pardon Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, each convicted and sentenced to prison for Halbach’s murder. Gov. Walker has said he would not pardon Avery.
A national obsession since its December release, “Making a Murderer” makes a case that Avery was framed for Halbach’s murder. At the time of Avery’s arrest, he had a $36 million civil lawsuit pending against Manitowoc County for his 18-year imprisonment for a rape he did not commit.
