Unmaking a Murderer
June 9, 2017 11:55 AM   Subscribe

Steven Avery's Lawyer Claims Teresa Halbach Killed by Ex
On Wednesday, Kathleen Zellner, attorney for Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery, added one more twist to an already confusing case by pointing to Halbach's ex-boyfriend, Ryan Hillegas, as the murderer. In a 1,272-page motion [excerpt] filed to the state of Wisconsin, Zellner contends that her client deserves a new trial "in the interests of justice." Avery, who was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in Halbach's 2005 death, is currently serving life in prison.
posted by kirkaracha (7 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well, it's not like that isn't usually the answer.
posted by Artw at 12:31 PM on June 9, 2017 [5 favorites]


Dassey still isn't out, right?
posted by anazgnos at 12:33 PM on June 9, 2017


Dassey still isn't out, right?

Originally read that as Disney, and my mind ran amuck with an animated feature about murder and court drama and all.

Yes, singing anthropomorphic murder implements, happy with their role in life, as long as they are used, used well and often....

(Welcome to my head.)
posted by Samizdata at 1:09 PM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


His testimony was very suspicious and quite a few of us who discussed it in the FanFare thread thought he might be the killer. I was pretty critical of the filmmakers for all the things they didn't show us, and the documentary told us nothing about whether the ex-boyfriend had provided the police with an alibi. But we have this from the link:
"She also noted that Hillegas doesn't have an alibi for October 31, 2005, the date of the murder. She drew more evidence from his phone records, which showed a 17-hour gap from October 31 to November 1."
As far as I'm concerned, that he's the ex-boyfriend, that he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her (even though it was recently), that it just happened to be him out of many people who led the police to the Avery junkyard as part of the volunteer search, that his affect on the stand was weird, and now this -- that he doesn't have an alibi and mysteriously has a 17-hour gap in his cellphone that coincides with the murder -- well, that's compelling.

I'm strongly persuaded. He's the obvious suspect and in any other murder investigation, that he's the ex and he didn't have an alibi would have immediately made him the main suspect. But, no, the Sheriff's office was determined to go after Avery because of the past embarrassment. I don't think we need to assume it was the police who planted the evidence; it's enough that they were extremely biased and concocted a crazy and tenuous theory of the murder to go after Avery.

We still have the weirdness (not in the documentary) of Avery's conversation with his girlfriend about and during the garage cleaning and just Avery's general skeeviness. But I still think it's much more likely to have been the ex-boyfriend.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:14 PM on June 9, 2017 [6 favorites]


Dassey still isn't out, right?

Originally read that as Disney, and my mind ran amuck with an animated feature about murder and court drama and all.

Yes, singing anthropomorphic murder implements, happy with their role in life, as long as they are used, used well and often....


I read that as Disney too. Presbyopia can do some strange things. Just remember, one of the best known classic Disney animated movies is about a single mother who is gunned down by a stranger, leaving her son to be raised by a previously absentee father, so this sort of thing does happen.
posted by TedW at 2:10 PM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


There are so many good reasons to suspect Ryan. It is criminal neglect he was not investigated. He clearly carried a torch for Theresa and suspiciously led investigators to all their key evidence. However, this is not the outcome Zellner wanted. She promised there would be evidence that would exonerate Avery. It's very difficult to argue for a retrial. I think she's hoping that this public accusation will lead to his accomplices cutting deals with her, so that she gets that evidence. It's basically a Hail Mary.

That Dassey has not been released is tragic. There's no good explanation.
posted by xammerboy at 5:10 AM on June 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


Just the fact that Hillegas wasn't properly investigated means that Avery did not get a fair trial. I find the US justice system difficult to understand, so I won't make predictions about whether or not this tactic will work for Zellner. But the principles of justice haven't been served here and I hope Zellner can push for a more honest result.
posted by harriet vane at 8:56 PM on June 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


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