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Steven Avery Filed Legal Documents Claiming His Brother May Have Committed the Halbach Murder

By Cindy Davis | Streaming | January 6, 2016 |

By Cindy Davis | Streaming | January 6, 2016 |


The Making a Murderer saga grows more twisted and ugly by the day. If by now you haven’t either watched the Netflix documentary series or at least heard something about the Steven Avery trials and convictions, you’ve clearly holed up in an underground bunker, waiting for the rest of your fellow Americans to wipe each other out with all their “constitutionally guaranteed” guns. But that’s another story, and today we’re talking about the latest revelation about the Wisconsin man who may have twice been railroaded for crimes he didn’t commit.

Yesterday, MaM filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos announced live on The Today Show that one of the jurors who sat on the Teresa Halbach murder trial contacted them and alleged that there had been vote trading (guilty/not guilty) deals taking place in the jury room, and that the juror had voted to convict Steven Avery of murder out of fear for his/her personal safety. The juror further stated a belief that Avery had been framed for the crime by law enforcement, and if Avery is granted a new trial, it should be held as far away from Wisconsin as possible. While most people who watched Making a Murderer have come to the conclusion that the Avery trial was a hot mess and possibly rigged, that a juror came forward with such information was still jaw-dropping, and it looks like with this case, the hits just keep on coming.

TMZ (yeah, I know) claims to have obtained legal documents filed by Steven in 2009, after his conviction. As those who watched the Netflix series know, following his second conviction and incarceration, Avery has been acting as his own legal defense (The Innocence Project is again looking into his case as of December 2015), and TMZ claims that Avery pointed a finger directly at his own family, specifically his brothers Charles and Earl.

“According to the docs, which Steven filed in 2009 after his conviction, brother Charles’ criminal conduct and actions are even more problematic. He was charged with sexually assaulting his wife by holding her down and trying to strangle her with a phone cord before having intercourse with her.

The docs say Charles also had a history of aggression toward women who visited the family’s junkyard. One woman, who was there to retrieve her car that had been towed, complained to cops she was afraid of Charles because he was aggressively pursuing her … sending flowers and money to her home, calling her incessantly and showing up at her doorstep…there was another incident in which a woman who bought a car part from the junkyard was harassed by Charles, who asked her on dates and showed up at her house. Another woman claimed Charles had repeatedly driven by her house and would tell her on the phone he had seen her in her bathing suit as he drove by.

…according to the docs, all of these women were allegedly harassed by Charles within a month of the time Teresa Halbach went missing. Steven also says his 2 brothers had a motive to frame him because they were fighting over the family business and were jealous he was on the verge of a multi-million dollar settlement for being wrongfully convicted of sexual assault.” (TMZ)

As Dustin already pointed out, the Avery family — specifically Steven — has an ugly history; hearing his two brothers share in that isn’t terribly surprising, nor is him looking to point out other possible suspects as he wasn’t able to do during the court case. Regardless, if these accusations are true, it’s just another failure by law enforcement and the prosecution to fully investigate the Halbach murder.

Cindy Davis, (Twitter)