Netflix, are you out there? Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery was just granted an appeal: He’ll have his case re-examined by a Wisconsin circuit court—and that could mean a new trial. (And maybe a third season?)
ICYMI, the first season of the docuseries (which opened the floodgates for even more Netflix true crime) followed the case of Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who were both found guilty of the rape and murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005. They’ve both maintained their innocence, but have since been serving life sentences. A judge overturned Dassey’s conviction in 2016, but an appeals court then reversed the decision and Dassey’s lawyers took the case to the Supreme Court. The second season examined the post-conviction process and impact for Avery and Dassey.
According to Newsweek, the motion to appeal was filed based on a collection of possible human bones, which was said to be in the possession of the Wisconsin Department of Justice. When Avery’s lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, filed a motion to have the bones tested for DNA, she found the bones had been returned to Teresa Halbach’s family and, according to the state, had never been tested for DNA.
What does that all mean, though? Basically, if evidence surrounding the bones can be submitted, Avery could get a second trial and his team would be able to present new evidence that’s been discovered since the first trial (i.e., a bullet found in Avery’s garage or the blood splatter and flakes found in Halbach’s Toyota Rav4, as revealed in Netflix’s second season).
