Steven Avery / Teresa Halbach

On July 29, 1985, Penny Beerntsen was attacked while jogging along the shore of Lake Michigan near Two Rivers, Wisconsin. She was dragged into a wooded area, sexually assaulted, and choked until she lost consciousness ^[1][2]. Despite having an alibi supported by a timestamped receipt and sixteen eyewitnesses placing him forty miles away in Green Bay, Steven Avery was convicted of attempted murder, first-degree sexual assault, and false imprisonment on December 14, 1985, after four hours of jury deliberation ^[1][3]. The conviction rested heavily on Beerntsen's eyewitness identification, which was later shown to have been influenced by suggestive police procedures ^[3]. Avery was sentenced to thirty-two years in prison ^[1][2].

Avery spent eighteen years incarcerated before the Wisconsin Innocence Project intervened. In April 2002, attorneys obtained a court order for DNA testing of thirteen pubic hairs recovered from the victim at the time of the crime ^[3]. The results excluded Avery and instead matched Gregory Allen, a man already serving a sixty-year sentence for a separate sexual assault committed after the attack on Beerntsen ^[1][3]. On September 11, 2003, a joint motion to dismiss the charges was granted, and Avery walked free ^[1][2][3]. His case became a catalyst for reform: Wisconsin passed the Criminal Justice Reform Bill in 2005, implementing improved eyewitness identification protocols and interrogation procedures ^[1]. Avery filed a thirty-six-million-dollar civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County, former Sheriff Thomas Kocourek, and former District Attorney Denis Vogel ^[1][2].

On October 31, 2005, while the civil lawsuit was still pending, freelance photographer Teresa Halbach visited the Avery family's auto salvage yard to photograph a minivan being listed for sale on AutoTrader magazine ^[1][4]. She was never seen alive again. On November 5, Halbach's vehicle, a Toyota RAV4, was discovered concealed in the salvage yard ^[1][4]. Investigators found Avery's blood inside the vehicle, and bone fragments identified as Halbach's were recovered from a burn pit near his residence ^[1][4]. A key to Halbach's vehicle was found in Avery's bedroom by officers from the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, the same agency named in his civil lawsuit, despite an earlier agreement that Manitowoc County personnel would have limited involvement in the investigation to avoid conflicts of interest ^[1][5].

Avery was arrested on November 11, 2005, and charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse ^[1][4]. He settled his civil lawsuit for four hundred thousand dollars in February 2006, using the funds for his legal defense ^[1][2]. The prosecution was led by Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz. After a twenty-seven-day trial, on March 18, 2007, a jury found Avery guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and illegal possession of a firearm ^[1][4]. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole ^[1][4].

The case of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, added another deeply troubling dimension. In February and March 2006, investigators interrogated the sixteen-year-old four times over forty-eight hours ^[6]. Dassey had significant cognitive limitations: testing indicated he performed at the level of an average six-to-twelve-year-old, his verbal IQ was in the lowest category, and he had a profound language-based learning disability ^[6]. He was enrolled in special education classes ^[6]. During the interrogations, which used the Reid technique and were conducted without an attorney present though with his mother's consent, Dassey confessed to witnessing and participating in Halbach's sexual assault and murder alongside his uncle ^[6][7]. He later recanted, claiming investigators had fed him the details. Critically, no physical evidence placing Dassey at the crime scene was ever found despite thorough forensic searches ^[6].

Dassey's trial began on April 16, 2007, before a jury from Dane County. On April 25, after four hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse ^[6]. On August 2, 2007, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in 2048, when he would be fifty-nine years old ^[6].

The cases attracted limited national attention until December 18, 2015, when Netflix released Making a Murderer, a ten-episode documentary series directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos ^[5]. The filmmakers, who had first learned of Avery's story from a 2005 New York Times article, spent ten years documenting the cases ^[5]. The series examined allegations of police misconduct, prosecutorial overreach, evidence planting, and coerced confessions ^[5]. Public response was enormous: a White House petition seeking pardons for Avery and Dassey garnered over 128,000 signatures, though the White House noted presidential authority does not extend to state convictions ^[5]. The series earned a ninety-eight percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and won four Primetime Emmy Awards in 2016 ^[5]. A second season premiered on October 19, 2018 ^[5].

The documentary's impact extended into the courts. In August 2016, federal Magistrate Judge William E. Duffin overturned Dassey's conviction, ruling his confession had been involuntary under the totality of the circumstances, citing the investigators' promises, Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of counsel ^[6][7]. In June 2017, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling ^[7]. However, on December 8, 2017, the full Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed course in a 4-3 decision. Judge David Hamilton wrote for the majority that Dassey had spoken freely after receiving Miranda warnings. Judge Ilana Rovner, in dissent, called the outcome "a profound miscarriage of justice" ^[7][8]. On June 25, 2018, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Dassey's case, leaving his conviction intact ^[7][9].

Attorney Kathleen Zellner, known for her work on wrongful conviction cases, joined Avery's defense in January 2016. On June 7, 2017, she filed a 1,272-page motion alleging planted evidence and false testimony ^[1]. When that motion was summarily denied, Zellner pursued further appeals, arguing among other things that bone fragments potentially containing Halbach's DNA had been returned to her family before defense testing could be conducted, constituting destruction of exculpatory evidence ^[1]. She also sought a Denny motion to introduce evidence that a third party may have committed the murder ^[10]. On January 15, 2025, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected all three of Zellner's appellate arguments, finding her alternate-suspect theory "speculative" ^[10]. On May 21, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Avery's petition for review in a one-sentence order ^[11]. Zellner has indicated she will next file a habeas corpus petition in federal court ^[11].

As of 2025, Avery remains incarcerated at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, maintaining his innocence ^[1][4]. Dassey remains at Oshkosh Correctional Institution with no parole eligibility until 2048 ^[6][9]. Attorneys including Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, who originally represented Avery at trial, have publicly urged Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers to grant Dassey clemency, but the governor has not acted on the request ^[12]. The cases continue to generate legal scholarship, public debate, and documentary media, including the 2023 counter-documentary Convicting a Murderer ^[1].

Avery's 1985 Wrongful Conviction and Exoneration

On December 14, 1985, a Manitowoc County jury convicted Steven Avery of attempted murder, first-degree sexual assault, and false imprisonment for the July 29, 1985, attack on Penny Beerntsen ^[1][2]. The conviction relied primarily on the victim's eyewitness identification, which was later determined to have been conducted using suggestive procedures ^[2]. Avery was sentenced to thirty-two years in prison despite presenting an alibi corroborated by sixteen witnesses and a timestamped receipt placing him forty miles from the crime scene ^[1][2].

In April 2002, the Wisconsin Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of biological evidence from the crime. The results excluded Avery and identified Gregory Allen, who was by then serving a sixty-year sentence for a subsequent sexual assault ^[1][2]. On September 11, 2003, the charges against Avery were dismissed. His wrongful conviction was attributed to eyewitness misidentification and flawed forensic testimony regarding hair comparison evidence ^[2]. Avery subsequently filed a forty-two-million-dollar civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 against Manitowoc County, former Sheriff Thomas Kocourek, and former District Attorney Denis Vogel, which was settled for four hundred thousand dollars in February 2006 ^[1].

The State of Wisconsin v. Steven A. Avery (2007)

Following the disappearance of Teresa Halbach on October 31, 2005, Avery was arrested on November 11, 2005, and charged in Calumet County with first-degree intentional homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse ^[1][3]. The venue was moved from Manitowoc County to avoid conflicts of interest arising from Avery's pending civil lawsuit against the county, though Manitowoc County officers remained involved in the investigation ^[1].

The prosecution, led by Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, presented physical evidence including Avery's blood found inside Halbach's vehicle, a key to the vehicle found in Avery's bedroom, and bone fragments identified as Halbach's recovered from a burn pit ^[1][3]. The defense, led by attorneys Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, argued that evidence had been planted by Manitowoc County officers who had motive to discredit Avery and undermine his civil lawsuit ^[1][3].

On March 18, 2007, following a twenty-seven-day trial, the jury found Avery guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and illegal possession of a firearm. He was acquitted of the kidnapping, sexual assault, and corpse mutilation charges ^[1][3]. Avery was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole ^[1][3]. His conviction was upheld on direct appeal in 2011 and on further review in 2013 ^[1].

The State of Wisconsin v. Brendan R. Dassey (2007)

Brendan Dassey, Avery's sixteen-year-old nephew, was charged in March 2006 as an accessory to Halbach's murder after confessing during a series of police interrogations conducted without counsel ^[4]. Dassey had significant intellectual limitations, with a verbal IQ in the lowest category and testing showing cognitive function comparable to a six-to-twelve-year-old ^[4].

His trial commenced on April 16, 2007, before a Dane County jury. On April 25, 2007, after four hours of deliberation, he was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse ^[4]. On August 2, 2007, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole beginning in November 2048 ^[4].

Dassey v. Dittmann: Federal Habeas Challenge

Dassey's post-conviction challenge focused on the voluntariness of his confession under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. In August 2016, federal Magistrate Judge William E. Duffin of the Eastern District of Wisconsin granted Dassey's habeas petition, ruling that under the totality of the circumstances, Dassey's confession was involuntary ^[4][5]. The court cited the investigators' use of promises and assurances, Dassey's age, his intellectual disabilities, his lack of prior experience with law enforcement, and the absence of a parent during the interrogation ^[5].

In June 2017, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed Judge Duffin's ruling, finding that no reasonable court could have concluded the confession was voluntary ^[5][6]. However, on December 8, 2017, the full Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed in a 4-3 decision ^[5][7]. Judge David Hamilton, writing for the majority, held that Dassey had spoken freely after receiving and understanding Miranda warnings and with his mother's consent ^[5][7]. Judge Ilana Rovner authored a dissent describing the outcome as "a profound miscarriage of justice" ^[7].

On June 25, 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari without comment, exhausting Dassey's direct federal appellate remedies ^[5][8].

Avery's Post-Conviction Motions and Kathleen Zellner

Attorney Kathleen Zellner assumed Avery's defense in January 2016 and filed a 1,272-page post-conviction motion on June 7, 2017, alleging planted evidence, false testimony, and due process violations ^[1]. The motion was summarily denied without an evidentiary hearing on October 3, 2017 ^[1].

In February 2019, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals granted a remand to circuit court, but the circuit court again denied relief ^[1]. Zellner raised allegations that bone fragments potentially containing Halbach's DNA had been returned to the victim's family before defense testing, arguing this constituted destruction of exculpatory evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland ^[1]. She also filed a Denny motion seeking to introduce evidence of an alternate suspect, alleging a witness saw this individual pushing Halbach's vehicle into the salvage yard ^[9].

On January 15, 2025, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District 2, rejected all three of Avery's appellate arguments, finding the alternate-suspect theory speculative and insufficiently supported ^[9]. On May 21, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Avery's petition for review ^[10]. Zellner has indicated she intends to file a federal habeas corpus petition, which would be Avery's first such filing in federal court ^[10].

Dassey Clemency Efforts

With Dassey's judicial appeals exhausted, attention has turned to executive clemency. In 2019, Dassey filed a clemency petition with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, which was denied ^[11]. On March 4, 2022, attorneys Dean Strang and Jerry Buting issued a public letter urging the governor to commute Dassey's sentence, stating that "the courts have failed Brendan repeatedly and at every level" ^[11]. As of 2025, the governor has taken no action on clemency, and Dassey remains incarcerated at Oshkosh Correctional Institution ^[11].