Netflix has had a great year in original content, and with just a few days left before 2016, it's sneaking in one more sure-to-be-talked about series that might send chills down your spine. Netflix's Making a Murderer documentary revolves around Steven Avery, a man currently spending life in prison. In 1985, Steven Avery was wrongfully convicted of rape. After spending 18 years in prison, he was exonerated through DNA testing that was presented. Two years later in 2007, Avery was arrested and later convicted of murdering Teresa Halbach. The show’s true-crime documentary style will approach the conviction and crime from all different angles, and might leave you wondering where Steven Avery is now.
At 44 years old, Avery was arrested for the death of Halbach. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Halbach went missing on the afternoon of Halloween in 2005. Her car was later found in Avery Auto Salvage yard, a junkyard owned by his family, apparently hidden by brush and other car parts. Halbach had worked with Avery before, photographing vehicles, which is supposedly why she was with him the day she went missing.
In 2007, Avery was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to life prison with no chance of parole. Unlike the case from 1985, Avery maintains his innocence hasn't had the chance to be exonerated. In fact, in 2010, a judge denied Avery’s request for a retrial. According to Lectric Law Library, a retrial is “a completed trial that has been set aside and tried again from scratch.” A new trial is usually warranted by some type of attorney misconduct. According to NBC15.com, attorneys for Avery argued that the 2005 trial had been blemished by what he alleged were multiple “procedural errors,” one being that a juror was dismissed once deliberations had begun.
There was one judge who was to make the decision whether Avery would be granted another trial or not. According to the same NBC15.com article, the judge who made the decision says that the court used “it’s best discretion” in the situation, and it wasn’t enough to call for a retrial. In 2011, Avery filed a complaint claiming when his home was searched in connection with Halbach's death in 2005, investigators allegedly used a faulty search warrant. Those accused in the complaint declined to comment when asked by the Wisconsin State Journal. In the meantime Avery continues to serve his life sentence in Waupun, Wisconsin, with no option for parole.
Images: Photo courtesy of Netflix, Inc.
