MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Steven Avery has filed a new motion, seeking scientific testing relating to evidence in the car of murder victim Teresa Halbach.
Avery is serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of Halbach, a freelance photographer. Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey was also convicted. Their cases received worldwide attention with the 2015 release of the Netflix series “Making A Murderer.”
The 11-page motion, filed Thursday, asks for testing for “touch DNA evidence in the vehicle.”
“The untested items of evidence that Mr. Avery requests to conduct testing on are as follows: the driver and passenger seats, the dashboard, the near shift, the steering wheel, the interior and exterior hood latch release, the broken blinker light (Item A15). the hood prop, the battery cable, the battery, the rear cargo area, the interior and exterior cargo door, the lug wrench (Item A16). and the license plate,” the motion states. “The touch DNA testing performed on the items described above has the potential of identifying a third-party who may have committed the murder of Ms. Halbach, or in the alternative, has the potential to further implicate Mr. Avery in her murder.”
Avery’s attorneys contend this testing would be allowed under a 2007 order by the judge who was then handling the case, and this type of testing has not been requested previously.
Prosecutors have not responded to the motion.
The new motion is in addition to an appeal pending before the state appeals court. In that case, Avery’s attorney is appealing a ruling denying him a new trial or hearing on claims there is an alternate suspect actually responsible for Halbach’s death.
Prosecutors have a deadline next month to file their reply brief in that proceeding. It will likely be several months before a decision is published.
Dassey has no appeals pending. His latest appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
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