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Making a Murderer's original lawyers discuss "right decision" in Steven Avery's appeal

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

From Digital Spy

Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, the two original lawyers for Making a Murderer's Steven Avery, have spoken about their former client winning his right to appeal in February.

A Wisconsin court has granted Avery's new lawyer Kathleen Zellner the right to have the case's evidence re-examined in circuit court, opening the possibility for a retrial.

Speaking to Metro, Buting said: "I think it was the right decision from the court of appeals to send him back.

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

"They don’t expressly say that there should be a hearing but I think it’s pretty clearly implied that there will probably be some sort of evidence based hearing in the trial court where issues [come out]."

The pair also spoke about if it would be fair if Avery was granted a retrial given all the evidence now available to the public since the release of the Netflix series.

"It’s a really good question and I think, in many ways, the publicity would present exactly the same fair trial and challenges that it did back in 2006-2007," Strang said. "That is to say, potential jurors would come to the case with preconceptions about guilt or innocence, and more importantly about facts.

"They may be very wrong, some of their factual beliefs, but that’s an unavoidable problem and one I suspect Steven Avery would welcome if you asked him today. ‘Would he like to face that problem in a retrial? I think probably he would."

Steven Avery was convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2007, but has always maintained his innocence.

In 2016, high-profile attorney Kathleen Zellner took over the case from Strang and Buting and laid out many of her findings and theories in Making a Murderer Part 2, which launched on Netflix in October 2018.

Making a Murderer Part 1 and Part 2 are now streaming on Netflix.


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