Everyone knows that old chestnut about the wheels of justice turn slowly. But unless you’ve had the misfortune of getting caught up in the system, we think Making A Murderer is the first time you’ve experienced just how slowly those wheels turn.
Back in August, Making A Murderer subject Steven Avery’s lawyer filed a motion to retest key pieces of evidence in his case. Two and a half months later, it sounds like the scope of that testing has finally been agreed upon. From the Twitter account of Avery’s lawyer Kathleen Zellner:
Agreed Testing Order entered on Monday for Steven Avery. #MakingAMurderer
— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) November 12, 2016
An Agreed Order is a written agreement submitted by the parties to a case resolving the issues between them. So in this case it represents a document worked out between Avery’s defense team and Manitowoc prosecutors on what evidence can be tested and how. We won’t know until Monday what’s exactly in the Agreed Order, but you can rely on the document appearing online moments after it appears in court databases thanks to the legions of internet sleuths following the case.
“Mr. Avery is requesting the comprehensive, thorough and most advanced forensic testing currently known for one simple reason: he is completely and totally innocent of the murder of Teresa Halbach,” Zellner said when filing her motion back in August. “Mr. Avery has already completed a series of tests that will conclusively establish his innocence in conjunction with the additional forensic tests he is seeking in this motion.”
Included in her request for new testing was the spare RAV4 jeep key found in Avery’s mobile home, various components of the RAV4 itself including the hood latch that had Avery’s DNA on it, and purple underwear recovered in the Avery scrap yard. All previously collected swabs from the trial are also being asked for. That includes the infamous RAV4 blood that Avery’s lawyers said came from a vial of blood already in law enforcement’s possession. Whether all these will be granted remains to be seen, but given Zellner’s legal acumen, we expect her to get the key pieces of evidence she wants.
Zellner has previously stated that testing would take roughly three months, so we probably won’t be hearing much more from Steven Avery’s team until sometime in February. But once she files her discoveries, things could begin to move fast … well, fast for the criminal justice system. Kathleen Zellner’s goal since day one has been to have Avery’s conviction thrown out, and if she finds evidence of law enforcement tampering or proof someone else killed Teresa Halbach, that just might happen.
*UPDATE* Looks like we’ll have to wait just a little longer for Kathleen Zellner’s filing due to Brendan Dassey’s release. Zellner just put out this Tweet:
https://twitter.com/ZellnerLaw/status/798258928748548096