AG asks Wisconsin Supreme Court to deny Avery appeal, calls his arguments 'untethered' from fact
The document filed Thursday by Attorney General Josh Kaul states a review would be "a waste" of the state supreme court's "scarce time and resources."
Avery, 62, is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old woman from the Calumet County community of St. John. In his latest appeal effort, Avery filed a petition Feb. 7 asking the state's highest court to review a January decision by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals denying him an evidentiary hearing.
Avery's petition claims both the circuit court and the appellate court improperly applied the law in their rulings, and asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court "to correct the lower courts' misinterpretations of law" and "to grant (Avery) a new trial in the interest of justice."
The attorney general's response strongly disagreed with Avery's requests.
"There is no novel, important, or conflicting law at issue and nothing worthy of this Court's review raised by this case," the response reads.
Avery, the attorney general argued, "makes nonsensical, circular arguments that have no support in the law" and "bases his claims on increasingly absurd conjecture untethered from the facts."
In a post on X, Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, called the attorney general's response "emotional" and said "they are terrified of letting (Steven Avery) back into court."
RELATED: Steven Avery petitions Wisconsin Supreme Court to review denial of latest appeal
RELATED: Nearing 20 years since Teresa Halbach's murder, Steven Avery continues appeal efforts
If the Wisconsin Supreme Court declines to hear Avery's case, as it has in Avery's previous appeal attempts, Zellner said Avery plans to take his appeal to federal court for the first time.
Avery gained an international following after the 2015 release of Netflix's "Making a Murderer," with both staunch defenders professing his innocence and others who ardently believe he was rightfully convicted. He has been pursuing an appeal since shortly after he was convicted at a jury trial in 2007.
Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted and sentenced to life in prison in connection with Halbach's murder, has exhausted his paths to appeal. He may be eligible for release from prison on extended supervision in 2048, when he is 59 years old.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Attorney General asks Wisconsin Supreme Court deny Steven Avery appeal
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