In 2015, Netflix released a series called “Making AAssassin” which immediately caused a stir. The documentary about the life of Steven Avery sounds like anything out of a silly detective story written by someone as gifted as James Ellroy, but it’s a true story of a man who, after being wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder and spending 18 years, was exonerated only to be back in jail for murder. What makes the case interesting is the question that no one can really answer; is he still innocent?
Steven Avery Biography
There was nothing unusual about Steven Allan Avery’s first life; he was born on July 9, 1962, into a fairly normal family in almost all cases. He was raised by his parents, Dolores and Allan Avery, alongside three siblings, Chuck, Earl and Barb. His family lived in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, where they also operated a salvage yard.
While everything seemed normal, Steven was a slow because of this he attended an elementary school for slower kids. As his lawyer would later reveal, Avery has an IQ of 70, which made it nearly impossible for him to function in school.
By the age of 18, Avery’s path had alreadybegun to cross with the law. He was first arrested and convicted of robbing a bar, but only served 10 months of his two-year sentence before being given a suspended sentence. His next run-in with the law was in 1982 when he was jailed for animal cruelty after he and friends burned a cat to death. He would remain behind bars until 1983 before ending up with another legal problem after pointing a gun at his cousin, who was spreading false rumors about him because she didn’t like him. For this crime, he was sentenced to six years.
In 1982 he married Lori Mathiesen, but in 1988 the marriage ended in divorce. The couple had four children together.
He was arrested again in 1985 for attacking and sexually assaulting a woman, Penny Beerntsen, while jogging. Although he had an alibi and 16 witnesses to support him, he was still found guilty of rape and attempted murder for which he was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Someone else would later confess to the crime in 1995, but Thomas Kocourek, who was the Manitowoc County Sheriff at the time, pushed it aside, saying he already had his man behind bars. Nevertheless, Steven Avery would be declared innocent of the crime in 2002 thanks to a DNA test showing that the person who confessed to the crime, that Gregory Allen was, in fact, the man who committed it.
Avery’s problem would continue in 2005 when a woman named Teresa Halbach who was a photographer went missing. What is interesting is that she had an appointment at the time with Steven Avery at his house. His car was later found in Avery’s Auto Salvage yard with a bloodstain that would later match his DNA. Despite insisting it was all bastard, Avery was sentenced to death for first-degree murder. His nephew, Brendan Dassey, who confessed to helping Avery commit the crime after his interrogation was sentenced to life for the same crime as well as sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse.
Nonetheless, both men still insist they are innocent, with Dassey claiming he was coerced into confessing. According to a member of the jury who apologized, the jury had found Avery not guilty, but he was only surprised to come to find that everything had suddenly changed.
Where is he now?
Steven Avery is still serving at the Waupun Correctional Facility in Waupun where he has been since 2012. Prior to that, he was detained for five years at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel, where he served for unlawful possession of a firearm.
During the trial, his lawyers revealed that they discovered that the blood from his 1996 passing had not been sealed, believing that was from when his blood was taken from Halbach’s car. Efforts to have a new trial with the latest in 2017 have all failed. Because of this and many other twists in the case, many believe that Avery is just the victim of corrupt officials who brought injustice to an innocent man. Because of this, a petition seeking a pardon for Avery and Dassey failed in 2016, as both men were in state prisons and therefore could only be arraigned at the state level.
Net value
After his first wrongful conviction, StevenAvery sued Thomas Kocourek of Manitowoc County and former county attorney’s attorney Denis Vogel for his wrongful conviction. He asked to be awarded $18 million in punitive damages and $18 million in compensatory damages, or $36 million.
However, it was later settled at just $400,000. There is no record that he was able to earn more money to give him any significant net worth. In fact, his parents had to sell their business to continue fighting for justice because, like many others who have followed his story, they believe he is just another innocent man behind bars. .
