In early January it was announced that Chicago-based defence attorney Kathleen Zellner would be taking over Steven Avery’s case.
As the below release also mentions, Zellner has been joined by Tricia Bushnell of the Midwest Innocence Project in an effort to prove the wrongful conviction of their client, whose case was the focus of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.
And this tweet from Avery's niece just two weeks later seemed to suggest that she'd hit the ground running.
@ZellnerLaw has 14 people on case working non-stop. Accomplished more in 2 wks than any1 in 8yrs. Soon every1 will see @FreeStevenAvery
Since then Zellner has taken the case to Twitter, highlighting what she sees as the numerous flaws in the prosecution's case...
On the inconsistencies of the forensic evidence:
RAV4: no mix SA & TH DNA, no SA prints but skin cells on latch/blood in car. So SA gloves had holes or planters did not. #MakingAMurderer
SA = Steven Avery, TH = Teresa Halbach.
On the fact that Teresa's DNA isn't on her own key:
That special RAV4 key only absorbs DNA of Plaintiff in civil rights suit against MC not owner's. Magic #MakingAMurderer
On why there would be blood in the RAV4 if she was only moved from Steven's trailer to the burn pit:
TH throat cut (- blood) Head shot (- spatter) But RAV4 has her blood -so she was put in car & driven 20 ft to burn pit? #MakingAMurderer
On why Avery wouldn't have used a simpler method of disposing of the body:
If SA the killer why burn body just use crusher. SA crushes another car -11/3 so had access--clearly killer did not.#MakingAMurderer #Clues
On why inconsistencies in the evidence of others were not investigated further:
Police reports: Others lie but cops turn a blind eye. "The killer (devil) is in the detail" #Eyeswideshut #MakingAMurderer
On planting ideas in the mind of suggestible witnesses:
Fassbender first suggested to BD that SA improperly touched.Allows BD to justify false confession-frame & defame#Factbender #MakingAMurderer
BD = Brendan Dassey.
On why she thinks this was allowed to happen:
28 yrs: SA wrongly convicted of others crimes/wrongly accused of crimes that never happened. Poor+ disabled= disposable. #MakingAMurderer
On the RAV4 being locked when the search party found it:
Theresa's car was locked when it was found. Killers don't do that-- preserves the evidence. Kinda obvious who locked.#MakingAMurderer
On why the killer would go to so much trouble to destroy the body but leave behind blood stains:
Killer would not reduce body to bone fragments to destroy evidence but leave car intact w/his blood. #MakingAMurderer
On the fact that they only ever took forensic evidence from the Avery family:
Tunnel vision clear in TH case. No DNA taken except from SA family. No need to take DNA from others when planted. #MakingAMurderer
On the possible motive of people who may want to frame Avery:
Police reports: Only SA suspect but BIG RED FLAGS on others. Must have to do w/BIG GREEN DOLLARS. #MakingAMurderer
On the original forensic tests:
Forensic Testing for SA was rudimentary & poorly done. Consulting w/best scientists in world. Luminol has no role. #MakingAMurderer
On Steven Avery's attitude:
Fifth trip to Steven Avery. Collected samples for new tests. The inevitable is coming--he was smiling so were we. #MakingAMurderer #Science+
Third visit WCC: SA thrilled about chance of new forensic testing--like innocent men always are.#MakingAMurderer
Visit w/Steven Avery at Waupon CC. He is identical to the other 17 innocent men we've cleared. Won't quit until he's out. #MakingAMurderer
On 30 January Zellner claimed that seven of her tweets about the case had been deleted. You can see these deleted tweets below.
Struck a nerve re planted evidence/Kratz book bc 7 of KZ tweets GONE. Kind of like TH's DNA on key #MakingAMurderer
Though she doesn't say how or why the tweets were deleted, it's possible that Twitter could have been responsible if complaints had been made about the tweets.
One of these tweets included a copy of a letter from prosecutor Ken Kratz to Steven Avery, which seems to be asking him to admit his guilt so that Kratz can tell Avery's story in a book.
For those of you who believe the truth cannot be deleted--here is 1 of deleted tweets.#MakingAMurderer
While another appeared to thank Kratz for supplying his DNA in the aforementioned letter.
In the other apparently deleted tweets Zellner discusses how it would have been very unlikely that police would have missed the key on previous searches of Avery's trailer.
And why the key had no DNA on it other than Avery's.
On top of all this, in an interview with TheLipTV Zellner claims that the identity of Halbach's killer is "fairly obvious if you review the record of the criminal case".
