Making a Murderer’s Steven Avery was accused of rape by his teen niece one year before Teresa Halbach killing – but lawyers claim she was ‘coerced’ by cops
MAKING a Murderer’s Steven Avery was accused of raping his 17-year-old niece a year before he killed Teresa Halbach, the murder case's lead prosecutor has claimed.
Avery, who is serving a life sentence for the slaughter of Teresa, was accused of sexually assaulting his niece who “remains emotionally scarred to this day”, according to Ken Kratz.
However Avery’s lawyer Kathleen Zellner has hit back claiming the young woman has since denied the allegations and was “coerced” into making the statement to police in a bid to smear Avery’s name, in a bizarre new twist for the hit Netflix show.
Kratz says the girl gave a taped statement to investigators but eventually decided not to prosecute after Avery was jailed for life for Teresa’s murder - a conviction Avery is currently trying to appeal, claiming he was set up.
In 1985 Steven was falsely convicted of sexually assaulting a young female jogger.
It took 18 years for his conviction to be overturned and he was given a $36million (£28.2million) payout in compensation.
Days later he was re-arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
Avery is currently serving life in prison at Wisconsin’s Waupun Correctional Institution without the possibility of parole.
The girl told investigators at the time that Avery “forced” her to have sex with him telling her: “If you don't do this, I'm gonna hurt you; if you don't do this, I'm gonna set your house on fire.”
Avery, who has always maintained his innocence, allegedly pushed her down on a bed, held her arms down and pulled her pants off - all while she was begging him to stop, the teen told police in 2004, according to transcripts seen by Sun Online.
“Steven Avery’s niece provided a taped statement describing child sexual assault and attempted intimidation," Kratz told Sun Online.
“The young woman, as I understand, was prepared to testify in any court proceedings in which she was needed.
“The assault was verified by those close to the Avery family.
“After Avery’s sentence to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, the victim decided not to pursue the sexual assault charge in state court.
“The victim remains emotionally scarred to this day, haunted by Steven Avery’s assaultive behaviour.”
But Avery’s lawyers told Sun Online they have spoken to the alleged victim and she denies she was raped - and they believe her police report was all part of the wider conspiracy to frame Avery for a crime he didn't commit.
Attorney Zellner, who stars in the latest season of Making A Murderer accuses Kratz, who has been suspended from practicing law, of regurgitating “old, discredited” allegations against Avery, which were never prosecuted and never permitted to be heard in court.
Zellner said: “Mr Kratz tried to raise the allegations about Mr Avery’s niece at Mr Avery’s trial.
“The trial judge Patrick Willis barred Mr Kratz from doing so claiming: ‘The evidence [was] not admissible’.
“We have talked to the niece and she denies the allegations.
“Mr Kratz is incorrect when he says the victim would have had the option of not pursing the charges.
“If the State had a viable case it would have pursued the charges regardless of the victim’s reluctance to do so.”
Zellner believes that police were encouraging witnesses such as Avery’s niece to make false statements.
“I think the police were actively coercing witnesses like Steven’s niece," she said.
“The key point is that these charges were never pursued by the authorities against Steven Avery because the prosecutor did not believe he could win a guilty verdict.
“I have never seen or heard of a prosecutor not pursuing such charges.
“Kratz was desperate to get these allegations before the jury in the murder case and the trial judge would not allow it.
“It is hugely unfair to now put those out there to the public when they were rejected years ago by the trial judge as being unproven allegations.”
Zellner and Kratz are now embroiled in a vicious war of words - with Zellner slamming Kratz as "discredited" - and Kratz claiming Zellner is a “sham”.
Kratz, who has written a bombshell book about the case called Avery, has also hit out at the Netflix show’s producers - accusing them of “shamefully” omitting key evidence and presenting a one-sided view of the case.
He says nothing in the 10-part second season - which has included in-depth crime scene recreations and expert testimony attempting to debunk the prosecution’s case - has made him question Avery’s guilt and believes there’s no way he’ll ever be freed.
“Steven Avery killed Teresa Halbach,” Kratz said.
“The jury unanimously determined that. Every Appellate Court since has reaffirmed that conviction.
“Avery is a sadistic killer, who is right where he belongs —he will die in prison.”
Kratz said one of the biggest omissions of evidence in the show is that two witnesses saw Avery burning items in his burn barrel on October 31, 2005, the day Teresa was killed, and where her camera and phone were later found.
“Similar to Season 1, when there exists uncontroverted evidence pointing to Avery’s guilt, the filmmakers keep that from their audience, and simply hope nobody will notice," Kratz said.
“But too many people know the real facts now, and their glaring omissions can no longer be chalked up to having ‘time constraints’ or simple editorial or artistic choices.
“Teresa Halbach’s phone, camera and PDA were found burned in Steven Avery’s own burn barrel, located just a few feet from his front door.
“Avery was observed by two witnesses on October 31, 2005 burning items in that very barrel.
“No fire was ever reported being observed in that barrel after October 31st.
“It would take several hours to burn those electronics. All uncontroverted evidence—all pointing to Steven Avery burning the victim’s electronics on that day that she was killed.
“So why do the filmmakers not tell the audience? That’s easy—there is no explanation—none—for the presence of the victim’s personal electronics being burned by someone other than the killer.
“Since this evidence alone destroys the filmmaker’s narrative (that Avery must have been set up by the police, his family, other citizens, or some combination), they simply hide it from the audience. Shameful.”
Again Zellner hit back at these claims - saying one of the witnesses - Blaine Dassey who said he saw Avery burning items has since revealed that he lied in a sworn affidavit.
The other witness claimed he smelt “burning plastic” but when Zellner simulated burning identical electronic items there was no smell of plastic.
Kratz also accused Zellner of being “unethical” for naming other suspects in the case on the show “without evidence” - a claim Zellner blasts as “preposterous”.
Zellner has named several other people she believes could be suspects in the case during the series including Teresa’s ex boyfriend Ryan Hilegas and Bobby Dassey - the brother of Brendan Dassey, who is also serving a life sentence for Teresa's murder.
“Most attorneys would never be as unethical to publicly 'name the real killer’ in any case without evidence proving it,” Kratz said.
“Attorney Zellner must know that Ryan Hilegas, Teresa’s ex-boyfriend, has an alibi for the date of the murder, October 31, 2005, yet Ms. Zellner continues to advance that defamatory claim—how does any lawyer intentionally besmirch the reputation of an innocent man (or in this case, several innocent men), as a publicity stunt, just to get ratings for her movie project?”
Zellner blasted claims that Hilegas had an alibi as a "blatant lie" and showed Sun Online Hilegas's court testimony in which he admits he was never asked for an alibi.
And she hits out at Avery’s nephew Bobby Dassey, the prosecution’s star witness, who was found to have pictures of naked underage girls on his computer but was never prosecuted.
“It is amazing that there were hundreds of photos of naked teenage girls on the computer in Bobby Dassey’s room that should have been charged as child porn possession instead Kratz makes Bobby his star witness,” she said.
She claims he tried to hide information from Bobby Dassey’s computer hard drive - which contained violent pornography and disturbing images of young girls - by mis-labelling it as Brendan’s.
The evidence showed Dassey was inclined towards sexual violence and could have made him a suspect with a motive to kill Teresa - if it had been used in court as evidence, Zellner says.
Kratz dismisses these claims, saying: "When the attorneys at the time admitted they had the evidence, it’s shocking that Attorney Zellner would continue to allege I, as lead counsel for the state, intentionally hid evidence or engaged in any misconduct.
“That specific claim, against a career prosecutor, is outrageous, especially given proof exists that those allegations are simply made up."
Affidavits from Avery's previous attorneys, shared with Sun Online, show that they were not made aware of a CD containing the violent pornography or the report attached to it.
Zellner, who is still hoping to prove Avery's innocence and have him freed, added: “Mr Kratz has no legal authority as a suspended attorney to be commenting on any aspect of the pending Avery appeal.
“His recklessness, poor judgement, lack of shame and narcissism are vividly illustrated by his pathetic efforts to gain attention for himself.”
She added: “He is truly the joke but no one is laughing because he is primarily responsible for botching the Halbach investigation and prosecution and concealing evidence from the trial attorneys.”
Kratz added: "Think of the number of persons that Attorney Zellner now claims was involved in the conspiracy to convict Avery for murder. Not just the Manitowoc County law enforcement officers - but now the alleged conspiracy extends to Calumet County investigators, State of Wisconsin homicide investigators, at least three prosecutors from three different agencies in the state, at least one Circuit Judge, friends of Teresa, relatives of Steven Avery, and Crime Lab experts. All of this nonsense with absolutely no evidence of planting…none.
"Everyone identified by this TV show as crooked, has received countless hateful messages, death threats, and threats of violence to our families. The impact on those law enforcement, prosecution, and citizen targets was (and remains) foreseeable by the filmmakers and defense attorneys.
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"Never has there been so much hate directed at people from so many years ago, who’s main transgression was convicting two cold-blooded murderers.
"Millions of people have been fooled—dozens of good people, and their families have been irrevocably impacted—all under the justification of providing “entertainment” about a young woman’s murder.
"These filmmakers, and Attorney Zellner, need to be held accountable for perpetuating this hate-filled atmosphere, and for intentionally deceiving millions of viewers."