A Sheboygan County Circuit Court Judge has denied a new trial for Steven Avery for the second time after his lawyers filed multiple motions asking the judge to reconsider her first ruling.
Judge Angela Sutkiewicz filed her decision Tuesday. In it, she said she did not find Avery's "interpretations of the facts of this case or his interpretation of legal precedent are correct" and she had "no basis to reverse [the] previous decision."
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Avery is serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, along with his nephew Brendan Dassey.
Judge Sutkiewicz first denied Avery a new trial on October 3. In her decision, she said none of the evidence Avery's lawyers provided would cause a new outcome if the case went to trial again.
Avery's lawyers responded with several motions claiming there was new evidence, and pointing the finger at other potential suspects in the case.
In Tuesday's decision, Judge Sutkiewicz said Avery's lawyers should have waited until all scientific testing was done before filing a motion.
However, Avery's lawyers have since appealed the judge's denial of a motion for a new trial to the state appeals court.
"Getting a new trial is an uphill battle," explained lawyer Avi Berk. "One of the problems is some of the scientific testing that was apparently done and might serve to exonerate him is not being considered by this judge because Avery's attorneys essentially jumped the gun and brought the motion before all the testing had been done."
Kathleen Zellner tweeted Tuesday morning in response to the judge's decision.
Avery trial court issues new opinion 11 days after it no longer has jurisdiction of case which is now with the appellate court... #MakingAMurderer #Oops
— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) November 28, 2017
Brendan Dassey's case is currently awaiting a decision from a federal appeals court. A federal judge overturned his conviction in 2016, saying his interrogation involved leading questions among other things.
Avery and Dassey's case was made famous in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.
You can read the full decision in Steven Avery's case below:
