'Making A Murderer': Juror contacts filmmakers to claim that Steven Avery was framed by police

Steven Avery
Tuesday 5 January 2016 at 5:02pm

Steven Avery, whose case is the focus of Making A Murderer. Credit: Netflix

Warning: This article contains spoilers

The makers of the documentary Making A Murderer - which has generated petitions, praise from celebrities and sparked online debate - have shared what they describe as a "significant revelation" about the murder trial at the centre of the series.

Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos told NBC's Today show that a juror in Steven Avery's trial - in which he was found guilty of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach in Wisconsin and is serving a life sentence - contacted them to say they believed that Avery was framed by police.

Avery has always maintained his innocence in relation to Teresa's murder. He was arrested with her murder while he was pursuing a $36 million (£24 million) lawsuit against police after he previously spent 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

Filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi Credit: NBC

"[The juror] told us that they believe Steven Avery was not proven guilty,'' Ricciardi said.

"They believe Steven was framed by law enforcement and that he deserves a new trial", Ricciardi added.

The juror also told the filmmakers said each of the verdicts Avery faced were "a compromise", claiming there was trading of votes during deliberations among jurors.

"[The juror] went onto describe the jurors ultimately trading votes in the jury room and explicitly discussing, 'If you vote guilty on this count, I will vote not guilty on this count'", Ricciardi said.

The juror told the filmmakers they had voted to convict Avery of murder, but claimed they had done so under pressure.

"They were afraid that if they held out for a mistrial that it would be easy to identify which juror had done that and that they were fearful for their own safety,'' Demos said.

Demos and Ricciardi have been unable to independently verify the juror's claims, but their revelation will only add to the fervent discussion about Avery's trial sparked by the documentary, which was first released on Netflix two weeks ago.

Avery's nephew Brendan Dassey was also convicted of Halbach's murder. One petition created since the documentary's release has more than 150,000 signatures calling for the pair to be exonerated.