Zellner Offers $10,000 If You Pass Her Steven Avery Proof Of Guilt Challenge

JOLIET, IL - For months, Kathleen Zellner, one of the country's most notable lawyers in bringing freedom and tears of joy to the wrongfully condemned, has been bombarded with demeaning comments posted on social media by anonymous lurkers who remain obsessed with the "Making a Murderer" saga. Most people who watched the award-winning Netflix documentary believe that convicted killer Steven Avery of Manitowoc County did not receive a fair trial or that he and his nephew Brendan Dassey are innocent of Teresa Halbach's murder. Still, there's a vocal minority who remain active on Reddit and Twitter who mock and ridicule Zellner, who has more than 174,000 Twitter followers.

This summer, the Avery court case that has gained world-wide attention is heating up. Zellner filed a 1,200-page post-conviction petition on Avery's behalf seeking a new trial, back in June. This week, she revealed to Joliet Patch that she is offering up a $10,000 cash award to anyone convinced of Steven Avery's guilt who can pass a 100-question test that she and her law firm staff have put together.

Zellner has dubbed it "The Steven Avery Proof of Guilt Challenge."

"We are so convinced that you will fail at answering the following 100 questions that we will offer an award of $10,000 to anyone who fully answers all 100 questions based upon credible evidence that establishes Mr. Avery's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Zellner stated.

According to Zellner, "over the last 19 months, we have heard and read numerous claims that Steven Avery is guilty of the murder of Teresa Halbach. Without exception, the authors of these claims simply do not know the facts of the case nor do they address the most blatant discrepancies in the State's case against Mr. Avery.

"The Proof of Guilt Challenge is specifically designed to elicit from these commentators credible evidentiary support for their opinion that Mr. Avery is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Zellner said in an email.

Zellner told Patch the test is open to anyone convinced of Avery's guilt - including law enforcement, professional journalists, legal commentators, students or the public. She said the test can even be taken by past or present members of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, including Lt. Detective Andy Colborn and his former mentor, retired detective Jim Lenk, who now lives in Arizona. Colborn and Lenk have long been suspected of planting several clues against Avery, including the spare key for Halbach's Toyota RAV4 that turned up on Avery's bedroom carpet on the fourth day of searching the house.

"If Jim Lenk wants to make an easy ten grand, just answer these questions," Zellner said Wednesday night.

All 100 questions need to be fully answered, Zellner said, by referencing court transcripts, evidence or experiments which can establish her client's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

"All submissions must identify the participant's name, address and driver's license number," Zellner stated. "We reserve the right to make the final determinations as to whether anyone has successfully answered all 100 questions and is entitled to the $10,000 reward."

Test-takers need to submit their answers by email to attorneys@zellnerlawoffices.com

Below is a random sampling of 20 of the questions that were put forth by the Zellner Law Office. To take the test yourself or to view all the questions, go here.

1. Why did the missing person poster describing Ms. Halbach's vehicle not describe the front-end damage to the parking light if the damage existed prior to her disappearance?

2. Explain why Scott Bloedorn, who claimed Ms. Halbach was never gone overnight, never reported her missing?

3. Why do the investigators not discover who had possession of Ms. Halbach's day planner?

4. Explain the exact evidence that excluded Ryan Hillegas as a potential suspect?

5. Explain the exact evidence that excluded Scott Bloedorn as a potential suspect?

6. Explain why the CD recording of Ms. Halbach's call to the Zipperers' answering machine at 2:13 p.m. was never turned over to the defense and is now missing from the prosecution's case file?

7. If the original burn site for Ms. Halbach's body was the Avery burn pit, why are over 60 percent of the bones and all of the teeth but one missing? Why are bone fragments found in the grass several feet from the burn pit? Why is the suspected human pelvic bone from the Radandt pit never microscopically examined?

8. Why did Ryan Hillegas claim to be with Kelly Pitzen at Ms. Halbach's house on November 3 all afternoon until midnight or 1 a.m. when Pitzen called him at 5:16 p.m. and Ryan called Pitzen at 7:18 p.m.?

9. Explain how Steven and Brendan Dassey could be the killers when unidentified blood deposits on the rear cargo door excluded both of them?

10. Provide an explanation (other than divine intervention) of how Ms. (Pamela) Sturm and her daughter could have located Ms. Halbach's vehicle within 20 minutes among the 4,000 vehicles on 26.9 acres of the Avery salvage yard if they had not been told where the car was located prior to their search?

11. Explain why the bullet fragments were not discovered in the earlier searches of the garage?

12. Explain how Steven and Brendan removed all traces of forensic evidence from the garage? Describe the cleaning solutions and chemicals used to accomplish this feat?

13. Why did the prosecution have two inconsistent theories in the Avery and Dassey trials about the cause of death? (Avery = gunshot to the head; Dassey = stabbing and throat cut).

14. Why would Mr. Avery so thoroughly clean up every speck of forensic evidence in his trailer and the garage but leave six easily-detectable blood spots of his in the RAV4?

15. Explain why Ms. Halbach's DNA was not on her sub-key which prosecutors claim she used every day, but Mr. Avery's DNA was on the sub-key?

16. Explain why, if Sgt. Colborn twisted and turned the bookcase, all of the loose change and other items on top of the bookcase remained in place and none of these items fell to the floor?

17. Explain why Ms. Halbach's sub-key was not discovered in Mr. Avery's bookcase by Sgt. Colborn on November 5 when he searched the book case for 1.5 hours?

18. Explain how Ms. Halbach, on October 31, was unwittingly 'lured' to the Avery salvage yard when there is a large sign that reads 'Avery's Auto Salvage' at the entrance to the property on Highway 147? Did Ms. Halbach have her eyes closed as she drove down Avery Road?

19. What would be the point of Mr. Avery using *67 to allegedly conceal his identity if his *67 calls are documented in his phone records along with Ms. Halbach's phone number?

20. Why is there no forensic evidence (blood, hair, skin cells, fingerprints etc.) of Ms. Halbach in Mr. Avery's trailer if she was raped and stabbed there?

Images via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak