Zellner Says She's Uncovered 13 Falsehoods In Kratz's Avery Book

JOLIET, IL - Kathleen Zellner, the prominent Downers Grove attorney who is a focal point in the still-in-the-works second season of the Netflix sensation, "Making a Murderer," is intensifying her attacks upon the credibility of former Wisconsin prosecutor Ken Kratz. Ten years ago, in 2007, Kratz obtained murder convictions against Steven Avery and his mentally disabled teen-age nephew, Brendan Dassey, in the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. Kratz offered two different courtroom narratives at the respective murder trials and downplayed allegations of rampant evidence planting by the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, the police agency already being sued for $36 million by Avery at the time.

People around Will County and DuPage County are familiar with Zellner. In fact, one of her most notable wrongful conviction cases occurred in Will County, the 2004 botched murder investigation of 3-year-old victim Riley Fox, whose body was found in Wilmington.

Nowadays, one of her biggest cases involves Steven Avery, who continues to serve a life prison sentence in Wisconsin, insisting he is innocent. Last month, Zellner filed her long-awaited post-conviction motion, a significant legal step needed in order to overturn Avery's murder conviction and win him a new trial. Zellner has accused Kratz of committing four separate Brady violations. A Brady violation is when the prosecution withholds or conceals exculpatory or favorable information from the defendant's side. Now, in recent days, Zellner has stepped up her criticism of Kratz, focusing on his recent true-crime book about her client.

Zellner told Patch "we're consulting with defamation experts about the viability of a legal claim against Kratz. He has no absolute immunity. This guy is off the case, and he's still running around committing defamation against Steven Avery, essentially trying him in the press with even more false evidence, which is what he did the first time with his false (2006 pre-trial) press conference statements."

According to Zellner, she has identified 13 falsehoods that Kratz chose to put into his February 2017 book.

Below are several of those statements and Zellner's response:

Pages 8-9: "On November 3, 2005, Mark Wiegert ... knocked on my door ... A young woman named Teresa Halbach had been reported missing that morning."

Zellner's refutation: "Teresa's mother, Karen Halbach, first reported Teresa missing at 2:52 p.m. on November 3, 2005."

Page 23: "After phoning Teresa directly to set up the appointment on a forty-six degree October 10, Steven Avery answered his door clad in only a small white towel. Creepy, thought Teresa. She told friends and coworkers she didn't want to return."

Zellner: "Mr. Kratz's assertions are false. There is no evidence that 1) this incident occurred on Oct. 10, 2005. 2) Ms. Halbach thought it was 'creepy' and 3) she told coworkers that she did not want to return. No one reported that Ms. Halbach did not want to go back to the Avery property. Another Auto Trader employee, Rachel Higgs, told investigators that Ms. Halbach was not uncomfortable going to the Avery property to take photos and that Mr. Avery was harmless."

Page 22: "(On October 31, 2005) Mr. Avery took steps to conceal himself. Unwilling to give his name or phone number to Auto Trader when booking the shoot, he provided 'B. Janda' as a contact name and a telephone number belonging to his sister, Barb Janda."

Zellner: "Dawn Pliszka, the Auto Trader employee who took Steven Avery's call October 31, 2005, informed law enforcement that she guessed at the contact name for the appointment when she typed 'B. Janda' because the caller was difficult to understand, not that he told her the appointment was for 'B. Janda.' There is no evidence that Steven Avery told Pliszka that the contact name for the appointment was 'B. Janda.'"

Page 10: "When (Scott) Bloedorn called Steven Avery on Thursday, November 3 to ask about his appointment with Teresa, Avery said she's never shown up."

Zellner: "Steven Avery never spoke with Teresa's roommate, Scott Bloedorn, on November 3, 2005 or any other day. Law enforcement investigated these allegations and determined they were false."

Page 163: "Steven (Avery) tells Scott Bloedorn, Teresa's roommate, that Teresa 'never showed up' for her appointment on Oct. 31 and is upset that he was even contacted in connection with the disappearance."

Zellner: "Scott Bloedorn called Steven Speckman, not Steven Avery, on November 3 at 4:10 p.m."

Page 38: "In fact, Avery not only doesn't mention the fire, he denies even having a 'burn pit' and eventually allows that he has one, but that nothing had been burned in it for two weeks."

Zellner: "Steven Avery, when asked if any of the garbage in the salvage yard pit was burned 'in the burn barrels or open pits,' replied, 'Not in the pit, no.' Steven Avery readily admitted that there were burning barrels in the residential areas on the Avery property ... Clearly, Mr. Kratz is mis-characterizing Mr. Avery's statement. The Averys did not burn garbage in the business or salvage yard areas of the property; they did, however, burn garbage near their homes."

Page 108: "Without Brendan's statement as to where the murder occurred, the police would never have gotten a search warrant and found that bullet."

Zellner: "The magic bullets were magically found during a search on March 1, 2006, after Brendan's confession. However, law enforcement had previously searched the garage five times between November 5, and November 12, 2005. Mr. Kratz is correct in saying that law enforcement would not have found the damaged bullet if not for the March 1, 2006 coerced statements of Mr. Dassey. Most importantly, Brendan's statements about where the murder occurred are entirely inconsistent ... The Seventh Circuit Opinion stated that there were clear efforts by the interrogators 'to have Dassey move all of the events to the garage, as no forensic evidence was found in Avery's trailer.'"

Pages 164-165: "Beginning six years after the trial, in January 2013, Steven Avery and I exchanged a series of letters. He knew that I was no longer a DA and no longer represented the state, and he invited me to visit him at the prison in Boscobel, Wisconsin."

Zellner: "... the record is clear that Mr. Kratz wrote to Mr. Avery first with a letter dated January 14, 2013 ... In fact, Mr. Kratz has not produced any correspondence from Steven Avery wherein Steven invited Mr. Kratz to visit him. Rather, Mr. Kratz invited himself with the intention, later revealed in his letter dated September 6, 2015, of writing a book about Steven."

On Saturday, Patch discovered that Kratz has joined the Facebook group called True Crime Authors/Publishers/Promoters as part of his ongoing efforts to further promote his Avery book.

"I've read your book. It's very good and very informative," Carol Barham complimented him on the Facebook forum.

"Thank you Carol," Ken Kratz responded on Facebook.

As of Sunday night, Kratz's Avery book was averaging 2.4 stars out of 5 stars with 60 percent of his book's reviews on Amazon giving Kratz a 1-star rating.

Editor's Note: Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak covered the Steven Avery case extensively in his previous role for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. He has also published four books about true-crime across the Midwest.

Images via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak