Petition for pardon of subject of Netflix series
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - An online petition is calling for President Obama to pardon a convicted murderer who is the subject of the popular Netflix series "Making a Murderer."
The Change.org petition, which has more than 160,000 signatures and counting, is seeking to free Steven Avery who was convicted by a jury in Calumet County, Wisconsin in 2007 of murdering photographer Teresa Halbach. He is currently serving a life sentence.
The petition's creator Michael Seyedian writes: "There is a documentary series on Netflix called 'Making a Murderer.' After viewing it, I am outraged with the injustices which have been allowed to compound and left unchecked in the case of Steven Avery of Manitowoc County in Wisconsin, U.S.A. Avery's unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process. Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by presidential pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the U.S. criminal and civil justice systems."
Other petitions also call for the pardon of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who is in prison for being a party to murder, sexual assault and mutilating a corpse in the Halbach case. He is serving life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.