Who is Kathleen Zellner, Steven Avery's lawyer?

Kathleen Zellner in Make a murderer Part two.
Photo: Netflix

Make a murderer is not what you call a charismatic show. The small towns in Wisconsin that populate Netflix's genuine crime series are generally underestimated, except perhaps for Steven Avery himself, who has a naïve and unreal charm. But attorney Kathleen Zellner, whose fight to exonerate Avery for the murder of Teresa Halbach is an important part of Make a murderer part two, brings a different energy: she is confident in a big city, well dressed and is not afraid to make waves in the service of her client, that she believes deeply innocent.

The Chicago-based lawyer portrays herself as a "lawyer for the innocent" and her life's work has been to free those wrongfully convicted. Zellner simply wants to release innocent defendants, and she has done it 19 times in a remarkable way – more, according to her, than any other lawyer in private practice.

After starting his career more typically in a private equity firm, Zellner embarked on the defense of a decidedly horrible murderer named Larry Eyler. His experience in this case has placed Zellner on his current path. "Defending companies and helping Exxon or Shell Oil to increase the price of their shares, most people find that, during their lives, this is not satisfactory," she said. Passage of the law years ago. "And that's what's wonderful with the legal profession. There are many people who need help, there are many creative ways to help them, and there are many causes that are extremely worthy of effort and you can find something like that and dedicate yourself to it. "(Fear that this sounds too selfless, she also said that she earns" more money than 99.9% of all lawyers "by pursuing this noble cause.)

Zellner seems to be attracted to cases that lend themselves to complicated investigations like that of Avery in Make a murderer. The link that binds him to his work is tied, but his biggest business tends to share one thing: innocent men who look guilty. Many also share more sinister underpinnings: crooked police and prosecutors willing to conceal evidence to get convictions, whether or not they convict the right people. Below, we take a close look at five of Zellner's most notable lawsuits over the years, some of which have clear parallels to the Avery affair.

In 1990, Zellner was named to defend Larry Eyler, a man punishable by death for the murder of a 15-year-old boy, committed in 1984. Eyler was also believed to have participated in many other murders – up to 23 over a two-year period – then Zellner tried to negotiate with the state: if she convicted Eyler to recognize the other murders, leaving the bereaved families shut down, she wanted to sentence him to life prison instead of being executed. The state of Illinois did not accept the agreement and Eyler eventually died of AIDS complications in 1994. Prior to his death, Zellner convinced Eyler to confess all his murders, including 21 unsolved murders, and allowed it. release the names after his death. In Make a murderer part twoZellner explained how her experience as a representative of Eyler could have shaped her career: "I really did not want to do anything like this and I did not want to portray anyone."

The abbreviated version of Zellner's role in Joseph Burrows' release – where he was imprisoned for five years – is that his masterful courtroom skills have made the real murderer confess, right here at the helm. The most detailed story is even more impressive: Zellner visited Gayle Potter in prison over the course of a year, convincing her to tell the truth in a hearing after Burrows' conviction that Potter had falsely claimed to be his accomplice. To confess to Potter was the only way to free his client, and Zellner was successful. Los Angeles Time led a fascinating (and massive) story of the case in 1994.

Nash spent 17 years in prison for a robbery of drugs committed in 1995 that led to the murder of a man named Leon Stroud. Surprisingly, he was imprisoned despite clear evidence that could prove his innocence – the killer left a ski mask that was not tested for DNA. The police were also charged with forcing Nash to testify through witness statements, claiming that he was shopping during the murder. It was only when Zellner arrived on board and insisted that new DNA tests – once again, the ski mask be proven all the time – that Nash was conclusively proven to be innocent , was released from prison in August 2012 and another man was arrested for the crime. Tragically, Nash was shot and killed three years later during an unsuccessful flight attempt.

During this nightmare trial in 2005, Ferguson's friend Charles Erickson sat down on the witness stand and explained in detail the murder of Ferguson, 48-year-old Kent Heitholt. Another witness also pointed to Ferguson and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. No material evidence corroborated their testimony, but Ferguson was nevertheless found guilty and sentenced to 40 years. He was in prison for nearly ten years before Zellner could extract statements from these two key witnesses, claiming that their testimony was falsified and coerced by police and prosecutors. Zellner also learned that the prosecution had concealed the potentially exculpatory evidence of the initial defense team, including the testimony of another eyewitness who had told the prosecution that Ferguson was certainly not the person that she had seen the scene of the crime. Ferguson sued – with the help of Zellner, of course – and was sentenced to $ 11 million in damages. After his release in November 2013, Ferguson said, "To be arrested and charged with a crime that you have not committed, it's incredibly easy and you can lose your life very quickly, but to get out, you need an army. "

In 2004, Fox's 3-year-old daughter, Riley, was found dead in a creek not far from their family's home in Wilmington, Illinois. In the absence of real tracks for months (and in a move that might have been marked by local politics), police summoned Fox for a grueling 14-hour interrogation during which he was shown images from the scene of the crime and threatened with rape. He confessed during this interrogation, but retracted almost immediately. Zellner chased DNA evidence – the killer's saliva – that the local police seemed absolutely desperate not to have tested. Saliva finally proved that Fox was not the murderer and another man finally confessed to the crime. (In a very strange twist, the real killer, Scott Eby, left a shoe on which his last name was.) Zellner then helped Fox sue the Will County Police, who had been charged with the crime. To have stopped. Fox earned more than $ 15 million in damages, although that number was later reduced. Chicago The magazine conducted a deep and heartbreaking dive into the affair in 2006.