Posted on 03/03/2006 2:21:37 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MADISON, WI (AP) -- The Wisconsin Innocence Project pulled a photo from its Web site on Friday of a man the group helped free from prison - one day after gruesome details emerged about his alleged rape and murder of a young photographer.
The group's action to distance itself from one of its best known cases came after prosecutors alleged in graphic detail that Steven Avery and his 16-year-old nephew raped and murdered 25-year-old Teresa Halbach on Halloween.
Prosecutors said Avery lured Halbach, a freelance photographer for Auto Trader Magazine, to his property near Mishicot to take a picture of a minivan for sale. Avery and the boy took turns sexually assaulting her as she was shackled to a bed and begged for help. She was later stabbed, had her throat slit, dragged to a garage, shot and burned.
The new details arose after authorities interviewed the nephew this week.
Until Avery's arrest in the murder case last November, he had been the innocence project's most high-profile success story. The group in 2003 helped uncover DNA evidence that proved Avery did not commit a 1985 rape for which he had spent almost half his life behind bars.
"We had left references to Avery on the Web site because we thought it was a historic account and it was an honorable thing to not try to disguise what happened in that case," said Keith Findley, co-director of the project at University of Wisconsin-Madison law school. "But because of these recent allegations and the emotional response, we have taken those photos down."
Until Friday, Avery was pictured on the innocence project's Web site as one of four major wrongful convictions uncovered by the group - even though he had been charged with the murder of Halbach in November.
Findley said he was "horrified and saddened by these allegations" and removed the photos out of sensitivity to the Halbach family. But he said he had no regrets about helping free Avery in the earlier case.
Avery, 43, became a symbol of the flawed criminal justice system after he was freed from prison in 2003. He appeared at news conferences with state lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle to push for criminal justice reforms that were ultimately signed into law.
A jury convicted Avery in 1985 of sexual assault, attempted murder and false imprisonment in Manitowoc County for a violent rape on a Lake Michigan beach, based largely on eye witness testimony of the victim.
The DNA evidence uncovered later exonerated Avery and pointed to another man who was serving a 60-year sentence for sexual assaults in other cases.
"Whatever may or may not be happening now doesn't change the fact that he did not commit that crime in 1985. It's absolutely undisputed," Findley said. "There are many things that went wrong in that case and we better learn from them so we can better apprehend and convict the guilty."
We had several cases here in Georgia that involved kids who were already teenagers. The only fathers they had ever known, the men who raised them believing they were the dads, turned out not to be the bio-dads because the mothers cheated on them.
In GA, paternity and custody cases turn on 'best interest of the child'. In cases like these, that rule runs head-on into the rule that biology is destiny.
The compromise that the courts came up with is this: if the apparent father had reason to believe that the mother was unfaithful but failed to investigate, then he gave up his right to contest paternity. The best interest of the child demands that he keep on being the father, despite the DNA, because for all practical purposes he IS the father. (And this is true of a lot of legal issues, from car accident claims to contract disputes. If you "sleep on your rights" after you have notice of a problem, you waive any claim.)
It's not perfect -- but it's not necessarily corrupt. It may be that the dad didn't act in a prompt manner and lost his right to contest paternity.
This may be like that thing Rush Limbaugh keeps talking about . . . they poll people about the economy, and they know that THEY are doing o.k. themselves, but they worry about other people, because the media keeps saying that the economy is bad, so SOMEbody must be having a tough time . . .
Unfortunately any system tends to overprotect its members for too long - at the same time, false accusations can become a problem if the system rushes to judgment. It's a bit of a balancing act, root out the bad actors without harassing the good guys too much.
It's an imperfect world, but I think most folks do the best they can. I haven't known too many really bad people, but I've known a few, and they were very, very unhappy. Most people don't want to live like that.
I don't believe that was his first rodeo either.
That bunch od do gooder sobs should have had to live with the pos. Especially the women.
Reference your post # 20.
AMEN and AMEN!!!!!!!!!!
And absolutely no one has ever proved or admitted someone removed or manipulated the contents of sealed evidence, said S. burglar.
If someone didn't tamper with DNA belonging to either party, I'd be shocked. I'd be shocked if they had more than one lock between the evidence room and the rest of the world!
But to maintain the integrity of the system, corroborated evidence stands. But undisputed? Not to me.
I believe that the sobs at Innocent Project pulled a fast one somewhere down the line.
And a young lady paid for it with her life.
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