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Killer at center of Netflix docu-series demands evidence retesting to prove innocence

"Why would someone [who is] guilty want the test results done?" the suspect's cousin, Kim Ducat, asked reporters Friday.

By Doug G. Ware

MANITOWOC, Wis., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The man convicted of raping and killing a Wisconsin woman a decade ago now wants key evidence in the case retested -- a prospect defense attorneys say will show that police manufactured the proof to send Steven Avery to prison for life.

Defense lawyers filed the request Friday, which seeks new testing methods that weren't available during Avery's 2007 trial.

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"Mr. Avery has already completed a series of tests that will conclusively establish his innocence," Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, wrote in the filing with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

"Considerable progress has been made in forensic DNA methods, procedures and tests, including the development of tests for the specific detection of blood, saliva, semen and urine."

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Once the evidence is retested, Zellner said she will detail her theory on who Teresa Halbach's real killer is.

"Why would someone [who is] guilty want the test results done?" Avery's cousin, Kim Ducat, said Friday outside the courthouse in Manitowoc. "If he's innocent, he's going to push for these tests. And that's exactly what he is doing."

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The defense requested "the most comprehensive, thorough, and advanced forensic testing ever requested by a criminal defendant in the State of Wisconsin."

The filing comes just two weeks after an appellate court overturned the conviction of Avery's alleged accomplice in the murder, then 16-year-old Brendan Dassey.

The 2005 murder of Halbach is the basis of a recent Netflix documentary series titled, Making a Murderer.

Avery Motion to Retest Evidence

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