Tuesday, February 6, 2007 14 and counting We're at 14 of the eventual 30 in the jury pool selected, and Judge Willis says we will be here a while yet. But like yesterday, I thought I'd share some of the out-takes from jury questions and answers. A woman, when asked how she dealt with news about the Halbach case, or the death of a friend a few years ago: "You tend not to think about those things. It just puts you into depression, which is why half the world is on Prozac." A woman, on evaluating the credibility of witnesses: "I guess I tend to be pleasantly naive in thinking everyone tells the truth." A man, asked if it would be hard on his family life — and eight children — to be gone each day as a juror: "They don't run court until 8 p.m. at night, as far as I know." "Not with juries we don't, but tonight we might," said Judge Willis to courtroom laughter. A man's view of the media: "The news is so one-sided. You see a picture of Steven Avery in black and white (jail coveralls) and it's like he's guilty already." posted by john lee at 11:18 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_06_archive.html

Wednesday, February 7, 2007 Looking good at 25 below I just wandered downstairs and watched — mainly from a warm, inside doorway — as women from three Green Bay TV stations did their live shots for the 5 p.m. news. With temperatures below zero and gale force winds here on Lake Michigan, there was no way to disguise their discomfort. They complained after noon shots how the wind messed their hair and blew their notes around. But they do the job their producers want, rather than being more comfortable with an indoor shot of this beautiful old courthouse. The next time you see them shivering, give them a little credit. As least usually the newspaper guys can be inside. posted by john lee at 5:08 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Wisconsin So I assume when we go back into court after the lunch break I — or the entire media pool — will get another tongue-lashing from Judge Willis. Seems my cell phone wasn't off, and rang in court. It's something that has never happened to me since I am always careful to turn it off or to vibrate when I go into meetings, and especially into court. The judge has complained a few times the last couple days about media computers beeping in the courtroom after he finally allowed them in for jury selection. (They won't be allowed in the courtroom in Chilton, but will be allowed in media rooms.) Anyway, I'll take credit for two of the four beeps we heard — our IT department couldn't kill all the sounds. After it happened once to me Monday, and no IT tech could tell me how to silence it, I went in and manually deleted every sound out of the system. It happened once again Tuesday, and two more techs last night couldn't silence it, either. I dropped the laptop off at the Herald Times Reporter in Manitowoc, our sister paper, early today and started court without it. The tech was going to bring it to me at security, but called to let me know she was on her way. Oops. At least, she found out how to kill the sound I got on our Web mail system. Thanx, Mary Lou. We miss you in Appleton. So far, three TV guys have come up to me to say "better you than me" on the cell phone issue. Besides, I told them, the judge shouldn't be too upset — my ring tone is set to play "On Wisconsin," and he is a UW grad. So I took the opportunity to take a long lunch and write this and have a sandwich — the first time all week I had more than 20 minutes for lunch. Now I'll go in and listen if he chews. Then we'll move on. It's Wings Night at the hotel bar (last night was Taco Tuesday), and the Badgers are on the tube. On Wisconsin, indeed. posted by john lee at 12:15 PM | 1 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_07_archive.html

Thursday, February 8, 2007 The Court Reporter First, an update. Twenty-six of the 30 people sought for the jury pool were seated by the noon break, and attorneys said they will finish today. But they don't know yet if that will be 3 p.m. or 10 p.m. In every courtroom, one of the hardest-working, and least-noticed, people is the court reporter. Judge Willis' reporter said she has been taking down about 300 pages of notes a day this week. She has today, and will get a day each week during the trial, to work on other duties in order to give her a break from court. And when she is done with the stenography, that all has to be transcribed. In a major case like this, that takes months, and post-conviction motions and appeals don't start until her work is done. posted by john lee at 12:59 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 and counting Things seem to be moving faster today, and Judge Willis has apparently told attorneys he wants the jury pool of 30 seated today. A 23rd prospective juror was seated about 10 a.m. A couple were also dismissed early for cause, but they were sent away after as little as 15 minutes of questions from the attorneys. Earlier in the week, jurors were sometimes on the spot for an hour or more before being dismissed. posted by john lee at 10:42 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mishicot revisited I took a ride to Mishicot last night. It started as a ride to let my vehicle warm up after a few days of subzero temperatures, coupled with parking outdoors in courthouse and motel parking lots. The golf courses at Fox Hills looked like a tundra, and the busiest place in town seemed to be a convenience store. The Mishicot Fire Department, where we held court aand attended press conferences in the first week after Teresa Halbach dissappeared, was dark and empty. That was a big change from those days and nights in November 2005, when the investigation started and Steven Avery's arrest was announced. We were back there for a night in early March 2006, when police and prosecutors said an Avery relative — Brendan Dassey wasn't named until the next day — had given them more details of the brutal crime and would also be charged. Avery's Auto Salvage west of the village was busy then, with command posts and flood lights and planes flying overhead and up to 200 police officers searching for evidence. But Wednesday night, the family property was quiet. posted by john lee at 10:34 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_08_archive.html

Friday, February 9, 2007 Testing the courtroom We're getting ready for the hearing today and the engineers and technicians are testing the sound system, and trying to get rid of some feedback coming between the courtroom PA system and the media system. Teresa Halbach's family just came in and is seated in the front row behind Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz. Her parents, Tom and Karen, brother Tim and a couple others are here. Nobody here from the Avery side. The media coordinator told us today that Mike Halbach, hos family's spokesman, will talk to the media Tuesdays and Thursdays after court. Those sessions will be in the basement media room. It was also announced that Kratz or Dean Strang will not comment to the press today. During the trial, Kratz will speak to the press after court sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Strang will talk on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The talk among the the media and security has also centered on Avery's dress. He's worn either a black or navy blue T-shirt for all the prior court appearances since he was taken out of jail coveralls, but this week he has had a new plaid long-sleeved shirt on each day. Time for the hearing. Look for updates on www.postcrescent.com/avery. posted by john lee at 1:26 PM | 1 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your wife is calling I'm set up in the back of the Calumet County courtroom now waiting for this afternoon's evidentiary hearing, but wanted to add a postscript to our week in Manitowoc. After my cell phone rang earlier, and my computer and others' beeped and drew the judge's ire, there were a couple other incidents. One reporter's laptop let out a series of beeps with an error message, and another reporter was wrongly accused to taking photos of jurors with her cell phone, when she was just deleting text messages. One Manitowoc city officer working courtroom security enjoyed needling us, and whenever he saw me he'd sing a few bars of "On Wisconsin," the ring tone on my cell phone. So it was with delight when we were standing in court today that his cell phone rang - and I watched the red of embarrassment spread up his neck to his head as he noticed every eye in the courtroom on him. I couldn't resist on the next break when I called him over — and reminded him to call his wife back. He won't be needling us anymore. posted by john lee at 12:29 PM | 1 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How long will it take? As we get ready to leave Manitowoc today and start the Avery triaal Monday in Chilton, the talk among the media is how long will the trial go? It had been scheduled for six weeks, taking us from last Friday's Ground Hog Day to somewhere around St. Patrick's Day. But jury selection took a day or two longer than exected, and there is one more evidentiary hearing this afternoon. During jury selection, lawyers would ask potential jurors if they could commit to "six weeks or longer" or "five or six weeks plus deliberations." Daily schedules change, and the lawyers say their witness lists will change as things proceed, so we'll see when things wrap up. That's assuming something unexpected, like a mistrial, doesn't happen first. If the trial wraps in six weeks, that gives us about a month before Brendan Dassey's trial is scheduled to start April 16. The next step in that is a scheduled motions hearing April 5. posted by john lee at 7:01 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_09_archive.html

Saturday, February 10, 2007 No weekend off The attorneys preparing for Monday's opening of the trial won't have much down time. Special prosecutor Ken Kratz and lead defense attorney Dean Strang are preparing their opening arguments. The are also supposed to e-mail Judge Willis by early Sunday with suggestions they have for the opening instructions he will give the jury. The judge explained Friday that officially the group of 16 is "the jury panel," and he will not refer to them as "the jury" or "jurors" until they officially take their oaths of office first thing Monday. Strang drew some laughs in court Friday afternoon when he double checked to make sure the judge said he wants e-mails on instructions in a Word program. He said he understood the judge didn't want a PDF, but explained that sometime he has a hard time getting to Word, but assured the judge he would try. Strang does understand some electronics - he is a licensed pilot. Kratz seems more computer savy at his table in the courtroom, with his laptop open and holding literally thousands of images. He plans to use computer-generated animations, digital photos and other visual aids to help jurors understand the complexities of the case. posted by john lee at 11:04 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_10_archive.html

Sunday, February 11, 2007 The trial begins If you like courtroom drama, this is the place to be today. The news media was outside the Calumet County Courthouse doing live shots for the morning news shows even before the building opened at 7:30 a.m. The jury panel that was selected last week in Manitowoc is due here before 9 a.m., and court proceedings will start with Judge Patrick Willis giving them the oath of office. He will then give them opening instructions - reminding them of their duty, of Avery's presumption of innocence, of his order to avoid any news media reports of the trial and to refrain from discussing the trial with anyone. He hasn't set any time limits for opening arguments. Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz, the lead special prosecutor, will lay out the state's case. One theme we will hear early and often - besides the eventual DNA evidence - will be about Avery's conflicting statements to police. Kratz and Sheriff Jerry Pagel both talked about that when Avery was arrested in November, 2005, and they obviously haven't forgotten. During jury selection last week, Wisconsin Assistant Atty. Gen. Tom Fallon noted that Avery gave about a half dozen conflicting statements to police in the week after Teresa Halbach disappeared. He was interviewed at least twice by Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department officers before Halbach's SUV was found in the family salvage yard Nov. 5. He was also interviewed by Marinette County Sheriff's Department deputies while his family was at their cabin near Crivitz the weekend the SUV was found, and talked to investigators with the Calumet County Sheriff's Department and the state Division of Criminal Investigation, which took over the investigation after Manitowoc withdrew because of a potential conflict of interest. Defense attorneys have an option of giving an opening statement today or deferring until the state's case is in and the defense begins its case. Dean Strang said he will give a statement. Those events should take up most or all of the morning, or even go into the afternoon, before Kratz starts calling witnesses. posted by john lee at 5:45 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_11_archive.html

Monday, February 12, 2007 The prosecution's opening 10 a.m. Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz, the special prosecutor, seemed at ease as he gave his opening remarks "from my courthouse." He explained why he was special prosecutor, and asked jurors to remember "We are doing a favor for Manitowoc County. A rather big favor," for the Manitowoc County district attorney. He compared this case to a jigsaw puzzle, with some of the pieces missing."This is a very, very serious crime and potentially has very graphic details that will be presented." He said he will not present overly-gruesome details that are not needed to prove his case. He also asked jurors to look at the Halbach family, and Teresa's two brothers and parents, Tom and Karen, who are here with several other friends and relatives. On the left side of the room, Avery's parents, Delores and Allen, are here with one of Steven's brothers and his wife, and two other relatives. posted by john lee at 9:39 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One concession Avery has stipulated to the second element of the second charge, possession of a firearm by a felon, meaning that he concedes he was a convicted felon in Nov. 2005. That conviction was for a 1985 charge for endangering safety, for a charge that he forced a rural Mishicot woman off the road at gunpoint. He backed off only after seeing the woman's infant in a car seat in the vehicle. He served more than five years in prison on that charge, concurrent with the 30-year rape sentence he received in 1985. He was eventually exonerated of that rape charge. Strang has opposed Kratz's proposal to remove Brendan Dassey's name from the opening jury instructions, and say instead "another," as being an accomplice in the murder of Teresa Halbach. "That is not fair and it is not consistent with the position of the state to this date," Strang said. "Perhaps we would have been spared if the state then had decided it was inappropriate to link these two togetther. To now insert the ambiguous term 'the other' is to invite speculation." Strang said. He asked the judge to leave the opening instructions to the jury as he proposed. Willis said he will use a defense-proposed format, but will substitute "another" for Dassey's name. For closing instructions, he may change to Strang's idea and name Dassey. The jury is being brought in at 9:31. posted by john lee at 9:07 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kratz no stranger to big trials For being a district attorney in a small county, Ken Kratz has had his share of big cases - a girl kept in a dog cage by her parents in Brillion, a family sex ring in Hilbert, an apartment building arson in Appleton and a few homicides - but nothing compares with this. The players are in place, and Avery, his family, several members of Teresa Halbach's family and Judge Patrick Willis have entered the courtroom. We are ready to start at 9:09. posted by john lee at 8:52 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Security The media was allowed into the courtroom before 8 a.m., and there were already a lot of police officers on security detail. The Wisconsin State Patrol has troopers assisting the Calumet County Sheriff's Department, and with detectives and administrators there will be a dozen or more officers here whenever court is in session. They swept the courtroom before allowing us in. Here, Avery will come down a secure hallway from the jail, entering the courtroom from the left. That means he and his attorneys are on the left table, instead of the table on the right like they were in Manitowoc. One of our Gannett reporters, Andy Neleson from the Green Bay Press Gazette, had a problem we had to overcome early, when troopers at the metal detector said he couldn't take a pen or notebook into the courtroom. He's sharp, but I don't think his memory is that good. That was never part of the judge's order - he has banned cell phones and laptops - and I found media coordinator Alice Connors, who rolled her eyes at the umpteenth complaint of the early morning - but went into the courtroom and got that issue straightened out. Andy is now seated a couple feet ahead of me. He's in the courtroom, and Senior Editor/Multimedia Dwight Nale and I are just behind the glass, in the front row of the glass room. Our IT guy was here to help us get a stronger cell card signal, and things are ready to go on our end. The attorneys are in place and testing the sound system and their computer hook-ups. We are joined in the glass room by a bunch of other reporters, including Carrie Antlfinger from AP, and the audio- visual techs. Ten minutes until the jury and judge arrive. posted by john lee at 8:38 AM | 1 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Death certificate I took some time over the weekend to read the posts on our forum, and wanted to comment on one reader's comment that the Social Security Administration doesn't have Teresa Halbach listed as deceased. It doesn't matter. Calumet County Medical Examiner Mike Klaeser filed a death certificate in December, 2005 in Manitowoc County, listing the cause of death as homicide. He filed that on the day of Avery's preliminary hearing. Besides, we've all read the horror stories of SSA listing someone as dead when they are alive and kicking. posted by john lee at 7:57 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_12_archive.html

Monday, February 12, 2007 (con't) More of the state's case The evidence Kratz said his case will show: At about 2:45 p.m., Oct. 31, 2005, Steven Avery restrained and killed Teresa Halbach. "We will prove where it happened, and when it happened. "We can't provide the why — the motive behind the kill, and what was in Mr. Avery's mind." He called Teresa "a remarkable young woman" as he introduced her as "a real person — somebody's daughter — somebody's sister. "On Halloween 2005, that all ended, and that ended at the hand of Steven Avery." He said Avery "lured" Teresa, who had been to the family property several times before to photograph vehicles, by calling Auto Trader Magazine that morning. And he told jurors that Avery "should never have been convicted in 1985," when he was convicted of a rape and served 18 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence. He also said there is nothing wrong with Manitowoc County being involved in the investigation, despite a "perceived conflict — an apparent conflict," because Avery had filed a $36 million civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County for his wrongful 1985 arrest and conviction. Avery spent 18 years in prison before he was exonerated. posted by john lee at 10:11 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And more from the special prosecutor Searchers found the "needle in the haystack" when they found Teresa's sport utility vehicle in the salvage yard, "not accidentally, from the furthest point from (Avery's) trailer," hidden and near a car crusher, Kratz told jurors. "Where it was found was not an accident. "It wasn't found on a roadway. It wasn't found in a mall parking lot. It was found on the Avery property," with license plates removed and the vehicle obscured. Police examined 4,000 vehicles "in a torrential downpour, in the pitch dark," and used search dogs. "They really don't know what they are searching for yet," and he said police at first hoped to find Teresa alive. A day after her vehicle was found, police found "what we believe was the last recorded voice of Teresa Halbach," a voice mail she left for Avery after receiving the appointment. Monday, state lab workers found Teresa's blood, and a male's blood — later identified as Avery's — in six different locations in her vehicle. "They suspect early on that something horrible has come to Teresa Halbach," Kratz said. Police that day also found the burn barrel, where "critical pieces of information" were found. On Tuesday, Nov. 8, police found a key to Halbach's vehicle, with Avery's DNA on it. The key was found about the third time his bedroom was searched, and apparently fell from a cabinet that was moved and jostled and shaken, Kratz said. That day, police also found license plates for Halbach's SUV in a station wagon in the salvage yard. "Not by accident," Kratz said. Also that day, police found the burn area where remains of Halbach's body would eventually be found. They also found her tibia, part of a long leg bone, with tissue attached, despite "Avery's attempt to obliterate these bones by burning." posted by john lee at 10:38 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Evidence will exclude other suspects, Kratz says On Wednesday, vehicle from the blood is matched to Avery and bones are recovered, Kratz tells jurors. Avery had a deep cut on his hand, and police found his blood in at least six places in her vehicle, including on the rear cargo door. Blood from the ignition matched Avery, from "an actively bleeding middle right finger." Both front seats and the rear tailgate also had Avery's blood, and Halbach's blood is also found on the tailgate. Kratz said experts had enough bones recovered to show two entrance gunshot wounds. "I will be able to tell you this was a homicide and it included at least two gunshot wounds to the head of Teresa Halbach." He said other scientific evidence will include that of a forensic odontologist who matched teeth from the burn area to Halbach, and by a forensic anthropologist who identified bones found in the search as those of an adult woman. An FBI lab later used a sophisticated testing to confirm those bones came from Halbach. "There is really no question whose camera it was that Mr. Avery burned up in that burn barrel Oct, 31," Kratz said. Other evidence will include shell casings from Avery's garage with Halbach's DNA on them. "The facts in this case will not just point to who did it." He said evidence will also show people excluded from suspicion. "At the end of this case you will search for the truth," Kratz said. "Remembering the humanity of Teresa Halbach, remembering who she is, and what she meant to these people, is an important part (of jurors' job). "I will ask at the conclusion that you return a verdict of guilty." "Teresa left her DNA for you," he told jurors. Lunch break from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. posted by john lee at 11:00 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The defense: System fails Avery again Avery's lead attorney, Dean Strang of Madison, said the system failed Steven Avery in 1985, and he wants to make sure than it doesn't fail him again. Strang wasted little time in getting to the conspiracy theory that Manitowoc County officers framed Avery, using a vial of blood that was drawn from Avery 11 years ago and was left unsecured in the Manitowoc County Clerk of Courts office. And very early in his opening statement, he pointed the finger at Lt. James Lenk, the fourth-highest-ranking officer in the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, and Sgt. Andrew Colborn, who gave depositions in the civil suit. "By October, 2004 the lawsuit mattered. "This lawsuit was the public cry of a man wrongly convicted and sent to prison. "This kind of thing has to be a nightmare for every law enforcement officer." Like special prosecutor Ken Kratz in his opening, Strang said Avery's 1985 conviction for rape in Manitowoc County, and his eventual exoneration of that conviction by DNA evidence, will be at the center of this case. Strang told jurors about the $36 million federal lawsuit Avery filed against the county for his false conviction in 1985. "There was no question the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department and the court system had gotten the wrong guy," he said. Strang said a vial of blood drawn from Avery in 1996 and left unsecured in the Manitowoc County Clerk of Courts office, and the availability of that blood to Lenk, also will be at the center of his defense. Strang said the Avery family "shares the perimeter of this (salvage yard) property with 4,000 rusting cars that are the wreckage of other people's lives. "You've got to get your hands dirty if you work in the salvage business. You've got to get your hands bloody," he said in an attempt to explain a deep cut police found on Avery's hand in the days after Halbach disappeared. posted by john lee at 11:46 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Family and friends Two of the people who knew Teresa Halbach best opened the testimony against her accused killer Monday. Her younger brother, Mike Halbach, and her partner and boss in a photography business, Tom Pearce, were the first two witnesses in the case against Steven Avery, who is accused of killing her Oct. 31, 2005 after she took a picture of a van he was selling at his family's salvage yard west of Mishicot. "She had many friends and loved doing things with her friends," her brother said. He last saw her the day before his disappearance, when the family gathered at their grandfather's home for his birthday, which was Halloween. They had also worked together Saturday, when she helped Mike video tape a wedding. Pearce met her when she interned for him in early 2002 while she was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. "From there on I saw she was an exceptional person for a photographer and for a person her age." He asked her to stay on, and they worked together, running their separate businesses. "The drive, the passion. I was very impressed with her," he said. "I have 38 years experience and I wanted to share that with her. "She loved photographing children of all ages. She had a knack for that." He remembered her being "happy as a lark she had her first car," when she bought a small sport utility vehicle to replace an old beater. She loved to travel and had been to Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, her brother said. She coached her younger sister's seventh grade volleyball team and graduated with honors from UW-Green Bay, Mike said. He remembers driving highways around Mishicot with his brother after she was reported missing. They hoped to find her, and thought maybe she had an accident somewhere. "We hoped to find her alive," he said. posted by john lee at 4:31 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_12_archive.html

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Still certain, but ... Mike Halbach has at least thought of the possibility that Steven Avery may be acquitted in the killing of his sister, Teresa. After Monday's opening day, he told the press he is still "100 percent certain" that police arrested the right man and he will be convicted. But, he said at a press conference that night, "Maybe if it doesn't happen it means we've been looking in the wrong place." posted by john lee at 8:02 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snow today Snow flurries started just as we got close to Chilton this morning. The forecast is for a couple inches here, but Sheriff Jerry Pagel said before 8 a.m. there were reports that Valders - half way between Chilton and Manitowoc, where the jury is coming from - already had four inches. posted by john lee at 8:06 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Public viewing A few members of the public have been coming to view proceedings. A lady from Manitowoc viewed much of last week's jury selection and showed up here Monday for opening statements. She is a retired employee of a Manitowoc junior high school, and got interested in the court system when a boy she knew was charged with, and later convicted of, the shooting death of Manitowoc police officer Jerry Ten Haken. A middle aged couple is here today - waiting as soon as the courthouse was opened - and said they just wanted to see the court action. "Sometimes you have to come and see it just to remember it is real," the lady said. Deputies said about a dozen people not connected with the Halbach or Avery families or the media attended Monday. posted by john lee at 8:08 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More and less Quite a few more friends and relatives of Teresa Halbach are in the courtroom today, filling just about all of the seats behind prosecutors. Behind Avery's parents, Allen and Delores, the seats are empty. One man is in the area, and a police officer and the victim witness coordinator are in chairs along the back wall. Monday, one of Avery's brothers and his wife, and two older women, sat with the Averys. posted by john lee at 9:02 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A slow start After an objection by Ken Kratz that Dean Strang over-stepped the allowed accusations about the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department in his opening statement Monday, we're off to a slow start. Judge Willis said Kratz will have ample time to address Strang's allegations, and said he can always advise the jury on issues later in the trial. So far this morning, we've had one witness, telling more than anybody wants to know about the operation of Auto Trader magazine. Angela Schuster, who works for Auto Trader, where Halbach was working as a freelance photographer, said Halbach had been to Avery’s a half dozen times in the five months before she disappeared after an appointment at Avery’s Oct. 31. She wasn't sure what kind of camera the magazine issued Halbach, until Kratz showed her a box and reminded her it was a Canon. That is important later, since police found parts of a Canon camera in the burn barrel at Avery's home. She said photographers for the magazine are paid per shot, working from prescheduled appointments, and customers pay from $24.95 to $59.95, depending on which package they choose. There is no billing, but customers either pre-pay or pay the photographer when they take the shot. Avery has claimed he paid Halbach in cash, and she left the salvage yard after taking the photo of the van he was selling for his sister, Barb, who is Brendan Dassey's mother. Dawn Pliszka, a receptionist for Auto Trader, is also scheduled to testify. She took the appointment for the photo when Avery called and set the appointment under the name of "B. Dassey," - a move prosecutors said was taken so Halbach didn't know she was going to Avery's, but a move defense attorneys say was normal, since he was selling the vehicle for his sister. posted by john lee at 10:01 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gassing the prisoners It seems exhaust from a large television satellite truck from a Milwaukee station was finding its way into the courthouse through air vents. Sheriff Jerry Pagel said inmates at the jail and some employees in the building were complaining, but they solved the problem by moving the truck to another area of the parking lot. Nobody was gassed or ill, but they knew something wasn't right, Pagel said. posted by john lee at 10:34 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avery in a towel? Dawn Pliszka, a receptionist for Auto Trader, said Halbach had talked to her about previous appointments at Avery’s sometime after Oct. 10, 2005. “He had come out in a towel,” when she went to his home for an appointment just weeks before she disappeared. “She kind of laughed and just said ‘eew,’ not in a positive way,” Pliszka said. Her testimony came outside the presence of the jury, and Judge Willis said he would not allow it in front of jurors, because of the lack of a more exact date and a lack of context. “We don’t really know in the range of weeks or months when the observation was made,” he said. Prosecutor Ken Kratz said the testimony should be admissible as an exception to hearsay rules. “It is clear the factors required have been established,” he said. “With Miss Halbach being unavailable, we’d ask the court to allow it.” Defense attorney Dean Strang said he doesn’t question the statement, but questions the necessity. “Very, very low necessity,” he said. “The state sought this element because it added a sexual assault allegation, and that (charge) has now been dismissed. “It’s got some prejudice to it,” he said. posted by john lee at 10:41 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_13_archive.html

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 The appointment with Avery Dawn Pliszka, a receptionist for Auto Trader, said Avery called in the morning for a same day appointment, and asked for "that girl photographer who had been there before." Halbach called back at 2:27 p.m. and told her the B. Dassey appointment was for the salvage yard. B. Dassey is the name of Avery's sister and apparently the name Avery left with Auto Trader. "It was the Avery brothers and I am on my way out there now," Halbach told her. She remembered that, she said, because Halbach usually didn't work after 1 p.m. Jerome Buting, one of Avery's attorneys, questioned her about Halbach's plans after the scheduled photo at Avery's, saying she couldn't say if Halbach left for an unscheduled "hustle shot" — a photo set up by the photographer, not the agency — or was followed when she left. "If he wanted to kill Teresa Halbach he could have called her direct and not left a trial of blood (and phone contacts), couldn't he?" Buting asked. posted by john lee at 11:25 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The search from the air Curt Drumm, a pilot who searched the area for Halbach in the days after she disappeared, opened afternoon testimony. Drumm is fairly well known in the Manitowoc area, judging from the number of prospective jurors who said they knew him when they were questioned during jury selection last week. He said he flew over roads and county highways to see if he could see Halbach's vehicle in a ditch, thinking it may have been in an crash or hidden. "From above you have a much better perspective," he said. "(They searched) Roadways, ditches, area farms, behind barns — any place she might have gone on purpose or otherwise." posted by john lee at 1:21 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teresa's last photos The last two customers Teresa Halbach saw before heading to Avery's home the afternoon of Oct. 31, 2005, remembered a "friendly, polite" young woman. Steve Schmitz, who lives south of New Holstein, said he saw Halbach for 10 to 15 minutes that afternoon when she came to his home about 1:30 p.m. to photograph a car he had for sale. "Very friendly, very polite," he said. JoEllen Zipperer lives near State 310, north of Manitowoc, and said Halbach came to her home in the mid afternoon, "between 2 and 2:30." She said Halbach was there about 15 minutes, but did not see which direction she came from or left toward. "She smiled. A couple things we talked about she smiled," she said. posted by john lee at 1:22 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The former boyfriend Ryan Hillegas and Teresa Halbach remained friends long after their five-year dating relationship ended. Hillegas, who dated Halbach from high school into college, coordinated the search starting the day Halbach's parents reported her missing. Hillegas started calling friends the afternoon of Nov. 3, and printed Halbach's cell phone records so friends and business contacts could be called. Hillegas, a registered nurse who works in cardiology at a Milwaukee-area hospital, said he had seen Halbach the weekend before, and she told him she was going to dress as a cowgirl for a Halloween party. Jerome Buting, one of Steven Avery's attorneys, asked Hillegas several questions about her relationship with Scott Bloedorn — just friends and roommates — and of other relationships Halbach may have had. "Is it fair to say Teresa had a private side you didn't know about?" Buting asked. "I wouldn't say she had a private side," Hillegas said. "It was just a mutual understanding," he said of their decision in 2001 to end their dating relationship. Hillegas and Bloedorn were allowed past police checkpoints. But they were not allowed onto the Avery property during the police search, Hillegas said. "It is fair to say you weren't treated in anyway like a suspect?" Buting said. "That's right," Hillegas said. posted by john lee at 2:09 PM | 0 Comments Pam Sturm finds Teresa's vehicle Pam Sturm and her daughter Nikole, both of De Pere, found Halbach's sport utility vehicle, partially hidden in the far corner of the salvage yard, the Saturday after she was reported missing. During Avery's preliminary hearing and a later motions hearing, Avery attorney Dean Strang tried to get Pam Sturm to concede she was working under the direction of police. Getting that admission could have meant the search warrants for the salvage yard would have been voided, since they were agents of the police when they found the vehicle. However, Sturm held to her contention that they didn't have direction from police when they got permission from Avery's brother to check the salvage yard. God, she said repeatedly, directed her to Teresa's vehicle. She took the witness stand just before 3:30 p.m., and will probably wrap up today's witnesses. posted by john lee at 3:27 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pam and Nikole find Teresa's SUV "We were looking for Teresa — any signs of her car or herself," Pam Sturm testified. They weren't there long when they found a vehicle on the far edge of the salvage yard property — as far as they could be from Steven Avery's trailer and still be in the yard. "This is Teresa's car and we are in danger," Pam Sturm said. "I called Nikole's name. I maybe even screamed." They used Nikole's cell phone to call Sheriff Jerry Pagel, but got voice-mail and switched to dispatchers to let Calumet County officers know they thought they had located Teresa's vehicle. The tape of the call, played for the jury: "We have found a Rav-4." "What color specifically, and do you have a VIN number?" a dispatcher asked. Pagel comes on the phone, and has Sgt. Mark Wiegert give her the VIN. "I am at Avery salvage and it is all covered up. Not all covered, but it's got branches on it. "It’s a little covered up. It’s weird. It’s covered up." "Do not go in the car. Do not touch the car," Wiegert tells her. "I don’t have my glasses." And they read the last four digits: 3-0-4-4 "There are some people out here so we have to be careful." "Are you there with their permission?" Wiegert asks, and she tells them yes. "Stay right where you are and don't touch anything. Don’t go near that vehicle," Wiegert tells her. posted by john lee at 4:05 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Here's your %$#* tape recorder I was sitting in the front row of the basement media room, next to Carrie Antlfinger of The Associated Press, waiting for defense attorney Dean Strang to begin answering questions on Bobby Dassey's testmony. I call her the Lovely and Talented Ms. Antlfinger, and she is competent, polite and not threatening. Full disclosure: She brought me a (small) bag of chocolate covered almonds for some help I gave her and AP last week. Carrie, like many of us do at press conferences, put her digital recorder on the podium in front of Strang. And he picked it up, walked the three steps to her chair with a half-smile, and held it in his hand until she took it back. He returned to the podium and started the press conference. Seems others can do that, not the Lovely and Talented Ms. Antlfinger. That's because Carrie interviewed Steven Avery from the Calumet County Jail last summer. She wrote Avery a letter directly, he responded and agreed, and she did the story. That was after Strang said no more interviews. Seems the memo didn't get to his client. Apparently it's best to shove the tape recorder if you can't kill the messenger. posted by john lee at 5:10 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An early recess Judge Willis just told the jury we would be stopping early for the day when Trooper Tim Austin is done testifying, and they decided to skip their afternoon break for an early dismissal. At least some of us will be getting home early for Valentine's Day. Testimony is due to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday with the defense's cross examination of Bobby Dassey. I'm signing off for the day, but join us tomorrow on www.postcrescent.com for updates throughout the day. posted by john lee at 3:21 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The victim-witness coordinator Julie Leverenz, Calumet County victim-witness coordinator, is part coordinator, part counselor Tim Austin, a Wisconsin highway patrol trooper who does crash reconstruction, is on the stand explaining the methods he used to make some computer models the prosecution is using in the trial. Since I've written about him before, and covered him extensively when he testified at an evidentiary hearing last week, I thought I'd tell you about someone behind the scenes. Every Wisconsin county is required to have a victim witness coordinator, and obviously, large counties will have more than one. For the decade or so that I have been coming to Chilton to cover court cases, Calumet County's victim-witness coordinator, Julie Leverenz, has impressed me. Tall and thin and usually carrying a clip board, she doesn't stand out. When I see her, she is usually working with the worst cases society has to offer — homicides, sex crimes or crimes against children. To oversimplify her job, she coordinates the people her boss — the district attorney — needs for court appearances. For weeks before this trial, she was bringing potential witnesses into this courtroom, explaining what they would face, showing them the witness chair, explaining where the jury and judge and attorneys would be, and trying to tell them what to expect. She will do that for many cases, large and small, and helps prepare witnesses and victims for appearances that range from preliminary hearings to trials to sentencings. She's a source of information — and a shoulder to cry on — for victims of crimes and their families, and lets them know how cases proceed and what may happen. She becomes close to victims, and is seen so often with Teresa Halbach's family that a member of the media asked me last week if she was a Halbach relative. In major cases like this, she also shields the family from the media, and lets the media know when the victim's family does want to speak. She guides the family in and out every day, contacts witnesses to confirm scheduling, and makes sure they are ready when the prosecutor calls them. These witnesses are sequestered in a room down the hall, and she also has a room — out of the public's eye — where the Halbachs can relax. Coffee? Soft drink? Need to use the bathroom first? Oh, and remember to listen to the attorneys' questions closely, look at the jury and speak clearly. She's been at the job 14 years. "I'm an old timer," she told me this morning. I figured she'd been working 12- or 14-hour days, but she said it's "only" been 11 or so. It's not so bad, she said, since her children are 9 and 11 and really don't need Mom all the time. But the victims and witnesses and prosecutors here do. posted by john lee at 2:17 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The aftermath We're back from lunch, and Avery's attorneys, Dean Strang and Jerome Buting, were given a long lunch break to decide if they want to cross-examine Bobby Dassey now or later. The attorneys from both sides were in chambers with Judge Willis from about 1:15 p.m., when we were supposed to be back in session, until 1:45 p.m. Avery's attorney will delay their cross-examination of Dassey until tomorrow, and will interview him first. Instead, prosecutors will call Trooper Tim Austin, a reconstruction expert for the Wisconsin State Patrol. He testified at an evidentiary hearing Friday, and did computerized exhibits, including one of the Avery family property and one of a female skeleton. Strang said he would rather have adjourned today instead of cross-examining Dassey out of order. Kratz said another section of the sheriff's department report, pages 516 and 517, also referenced Dassey's statements. He earlier said the statement was on page 259 of the report. "They've known for well over a year that Mr. Dassey was the last person besides Mr. Avery to see Teresa Halbach alive and walking towards Mr. Avery's trailer," Kratz said. Willis said he wouldn't change his denial of the motion for mistrial. "The defense has had the opportunity to interview this witness as long as this case has been pending," Willis said. "We are talking about one narrow statement that was provided to the defense." posted by john lee at 12:58 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No mistrial Calls for mistrials aren't unusual in homicide trials, and we won't have one because of Bobby Dassey's testimony today. The issue: Dassey caught everyone by surprise when he said his uncle Steven Avery asked him and a friend — he thought jokingly — if they wanted to help him dispose of "a body." But Dassey testified that statement came Thursday, Nov. 3 — the day Teresa Halbach was reported missing — while the police report defense attorneys reviewed said it came Nov. 10, after Avery had been jailed. Judge Willis said he will not declare a mistrial, but he would consider an instruction to the jury later, and will offer the defense more time before they cross-examine Dassey. "What we have here then is a materially different statement made at an entirely different time and made at a time it is impossible to be made at a time Mr. Dassey said it was made," defense attorney Dean Strang said. Special prosecutor Ken Kratz said Bobby Dassey's revelations did not include any violation of discovery rules. He said he is surprised at Strang's objection. "Why the defense is claiming surprise. Why didn't they do something with this statement. The defense had this information available to them. "There were many remedies available to the defense. The jury is not going to be misled." Kratz said a mistrial is "reserved for serious cases of prosecutorial misconduct or when other remedies are not available." He said the statement is on page 259 of the Calumet County Sheriff's Department report. "A mistrial is not appropriate," and Strang can deal with the statement on cross-examination, Kratz said. Strang said the statement "needs a remedy," and he is asking the judge to tell the jury the statement is false "if the court is going to adopt a remedy short of a mistrial." "They are not the same statement" as in the police report, he said. He said the judge should tell jurors to disregard all of Bobby Dassey's testimony. "The remedy here is a mistrial or a statement that will erase this statement from the jury's consideration." Judge Willis said there was no violation of discovery, but he also wouldn't fault the defense for not interviewing Dassey before the trial. "There is no dispute the discovery information was provided by the state to the defense." But he said the date is different, with Bobby today saying the comment was made Nov. 3, and the report saying Nov. 10, after Avery was jailed — and said the defense is entitled to "some consideration" in preparing to cross-examine Dassey. But he said he won't declare a mistrial, and may consider an instruction to the jury at a later time. Sounds like we'll get 90 minutes for lunch today while Strang and Jerome Buting consider their options. Until then, no attorney is supposed to talk to Bobby Dassey. posted by john lee at 11:11 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More from Bobby — and a mistrial motion Bobby explained a lot of the living arrangements in the corner of the family property. He said he hadn't seen a bonfire at his uncle's trailer for a couple weeks, and said Steven's dog, Bear, was tied to a 15-foot chain between the two trailers. Avery's attorneys just made a motion for a mistrial, and we are on break. posted by john lee at 10:12 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bobby Dassey implicates his uncle Bobby Dassey, 20, the nephew of Steven Avery and brother of 17-year-old Brendan Dassey, who is also charged in Teresa Halbach's death, said he last saw Teresa Halbach walking toward his uncle's trailer. And he testified Steven asked him Nov. 3 if he wanted to get rid of a body. Bobby was called to the stand this morning as a prosecution witness. He said he worked nights, and was home — the family trailer is next to the one where Steven Avery lives — and said he saw Halbach's vehicle drive in about 2:30 p.m. "She got out and started taking pictures," he said. "A maroon van. It was parked right in front of our house. "I seen her take a picture of the front and the back and then I went and took a shower." Bobby Dassey said he last saw Halbach walking toward the door of Avery's trailer, and said he was in the shower three or four minutes and never saw her again. "I got dressed and went hunting," Bobby said. His sport utility vehicle was parked near a garage between the two trailers. He went bow hunting without luck, and came home about 5 p.m. "I seen two deer," he said. "I went home and laid down. I watched TV for a little bit and I went to bed." He slept about three hours (his job's shift began at 10 p.m.). But Thursday — the day Halbach was reported missing, and a day before most of the Avery family went to their cabin in Marinette County — Steven asked Bobby Dassey "if he wanted us to help him get rid of the body," he testified. "It sounded like he was joking." Stay tuned. posted by john lee at 9:19 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo gallery If you haven't taken the time yet to view the photo gallery we are posting from the trial, be sure to check it out. As photo editor Dewey Nale said, only one or two of the dozens of photos we take each day make the print editions. Photographers from Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers are the pool shooters for the trial, and one is inside the courtroom each day. Nale is seated next to me in the glass room behind the courtroom, and as a photo is shot it is transmitted from the camera to a laptop computer, where he crops it, adds a cutline and sends it to our workspace in the basement media room. From there, through the mystery of electronics, the photo goes to our office in Appleton, where they are posted on something called a share drive for all the group newspapers to access. The information coming from the camera even tells him what lens was used, as well as which lens setting and shutter speed. Today's photographer is from The Sheboygan Press, one of our sister papers. The industry is changing, as you can see from this trial coverage. "It's all about the Web," Nale says. Andy Nelesen from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, who is handling trial coverage for our print editions this week, made an astute observation about how this coverage shows an ability by newspapers to change with the times. Radio didn't kill us, and television didn't kill us, and cable TV didn't kill us. And the Web plays to many of our strengths. That's why, he mused, "They call us the Fourth Estate." posted by john lee at 8:58 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early morning As I drove south of Appleton on the way here this morning, I had to do a double take when I got to the stoplight at the north shore of Lake Winnebago. With the thermometer in my vehicle showing zero and one above, I couldn't believe what I saw. There, a couple vehicles ahead of me, was a guy on a motorcycle. He was dressed warm and turned off somewhere around High Cliff State Park, and I hope he was close to a home and a heater. A few miles ahead, just past Sherwood, I pulled over when a Calumet County squad car sped toward us with red lights and siren on. Another followed closely behind. I called dispatch to see of there was a serious traffic crash, and they said it was a domestic incident at 7:15 a.m. A few miles up the road I saw another squad, and then a fourth. Sheriff Jerry Pagel said Valentine's Day started early. There was a domestic with weapons involved, but the situation was under control. Time for the trial to resume. posted by john lee at 8:15 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_14_archive.html

Thursday, February 15, 2007 Done for the day? Judge Willis just announced he and attorneys are going into chambers for a talk, and said he didn't know if they'd be back in court today or if the jury would be dismissed early. posted by john lee at 3:19 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm going to ask you directly ... Prosecutor Ken Kratz said he wasn't going to avoid the defense allegations that a couple Manitowoc County deputies who had access to the Avery property after Teresa Halbach disappeared — and also had access to an 11-year-old unsecured vial of Avery's blood that was found in the Manitowoc County Clerks of Courts office — could have planted evidence to frame Avery. "I'm going to ask you directly," he asked Sgt. Jason Orth, Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department. Did anyone — specifically Sgt. Andrew Colborn or Lt. James Lenk — have an opportunity to get inside that vehicle? "No police officer or citizen approached or touched that vehicle," said Orth, one of the first officers to arrive at the salvage yard after the vehicle was found. He said he didn't see any blood. "I glanced inside for a body." posted by john lee at 1:42 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jury has a question Returning from lunch, Judge Willis informed jurors he would not allow them to ask questions. A juror passed a note at lunch asking permission to ask a question of Lt. Brett Bowe, the Calumet County supervisor who coordinated 24-hour security at the Avery salvage yard during the eight-day police search. For one of the few times in months, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on something, and said they would not object to the judge's statements. Jurors might ask questions about evidence that has been ruled inadmissible, or might ask about evidence that attorneys plan to introduce later. Setting the pace and order of the case is for attorneys and not jurors, the judge said. posted by john lee at 1:09 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teresa's mother For the nearly year and a half I've been covering hearings in this case, there's one phrase that keeps coming to mind when I see Karen Halbach. Grace under pressure. Her second son, Mike, may be the face and voice of the family, but when this large extended family walks into a courtroom every eye is on Karen. She sits in the first row just behind the prosecutors, and you know as jurors look past Ken Kratz they see Teresa Halbach's mother. Kratz has worked to make sure this trial is about the woman he has called "Karen Halbach's daughter." She usually sits with Mike or oldest son Tim on her left and husband Tom on her right, and you can see the worry lines around her eyes and the gray in her hair have increased in the past months. It's just the last couple months where we've seen her smile, usually when she is talking to one of her sons and usually outside of court. No mother should have to bury her daughter, her friend, just as she is coming into her own as a young woman, and that tragedy has to be multiplied a thousand times when the death comes from a gruesome, senseless act. Every day, she sits in the eye of a lot of people, listening to how her daughter died and how the police investigation progressed. The family is briefed by Kratz before court hearings, as they were briefed by Kratz and Sheriff Jerry Pagel before details of the early investigation were released. But nothing can prepare a mother for what she's been told, and it's going to get worse. Karen Halbach has passed her deep religious faith onto her children, and it must be working when someone like Milwaukee attorney Gerald Boyle, and a lot of other people, go out of their way to tell me how they sympathize with the family, and are impressed with the class they've shown. After the family spends the day in court, she goes home and she and Tom have chores on the farm, and they have two adolescent daughters who still need them. Then she'll come back tomorrow and do it again. posted by john lee at 1:01 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Salvage yard security Calumet County Sheriff's Department Lt. Brett Bowe has been on the stand for a while explaining the extensive 24-hour security police — Calumet and Manitowoc counties, and the State Patrol and others — used to secure the Avery property from the time Teresa Halbach's car was found Nov. 5, 2005, until police completed their searches of the home the following weekend, Nov. 12, 2005. That is the time several search warrants were executed, and it's easy to forget the bad weather — including torrential rains — that affected police the first weekend, turning parts of the salvage yard into a muddy quagmire. There was a command post, road blocks, security on the four corners of the property and roaming patrols. For a better idea of what went on during what police call the largest criminal investigation in the state, see the interactive maps of the property on our Avery trial page. posted by john lee at 11:07 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stipulation on the testimony With the jury out of the room, Strang wants a stipulation that Bobby Dassey didn't hear the beginning of a conversation in the garage that night, and that Michael Osmundsen knew Steven Avery was "one of the last people to see the girl." "He asked Steven if he had the girl stashed in a closet." Kratz said he wouldn't object to some of the stipulations, as long as they omit a phrase "Michael admitted he had learned" that Halbach was missing. Kratz objected to a phrase saying the men laughed and said "she may have gone to Mexico." The jury is back and will hear the stipulated statement. The judge said morning break will come at 10:30 a.m. posted by john lee at 10:01 AM | 1 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bobby Dassey continues He said when he saw Teresa Halbach photographing the van Avery was selling Oct. 31, 2005, she was wearing a knee-length coat and slacks. He said he didn't hear any screaming or cries for help from Avery's trailer the evening of Oct. 31. "I didn't hear anything," he said. Dassey used a 30.06 for hunting, also had shotguns, and he had a .22-caliber semi automatic rifle in the fall of 2005, he said. His mother, Barb Janda, also kept a .22 in her bedroom, he said. He said he is sure he awoke about 2:30 p.m. Halloween, and said brothers Blaine and Brendan usually got home about 3:45 p.m. He said he is sure Blaine did not awaken him that day. Prosecutor Ken Kratz took over at 9:55 a.m., and said he saw Halbach walking toward Avery's trailer after he took a shower that afternoon. Before his shower, he had seen her taking photos of the van — testimony Kratz said is critical to developing the timeline and establishing that Avery was the last person known to see Halbach alive. He's off the stand in two minutes. posted by john lee at 9:43 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still more Bobby Strang asked Dassey "about a conversation that happened in your garage" with his uncle Steven and friend Mike. Dassey said they had just arrived home with some climbing sticks — devices put on a tree to help climbing into a tree stand — when Steven wandered over. A deer Dassey had picked up earlier from a road kill near his home was hanging in the garage and had not been skinned yet. It hadn't been tagged yet, and Strang had the state Department of Natural Resources tag, dated Nov. 4 — the day before Halbach's vehicle was found in the salvage yard and a day after Halbach's family reported her missing. Dassey said he didn't hear the early part of the conversation between Mike and Steven, but agreed with Strang that it was "clearly a joke" and everybody laughed. He didn't know about Halbach's disappearance, but either Steve or Mike had heard about it on TV, he said. He couldn't get into the yard when he came home Saturday, Nov. 5, and police talked to him at least three times in the following weeks. No police officer ever asked him "about this joke," he said. Bobby said he never knew of a call Strang said came late the night of Friday, Nov. 4, from his uncle Chuck, saying he had seen headlights down toward "the pit" and that Bobby and Steven went to the area to look for headlights. posted by john lee at 9:28 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bobby is back Defense attorney Dean Strang is cross-examining Dassey, asking about the salvage yard business and the living arrangements of the family members who lived there in 2005, but the jury acts like it knows something is up. Most of them have been paying attention all week, swiveling their heads from witness to attorney like they are at a tennis match. But this morning they seem to be sitting up straighter, taking more notes and paying closer attention. posted by john lee at 9:17 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bobby on the stand Judge Willis came in just after 9 a.m. and said prosecutor Ken Kratz will play an animation prepared by Tim Austin, a Wisconsin state trooper. Willis said attorneys have discussed "a stipulation concerning the next witness," supposedly Dassey, but there isn't any agreement or detail on it yet. "If the cross goes as expected it is very likely we will agree to that," was all that Kratz said. The short animation will be on the Avery family property, and shows the relationship between Steven Avery's trailer, his sister Barb Janda's trailer, burn barrels, the garage between the two homes and other points of interest. Dassey should be on the stand soon. posted by john lee at 9:06 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bobby Dassey: Part 2 After dropping the bombshell yesterday that his uncle Steve asked him — in a joking manner, Bobby Dassey said — to help him get rid of a body, Dassey is due back on the stand this morning for cross-examination by defense attorney Dean Strang. Special prosecutor Ken Kratz said the important things he called Dassey to testify about concern setting the timeline that Teresa Halbach was at Steven Avery's trailer — around 2:30 p.m. Oct. 31 — and that Bobby last saw her walking toward Avery's trailer after she had taken photos of the van Avery was selling. The attorneys are in chambers with the judge now, and we should be starting soon. Stay tuned. posted by john lee at 8:06 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The judge's schedule For the 17 months leading up to this trial, I don't think a single hearing has started on time. More likely than not, the media and the Halbach and Avery families were in the courtroom on time, and five or 10 minutes after the scheduled time the clerk came out and said the judge wanted to see counsel in chambers. Then, 30 minutes or so later, court was in session. Media members, especially those who haven't covered trials before, asked me if Judge Willis would keep schedules like that during trial. I didn't know, but said I've seen judges who operate on their own clock become more aware of schedules once a jury is involved. It's common courtesy for the jury, and keeps a trial moving. Not all discussions outside the jury or in chambers can be planned, as Wednesday's events showed, but Judge Willis has been keeping a good schedule so far. posted by john lee at 7:59 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_15_archive.html

Friday, February 16, 2007 An anonymous letter and 970 items of evidence Buting said he found a letter last fall in the Calumet County file on the case, and said it was found in the Green Bay post office after Halbach disappeared. The letter allegedly said "body burned in smelter, 3 a.m. Friday," and Buting took that to mean an old smelter near an old Avery salvage building. He said police did nothing with the letter, and did not send it to the crime lab for analysis until he asked. "Is that because a body being burned in a smelter doesn't fit your theory?" Buting asked. Fassbender said the smelter had been examined by arson investigators and "it hadn't been used for a while." "It would not make sense to burn the bones in the smelter and take the bones and place them in your own backyard, would it?" Buting asked. He said police didn't then have any evidence that Halbach was ever in Avery's home. "We found shell casings in the garage that matched up to guns in the house," Fassbender said. But that's not unusual in the country, where people hunt and shoot guns all the time, Buting said. Buting also questioned the lack of blood spatter, hair or blood paths in Avery's trailer, if the scenario police — and co-defendant Brendan Dassey — paint was true. "Four months of investigation has not found one thread of Teresa Halbach's DNA anywhere in Steven Avery's trailer or garage?" Buting asked. "That's right," Fassbender said. Under questioning by special prosecutor Ken Kratz, Fassbender said the smelter had earlier been eliminated as a source of a fire to burn a body. He said "upwards of 970 items" of evidence were seized in the investigation, and he can't remember them all. He also said Colborn and Lenk were not involved in Avery's 1985 arrest, but we involved in the civil suit because about 1996 Colborn, a jailer at the time, took an anonymous phone call saying Avery was innocent. He passed that on to detectives. "They had nothing to do with that," Fassbender said of their involvement in Avery's 1985 arrest. After being on the stand since 10:15 a.m., Fassbender was excused at 3:50 p.m. With lunch, that roughly four hours on the stand. posted by john lee at 2:27 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other suspects and a "bias" against Avery Jerome Buting grilled DCI Special Agent Tom Fassbender over what he earlier called a "tunnel vision" investigation that targeted Avery, and he asked about other suspects. "You would not have knowingly assigned officers to tasks where there is an appearance of a conflict of interest?" Buting asked. "I have trouble with the word appearance," Fassbender said. He said he did not know Colborn or Lenk gave depositions just three weeks before in the $36 million federal civil suit Avery filed against Manitowoc in connection with his 1985 arrest and conviction. "If you had known those two officers were deposed in that civil case you would not have assigned them, would you?" the attorney said. "That's not correct, based on what I know now," Fassbender said. "I am saying yes. "There's more to that answer. If you want more I'll tell you." But Buting didn't want more, and said Fassbender can explain his answer when Kratz questions him on re-cross. He said he needed evidence technicians and would have asked what the alleged conflict of interest related to. "We were looking for trained evidence technicians and we put a team together." He said there were other suspects besides Avery, but said Avery was a logical place to start. Often, Buting said, the most obvious suspects are not the killers. Does that mean, Buting asked, that you would investigate a roommate or former boyfriend, referring to Halbach's friend and ex-boyfriend Ryan Hillegas or roommate Scott Bloeddorn. "That is an avenue that would be approached absent other circumstances," Fassbender said. "Or an employer who doesn't report an employee missing for three days," Buting asked, referring to photographer Tom Pearce? "That would be something to look into, yes," Fassbender said. "How about a roommate who doesn't report a roommate missing for three or also four days?" Buting said his questions were made to "demonstrating his bias towards Mr. Avery and his focus on Mr. Avery." posted by john lee at 2:02 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fassbender vs. the defense Defense attorney Jerome Buting had his shot at DCI Special Agent Tom Fassbender Friday afternoon, trying to get one of the leaders of the investigation to concede Manitowoc County deputies had an opportunity to plant evidence implicating Steven Avery in Teresa Halbach's death. (He's often referring to what he calls "the most popular exhibit so far," the aerial views of the Avery property.) You can see an interactive version of that exhibit at www.postcrescent.com/avery. "I didn't want to set up an investigation that was unfair," Fassbender told him. "Plus the appearance," Buting said. "This is a high-profile case." "I was concerned about finding the truth, not about what people thought. I made my decisions based on that," the agent said. Lt. James Lenk and Sgt. Andrew Colborn, the two Manitowoc officers under fire from the defense, signed out of the crime scene at 10:41 p.m., the police log shows. But when Buting asked when they had signed in, they were not listed on the log. "There's a couple possibilities why that might be," Buting said. He said Lenk could have bypassed the checkpoint, or he arrived before the logs were started. Fassbender admitted the possibility of having an officer plant evidence wasn't in his mind when he arrived at the scene. "I worked in public corruption for 12 years and in white collar crime, and I don't think I ever had any officer do that." "Did it cause you any concern that a major piece of evidence in this case was under the control of the one department that had itself determined to have an appearance of a conflict of interest?" Buting asked. "No it didn't," Fassbender said. "It didn't concern you there would be an appearance of the fox guarding the hen house so to speak?" Buting asked. "No, it didn't" Fassbender said. posted by john lee at 1:23 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kratz finishes with Fassbender DCI special agent Tom Fassbender said the crime scene was returned to Chuck Avery Nov. 12. In the week law enforcement had control of the salvage yard and adjacent property, Avery family members were allowed onto their property to get items such as pets and mail, Fassbender said. "(We had) quite a few requests and contacts with Avery family members," he said. "I understand we have their land and their home for a week, and it is an extreme hardship." Kratz has finished his questions, and Avery attorney Jerome Buting is starting his cross-examination. posted by john lee at 1:16 PM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fassbender: The investigation expands He said the evidence teams were set up to use training needed — in the detection, preservation and processing of evidence — and said they included officers from Calumet and Manitowoc counties. "They were there to assist us. In fact some of the people on those teams I have trained and worked with. "They were very professional. "On a homicide scene that is a level of expertise I want processing my evidence." Even on the second day of search, he wasn't sure what they were looking for, he said. "No. Not entirely," he said. Members of the Avery family were interviewed at their cabin in Marinette County, and two vehicles — a car owned by Steven Avery and a truck owned by the business — were seized that Sunday, he said. Other officers were canvassing the neighborhood around the salvage yard, he said. Officers searching Steven Avery's trailer saw some blood and went back to identify blood patterns, and the Crime Lab notified police they had a positive hit on blood inside Halbach's vehicle. On Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, another evidence collection team was sent into Avery's trailer as well as to "a potential burial site we found off the Avery property." The "complete and thorough search" in the trailer included moving furniture and items to check for evidence, he said, and that is when a key to Halbach's vehicle — with a unique fob attached — was found. (That "key" testimony is also "key testimony." Testing from the Crime Lab later showed DNA from Avery on that key, but that testimony will come later from a Crime Lab technician. Testimony will also come later that two Manitowoc County deputies the defense has accused of planting evidence were involved in the search of the trailer.) "We are getting along in the week here and I don't know how long we will be holding the scene. I wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything," he said. Monday police started early again, he said. The judge has called for a lunch break, and Fassbender will be back on the stand this afternoon. I'm sure Avery attorneys Dean Strang and Jerome Buting will have some questions for him. posted by john lee at 11:21 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fassbender: Impossible to plant evidence The nine K-9 units brought in to the salvage yard were a mix of dogs trained to find for live searches, and those trained to search for bodies or other evidence, Fassbender said. "Initially just one was brought in but once Brutus was done with his initial search the others were brought in." Then came rain, sleet and wind. "Right after dark it stormed. It was torrential downpour the rest of the night. It stormed very bad." He said he never saw another police officer or citizen enter the SUV — a question Kratz is asking all police witnesses to take the air out of the defense allegations that two Manitowoc County deputies could have planted Avery’s blood in the vehicle. posted by john lee at 11:05 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fassbender, DCI, Part II Police investigated other people besides Avery, Fassbender said. Tom Fassbender resumed his testimony, talking how technicians from the State Crime Lab arrived by 4 p.m. "Their primary duty was to process the Rav-4 SUV," he said. Investigators first determine of there is "life or a corpse." They then secure the scene. "Secure evidence, seek evidence, and get a search warrant," he said. Evidence and search teams were put together when search warrants were issued. "They started down at Steven Avery’s trailer," he said. "In a lot of these scenes you don't know exactly what you are looking for, especially in the first search, and this scene was like that." The searches change as "intelligence," information from searches, comes back to the lead investigators, he said. Avery was not the only person investigated he said. "You listen to all the information brought in you listen to the evidence. "You are there to hear the truth. "I don’t go in with necessarily one person I think did it. "There is reason to point you in a direction and I follow that direction." posted by john lee at 10:51 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The prosecutor's mother I was just chatting outside at break with a nice older lady, and as she was walking back inside I asked if she was here for a court case. "My son is the prosecutor," she said. She, her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters are here to see Ken Kratz — their son, husband and dad — in action. (And as we walked back into the courtroom Kratz saw me talking to her and shuddered). Don't print anything, he asked. So it's not in print. It's blogged on the Web. And Mom is proud. posted by john lee at 10:30 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Fassbender This could take a while. Tom Fassbender, a special agent with the state Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation for 27 years, has just taken the stand. (He is witness number 19, according to Green Bay Press-Gazette reporter Andy Nelesen's count — Andy is part of the Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers team covering the trial.) He arrived at the Avery property about 2 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2005, the day Teresa Halbach's vehicle was found. The Division of Criminal Investigation assists local agencies "due to the complexities" of homicide investigations and the size of agencies, and the State Crime Lab is also a resource used by local police. "We were hoping to find Teresa Halbach alive," Fassbender said. "I am coming into this thinking something bad happened. "We have one chance," and it is better to start a thorough investigation right away, he said. "It's fluid. (An investigation) may change based on evidence found or interviews," Fassbender said. By the time he arrived, he said, Manitowoc County had asked Calumet County to take over the investigation, citing a potential conflict of interest because Steven Avery had filed a $36 million civil suit against Manitowoc County because of his wrongful conviction in 1985. He was exonerated of that crime and freed from prison after serving 18 years. Many agencies helped in the investigation, including the Manitowoc and Two Rivers police departments, smaller police departments such as Brillion, Kiel and New Holstein, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department dive team and the Brown County Sheriff’s Department. There was also technical assistance from the FBI, help from other agencies such as Search and Rescue, wrecker services, pilots, citizen search groups, and fire departments from Manitowoc and Calumet counties. Fassbender said he can’t even estimate the number of people involved in the search, and never remembers an investigation with this many resources. Police first swept the property, hoping to find Teresa alive. That first search, designed to find a missing person alive, is done even if it may disturb or destroy evidence. The morning break comes now. Back at 10:45 a.m. posted by john lee at 10:09 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brutus the search dog hits on the SUV Living people all have different scents, dog handler Julie Cramer said, but that changes when they die. When a person dies and the body starts to decompose, their smell changes, and a search and rescue dog is trained to find that smell "instead of dead animals" or other smells, said Julie Cramer, a search and rescue dog handler. She said her dog Brutus — the best she has — smelled blood or human remains near Halbach's vehicle in the salvage yard. Police do not tell the handler or the dog where to look, but Brutus got a "hit" soon on Halbach's vehicle, which was partially hidden. "We had no information except that we were helping with a missing persons case," she said. Brutus works off leash and he ran up to that vehicle and barked. "He was very interested in this area" next to and behind plywood that was concealing Halbach's SUV. "He smelled blood or some type of human remains at that vehicle. I called him to me and secured him. "He was confident." She and Brutus and other dogs were used in the salvage yard for five days. Later, Brutus became "very agitated" as he moved toward the garage between the homes of Steven Avery and his sister, Barb Janda — a garage where police say Halbach was later taken and shot and killed. Brutus had successfully located cremated human remains in a 2005 test, she said. posted by john lee at 9:09 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Friday surprise? In the old days, when it used to be mainly newspapers covering major trials, lawyers often timed major witnesses and opening arguments and other developments to deadlines for afternoon newspapers. Lawyers on both sides also try to leave the jury with something favorable to remember before a recess. With a weekend coming up, I wonder what, if anything, special prosecutor Ken Kratz will give the jury for their thoughts over the weekend. Kratz has paraded police officers to the witness stand the last couple days, and has presented his case chronologically, taking the jury from the report of Teresa Halbach's disappearance through the discovery of her SUV at Avery's Auto Salvage, and through the security police put up around the crime scene. The first witness up today is Julie Cramer, a search and rescue dog handler who assisted in the search for Halbach. Brutus, the dog she worked with in this case, had thousands of hours of experience, and she has worked with six or seven dogs. Dogs are certified annually and must demonstrate their ability to locate people on land and in water. Brutus has been certified eight years. "Brutus has a long track record" in Wisconsin and northern Illinois for locating blood evidence, she said. He has found evidence in about 70 of 150 cadaver searches for blood or human remains. He has not been proven unsuccessful, although he has found things not related to the case he was investigating. "One time we did locate three different sources and the (police) agency was only looking for one. "He is the most experienced human remains dog we have available to us." posted by john lee at 8:33 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teresa is smiling Mike Halbach said his family didn't appreciate Steven Avery's crude joke about getting some help in getting rid of the body, but he said his family has been trying to find reasons to laugh, too, as they go through this trial. "We are laughing ourselves during breaks — finding something to laugh at," he said at a press conference at the end of Thursday's proceedings. "Teresa is doing the same thing. "She wouldn't want us to be sad all the time or rub salt in our wounds." He said prosecutor Ken Kratz had told the family what to expect. "I knew there would be difficult times and there have been. We were prepared." And he said he isn't upset about what defense attorneys have been doing. "The defense attorneys are doing the job they set out to do. I have no problem the way they are doing their job." Asked if it was difficult to hear Bobby Dassey testify about seeing his sister walk toward Avery's trailer, and knowing she'd never be seen alive again, he said they reflect on the good times. "We knew for he whole life she was a happy person and I am sure she was happy that day." posted by john lee at 7:48 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bobby's shirt It wasn't until things slowed down Thursday and I had time to cruise the photo gallery we've been posting that I noticed the shirt Bobby Dassey wore for his second day of testimony. With wide black and white stripes, it looked eerily like the jail coveralls his Uncle Steve has worn for months until the judge ordered him switched to street clothes for court appearances. (Judges have defendants, even those in jail, wear regular clothes in court because jurors can be prejudiced by seeing an inmate dressed in jail garb, or wearing handcuffs or leg shackles). Maybe if he is called to testify again here or at his brother Brendan's trial he'll wear an orange shirt — the other color favored by jails. posted by john lee at 7:39 AM | 0 Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/lee/2007_02_16_archive.html