Steven Avery was a father of five children and the husband to the love of his life in 1985 when he was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to 32 years in prison. But did he do it? To be charged in the United States of America, you need to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt. What forces were working for him? What forces were working against him?
The primary force against him was his own last name. The Avery’s had a reputation for trouble in Manitowoc County, which made the sheriff biased against him from the start.
After the attack, police asked for a physical description of Penny’s attacker. The picture that the artist came up with is almost identical to a previous mugshot of Steven Avery – he technically had the image available to him while he was creating the image. So, when presented with a lineup, Penny Beernstein selected Steven Avery as her attacker – because he was the only one that she had seen before.
However, Penny’s original description of her attacker does not match Avery’s physical characteristics whatsoever. For example, she said that her attacker had brown eyes, when Avery’s are a very distinct and bright blue. Her description of her attacker’s size and build were not consistent with those of Avery. But, because she had seen Avery before, she selected him out of the lineup.
The Sheriff of Manitowoc County was actually warned of another potential suspect, a man named Gregory Allen who had attacked a woman on the same beach three years prior. He dismissed the tip because he already had a vendetta against Avery.
Avery had several alibi witnesses confirming that he was nowhere near the beach at the time of the attack. He had multiple receipts and credit card bills. If this was the case, how was he convicted without any physical evidence and with several alibis?
The answer: The point of a finger.
When asked in court to identify her attacker, Penny Beernstein pointed to Steven Avery. The weight of her testimony was greater to the jury than the several that cleared Avery’s name.The only reason, the only reason, that she pointed to him, is because of her picking him out of a lineup, because the sketch artist copied a picture of him from a previous mugshot, because they wanted it to be him.