Over 150,000 people have signed a petition to free Steven Avery following the release of Netflix's new documentary series Making a Murderer.
A Change.org petition calls for President Barack Obama to pardon Avery, the Wisconsin man convicted of murder in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison. Making a Murderer documents the messy trial which was full of reasonable doubt, and the documentary suggests evidence may have been planted by the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department.
The president can not legally pardon Avery, who is convicted of a state crime and not a federal one. Still, this petition demonstrates the overwhelming support that has grown since Making a Murderer premiered on Netflix on Dec. 18, mirroring similar outrage over the Adnan Syed case after the release of Serial last year.
A separate White House petition calls for the pardon of Brendan Dassey in addition to Avery, and this one has been signed by 19,000 people.
As depicted in Making a Murderer, Avery spent 18 years in prison for sexual assault, only to be released when new DNA evidence proved his innocence. Shortly after his exoneration and in the midst of his lawsuit against the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, Avery found himself accused of murder, and he has been back in prison for the past seven years.
Making a Murderer is now streaming on Netflix.
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