Steven Avery has obtained new legal counsel in his fight to get his murder conviction overturned.
The Chicago-based law firm of Kathleen T. Zellner and Associates issued a news release Friday announcing it is "assuming the full and complete representation of Steven Avery in all of his pending criminal matters."
- SPECIAL SECTION: The Trials of Steven Avery
The Downers Grove firm will be assisted by Wisconsin lawyer Tricia Bushnell, the legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project.
According to a statement in the news release, the firm is "looking forward to adding Mr. Avery to its long list of wrongful conviction exonerations."
Zellner represented Ryan Ferguson, a 20-year-old Columbia, Mo., man who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2005 before he was exonerated of the crime. Ironically, the case was also made into a documentary.
Earlier this week, Avery's trial lawyer Dean Strang said he might represent Avery again, but those plans seemed to have changed.
Avery served 18 years in prison for rape until he was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. Two years later, he was convicted of murder in the death of Teresa Halbach and sentenced to life in prison.
