Regardless of your feeling on the man’s guilt or innocence, if you watched the incendiary Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer you know that Steven Avery hasn’t led the easiest life. The 54-year-old Wisconsin native was falsely convicted of rape and attempted murder in 1985 at the age of 22. He served 18 years of a 32-year sentence before being exonerated on the strength of new DNA evidence. He had been free for just two years when he was arrested for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. Avery was convicted of murder in 2007, and he’s been serving time at Waupun Correctional Institute ever since. Many believe that Avery was framed by vengeful authorities who were humiliated by his exoneration and stood to suffer further embarrassment if his lawsuit against the Manitowoc County Police Department went to court. Avery’s first wife divorced him during his first stretch in prison. His fiancee at the time he was arrested for the Halbach murder left him after his conviction. There had not been much to smile about in Avery’s life, but these days, he has two bright spots on the horizon. For one thing, the documentary about his trial has attracted the interest of a new attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who is currently at work on Avery’s wrongful conviction case. On top of the hope that he’ll soon be exonerated a second time, Avery is once again engaged, this time to Las Vegas legal secretary Lynn Hartman. Zellner confirmed the engagement in a press release issued this morning: “Steven Avery’s engagement to Lynn is one bright spot in an otherwise unbelievably tragic and unfair life story,” Zellner wrote. “Cheers to both of them.” Avery himself hinted at the engagement during a recent phone interview with the Daily Mail : “She’s going to be my future wife. We’ll be laughing forever,” he said of Hartman. “I’m happy. She treats me decent, she loves me. She’s kind of spoiling me right now. I just want to be happy and enjoy my life. I think I did enough time.” Avery filed an appeal for a re-trial back in January, and these days, it’s looking as though he has ample cause to be optimistic. According to a judge’s order, Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, will be released from prison after serving nearly a decade behind bars. Dassey was convicted of being an accomplice in Halbach’s murder back in 2007. Video of his coerced confession is often cited by Making a Murderer fans as the most glaring evidence of police corruption in the investigation. It may be quite some time until a verdict is reached in Avery’s new trial. But if things go his way in court, he’ll have at least one person eagerly waiting for him at the prison gates.
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Steven Avery: ENGAGED to Lynn Hartman!
