Avery files motion seeking new trial

MANITOWOC - Steven Avery has filed another motion in Manitowoc County court seeking a new trial for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.

The motions asks "for an order vacating the judgment of conviction and sentence and ordering a new trial and granting him such relief as the Court may deem appropriate."

No hearings have been scheduled before Judge Jerome Fox. He was recently assigned to the case for the recently-retired Judge Patrick Willis.

Avery's first set of post-conviction motions were denied by Judge Willis, with the appeals court upholding those rulings. The state Supreme Court declined to take the case.

The 39-page motion was filed Feb. 14 and cites several arguments including:

• That his Sixth Amendment rights were violated by ineffective assistance of counsel (on several grounds)
• That the state improperly monitored conversations with his defense team
• That state violated his Fifth Amendment rights when the state commented on his lack of testimony during closing arguments
• That Judge Willis should have recused himself from the trial post-conviction motions because he presided over the preliminary hearing and already believed Avery guilty
• That several of the jurors should have been struck from the case

The state has not filed any response to the motions yet.

Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, are each serving life terms for their convictions.