Note - I'm well aware that the Steven Avery and Monitowoc corruption predates the Walker Admin, but it's also gotten more national attention since he took office, with repeated refusals to intervene. I don't think that's responsible leadership.
I won't pardon Steven Avery OR Branden Dassey
Right, you've probably seen Making A Murderer, if not, get Netflix and watch it. Here's the laconic version:
-Steven Avery was convicted and later exonerated by an overzealous prosecuter for a rape that DNA testing proved he didn't commit. Even without the DNA evidence, the prosecutorial procedures were highly questionable to begin with.
-A past Wisconsonian Governor was so disgusted with this, that he passed a law in Avery's name, aimed at protecting the innocent.
-Avery sued, and was on the verge of winning his suit, because losing 18 years of his life for a crime he didn't commit was a quite reasonable grounds for a lawsuit.
-The prosecution retaliated by murdering Teresa Halbach, pinning all the evidence on Avery, getting the Halbach family to agree with them, and arresting Avery for the crime.
-Avery was forced to settle his case in order to afford an effective defense, it ultimately failed because the jury was scared that if they could falsely arrest Avery, that they too, could be falsely arrested.
Lot of stuff there, but where does Walker come in? I'm getting to that, but first, Dassey:
-Dassey was mentally retarded. The prosecution took advantage of this to build a case against Avery.
-The Dassey interrogations were questionable at best, outright bullshit at worst. He gave conflicting stories, and it took serious coaching from the "interviewer" to get Dassey to implicate anything.
-They went ahead and used this as evidence anyway, partly because Manitowoc is more corrupt than Chicago (more on that later), and partly because they rigged the system by appointing Dassey a lawyer who was actively working with them and against Dassey.
-The still under 18 Dassey naturally got convicted, the prosecution likely saw the poor kid as collateral in their agenda against a man who sued them for an arrest that should never have happened.
-Lastly, as some have pointed out, not everything that happened at trial was in the documentary, however, that includes both sides. The defense had excellent rebuttals that were also omitted.
Now for Walker. It's true, again, that this took place before he took office. But with all the controversy, you'd think a clear pardon for at least Dassey, who is nothing more than an innocent bystander would be in order. But he has refused, not out of ignorance though. He could claim ignorance, except that
he has refused to even bother watching it. His excuse? The corrupt appeals court that pretty much said "well, he was convicted so that's evidence for us" (which you may recognize as circular logic, or as
not being how appeals are supposed to work), refused, so why shouldn't he?
Aside from the fact that pardons are supposed to function as a check and balance on the system to keep it honest, refusing to review the overwhelming evidence of someone's innocence, because the corrupt system that has been horribly corrupt for years felt like convicting somebody, and did so, I don't think that is a legit reason for refusing to pardon someone. Worse still, many have defended him by pointing out that governors sometimes don't want to pardon people for fear that they will be liable for future crimes committed.
On the surface, that sounds legit. But, even assuming that's 100% accurate, that anyone pardoned for a crime they
didn't commit will always commit another crime (and I don't have to tell you that is an insane assumption), what does that sound like to you? Keeping people in prison for future crimes, that's
ONE STEP AWAY from arresting them for such, no? Minority Report, thy name is Scott Walker.
Okay maybe not, but my point is that would be no excuse, even if true.
Manitowoc Corruption
Just how corrupt
is Manitowoc county? Well, you may have heard of the Sheriff's Deputy's father who was on the jury. You probably
DIDN'T hear, however, why the defense kept him. It turns out, it's because
he himself was a victim of a false arrest and subsequent Kangaroo Court. In other words, the corruption is so nasty, that the police will actually arrest and prosecute their own. This has indeed been brought to Walker's attention by the Free Avery groups, but of course, he hasn't budged, because it is more important to keep people in prison than to risk pardoning someone who isn't 100% certain to never ever commit a single crime ever again.