A murder case that has garnered national attention due to a popular Netflix documentary may soon get some attention from the White House.
A petition asking President Obama to pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey — the two subjects of Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” series — has reached 100,000 signatures. That’s the threshold requiring the White House to respond.
{mosads}The petition was created on Dec. 20, just days after the documentary series examining the murder of Teresa Halbach began to air. More than 115,000 people have signed it since then.
“Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series ‘Making a Murderer,’ the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives,” the petition reads.
But those who believe in Avery and Dassey’s innocence may be out of luck. Obama can only commute the sentences of those convicted of federal crimes.
Both men were charged and convicted of murder under Wisconsin law.
Avery was convicted in 2007 of Halbach’s murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He has contended that authorities sought to frame him for Halbach’s disappearance, because he had a pending civil case against Manitowoc County for a previous false conviction on rape charges.