A Manitowoc juror is speaking out nearly a decade after Steven Avery was convicted for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
Richard Mahler sat through six weeks of the Avery trial. He was shown every piece of evidence and sat through four hours of deliberations.
“I would have voted not guilty," he says.
Only Mahler didn't get to vote on a conviction because he had a family emergency, and had to pull out of the trial. He was replaced by an alternate.
Since the trial, Mahler says he wonders if things would have been different had he stayed for the verdict.
He says he didn't know it at the time, but one of the jurors was related to a Manitowoc County Sheriff's Deputy.
“When we got into the jury room the father of the Manitowoc County Sheriff Deputy sat there with his arms folded and said ‘he's guilty as all hell,’” said Mahler.
Furthermore, he claims that one juror knew about the confessions of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, even though that information was kept out of the trial.
“After I left, I thought man I don't know what they’re going decide with them three on [the jury]."
Mahler believes that those three jurors dismissed the evidence that was presented to them.
It appears he's not the only juror who feels that way. The filmmakers behind "Making a Murderer" appeared on the TODAY Show on Tuesday. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos claim an anonymous juror told them the jury traded votes during deliberations and believed Avery was framed for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
“This person feels relieved that they got it off their chest, and and I talk to this person and they're scared,” said Mahler.
Mahler claims he knows the juror that revealed that information to the filmmakers and he too was told that jurors traded votes in the jury room.
The filmmakers said jurors explicitly said, "if you vote guilty on this count, I will vote not guilty on this count."
