Why was DOJ Special Agent Strauss “not a big fan” of Steven Avery? Because Steven’s lawyers had deposed and exposed Strauss as a substandard criminal investigator, calling into question the legitimacy of her 2003 criminal investigation of Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department.
In this post:
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I review some excerpts from Strauss’ deposition at the hands of Steven’s lawyers who IMO successfully demonstrated Strauss did not conduct a thorough criminal investigation of Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department in 2003. This is IMO why Strauss was “not a big fan” of Steven Avery.
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As per the agreement with the private company who released the deposition transcripts, no links to the full depositions will be shared. Only a small fraction of Strauss’ deposition (both parts 1 & 2) will be included in this post. Anyone not featured in the documentary will have their name redacted. I’ve also removed names of and objections by County Attorneys (which are frequent and repetitive).
INTRO: In addition to suing Kocourek, Vogel and Manitowoc County for damages, Steven Avery’s lawsuit challenged (1) the legitimacy of Strauss’ criminal investigation into Manitowoc County, and (2) the validity of the Attorney General's conclusion.
As we saw in episodes 1+2 of Making a Murderer season one, Avery’s 2003 exoneration set off a flurry of activity in the state and Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD). Soon the Manitowoc County DA and ADA (Rohrer and Griesbach) stumbled upon enough evidence to warrant a DOJ investigation, so they traveled to Madison and requested the DOJ criminally investigate the MCSD.
The DOJ sent Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) special Agents Strauss and Lehmann to criminally investigate the MCSD in September 2003. At the completion of the investigation (December 2003) the Wisconsin AG (Lautenschlager and her team of Assistant Attorneys) reviewed the reports prepared by Strauss and Lehmann and came to the official conclusion that no criminal or ethical violations occurred during the 1985 prosecution of Steven Avery. Most agree the conclusion was issued by the AG solely to protect the state’s interests, not to hold wrongdoers accountable.
As such, when Steven Avery filed his [$36,000,000 lawsuit in 2004](http://www.stevenaverycase.org/w
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