Petitions for US President Barack Obama to pardon the subject of Netflix true crime documentary Making a Murderer have received more than 200,000 signatures.
But there’s some bad news for those hoping to see convict Steven Avery exonerated of the murder charge for which he has spent the last eight-and-a-half years in prison.
Put simply, it’s not within the President’s powers to issue a pardon for Avery and nephew Brendan Dassey, who was imprisoned in relation to the same case.
This is because Obama is only permitted to intervene in the case of federal crimes, and this is not a federal case.
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Instead, the Avery case comes under the jurisdiction of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who Associated Press report has been reluctant to address any of more than 1,400 pardon applications in the state.
It is not the first time supporters of Avery have directed their frustrations at the wrong individual or department.
Many viewers of Making a Murderer have taken to Twitter to vent their anger at the Manitowoc Police Department – unrelated to the Manitowoc Sheriff’s Department, which was involved in the investigation into Avery and Dassey.
