Money Matters

In October 2004, Avery filed a lawsuit against Manitowoc Count, Wisconsin for thirty-six million dollars.

He was awarded $25,000.00 (plus $23,000.00 in legal fees) for false imprisonment in December of 2004 by the State of Wisconsin. This is the maximum payment to victims of false imprisonment. Avery had been freed from his wrongful incarceration in September, 2003.

After he was charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach, Avery settled his lawsuit against Manitowoc County for $400,000. After fees, he received $240,000.00.

Then another attorney was claimed a percent of the settlement as a fee because Avery had signed a contract with him for the lawsuit. That attorney admitted that he had done nothing on the case, but offered to donate the money to some charity.

The family of Teresa Halbach filed a suit against Avery in Calumet County for wrongful death for unspecified damages. The family requested that the funds from Avery’s settlement be frozen. The Calumet County suit was rejected since the alleged crime took place in Manitowoc County.

The Halbach wrongful death suit was refiled in Manitowoc County. Again, the Halbach family wants to attempt to freeze Avery’s funds.

A few comments

It took over a year for the State of Wisconsin to provide their rather paltry sum. In 2002, Winnebago County, WI District Attorney Paulus fired two of his assistant prosecutors. Paulus later plead guilty to federal charges of bribery and tax evasion in April 2004. In July, 2004 the two fired attorneys each received $170,000.00 in a settlement from the State of Wisconsin to cover lost wages and compensatory damages. The legal system takes good care of its own.

I suspect Avery accepted the small settlement from Manitowoc County was to get better legal help. The result was that he could (and was required to) hire a private sector attorney.

The attempt of the other attorney to collect percent fees for work not performed is unfortunately probably legal although, from my point of view, disgusting. People have paid for an attorney only to discover that there was little or nothing was performance for their hard earned money. As a consumer issue, non-lawyers are at a great disadvantage to recoup money from a non-performing attorney.

When Avery was released from prison, it was simply, a case of â€œyouâ€™re free to go.â€ There is no program to orient the wrongfully imprisoned to their upcoming life. The newly released are conditioned to a regimen where there is little to no choice. Place a paper in front of them and say sign here and the result is trained behavior.

The Halbach family is attempting to deprive Avery of representation by his current attorney and of a proper defense by freezing the funds. I trust that Special Prosecutor Kratz did not advise such a move. I believe it is important to allow people to present an effective defense even if the consensus is that the defendant is guilty.

I am also concerned that families of victims interfere with the process. The families cry out for justice, and the first suspects are good enough to satisfy that call. But, not everything is as it presented by investigators and prosecutors. The rights of the accused must be preserved.