‘Making a Murderer’ Juror’s 7 Takeaways From Inside the Deliberations

Richard Mahler, the juror who was dismissed from Steven Avery’s murder trial, still believes the “Making a Murderer” suspect is innocent. He also says he believes the jury was impartial and that someone tampered with evidence in the case.

Mahler told Yahoo! early Wednesday that he believes the vial containing Avery’s blood may have been tampered with, and shared his impressions of “Making a Murderer,” the Netflix docuseries that chronicles Avery’s trial and conviction.

After DNA evidence exonerated Avery of a rape charge that put Avery behind bars for 18 years, he received a life sentence for allegedly killing photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005. Brendan Dassey, Steven Avery’s nephew, was also convicted in the case.

Here are seven takeaways from Yahoo’s interview:

1. “According to evidence I reviewed in the courtroom in the six weeks I was there, it didn’t all add up to me. The blood vial, it was tampered with,” he said. “There was no blood in Steven’s trailer or near the garage or DNA of Teresa anywhere to be found.”
2. He believes the jury found Avery guilty based on his personality: “We did a paper ballot vote and the vote came out 7 Not Guilty, 3 Guilty and 2 Undecided … I was with another juror after the trial and I asked him why they found him guilty and his statement was, ‘Think of all the things he did when he was younger.’”
3. He fears for his safety now that he’s talking openly about the case: “I’m still nervous about it. There are people out there who think he’s guilty and I have my opinions, I believe I’m entitled to them … I have been getting lot of threats on social media, and they’ve been making up stories about my family and me.”
4. The incident that had him dismissed from the case was actually a family emergency: “My stepdaughter ended up in a ditch and my wife needed me at home.”
5. He thinks the jury was impartial: “I found out that a lot of people on the jury had been out to the junk yard or knew Steven in some way.”
6. He also talked about the fact that Avery thinks law enforcement framed him: “There was a lot of tampering, and I don’t think that a normal person could walk into the Clerks of Court office and mess with that vial. It had to be somebody that had access to the room. The key didn’t have Teresa’s DNA on it, that didn’t make sense to me either.”
7. He still believes Avery didn’t kill Halbach: “I feel that Steven didn’t commit this horrible crime.”

Watch the interview below.

More to come…