‘Making A Murderer’ Petition Seeking Pardon Of Steven Avery And Brendan Dassey Gets White House Response After 129,895 Signatures

Making a Murderer is the Netflix documentary that covers the case of Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey. The popular documentary series has caused petitions for the subjects of Making a Murderer to arise, launched and signed by those who believe the Wisconsin men were wrongly convicted of the sexual assault and death of a photographer two years after Avery was released from prison.

‘Making A Murderer’ Defense Fund Donations Up To $3,300 For Steven Avery And Brendan Dassey [Video]

One of the petitions, titled “We the People petition on the Teresa Halbach murder case,” featured on WhiteHouse.gov, has received an official response. The petition got nearly 130,000 signatures.

“OFFICIAL THE WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO Pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey for their alleged involvement in the murder of Teresa Halbach.

A response to your petition on the Teresa Halbach murder case:

Thank you for signing a We the People petition on the Teresa Halbach murder case, currently featured on the “Making a Murderer” documentary series. We appreciate your interest in this case.

To best respond to your petition, we should go over what exactly presidential pardoning power entails.

The U.S. Constitution grants the power of clemency to the President:

“The President… shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States.”

This clemency authority empowers the President to exercise leniency towards persons who have committed federal crimes. Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President. In addition, the President’s pardon power extends to convictions adjudicated in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and military court-martial proceedings. However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense.“

The Making a Murderer petition received a response — and a history or legal lesson — from the White House that went into further detail on the White House petition website. It was a response that was likely disheartening to those Making a Murderer fans who hoped that the White House would be able to get Avery and Dassey out of prison, but explaining that President Obama cannot pardon a state criminal offense is still a step in the right direction for fans of the Netflix documentary who are glad that the petition received attention from the White House.

And it’s not just attention from the White House that’s putting Netflix’s Making a Murderer in the spotlight. According to Us Weekly, Avery’s case will also appear on Front Page: The Steven Avery Story, which should hit TV screens by the end of this month. Brought to viewers by the popular Investigation Discovery and NBC News’ Peacock Productions teams, no doubt this new look at the Making a Murderer stars will bring continued interest to the Netflix documentary and more calls for Season 2 of the series.

'Making A Murderer' Netflix Series – Season 2 Of #MakingAMurderer Awaited … – The Inquisitr https://t.co/quVUMKMnzP

— Netflix report (@Netflixreport) December 26, 2015

The players featured in the 10 episodes of Making a Murderer, as reported by the Guardian, have some folks obsessed with the series and the good guys and gals featured in the Netflix documentary. One of those good guys is attorney Dean Strang, who, unlike others in the Making a Murderer series, doesn’t come off as a cocky, know-it-all lawyers who is better, smarter, and richer than everyone else. Instead, Steven’s defense attorney comes off as a man who fought tooth and nail for the supposed little guy done wrong, and that has made Strang a hero in the eyes of some seeking justice for Avery and Dassey.

The series Making a Murderer has become so popular that discussion sites offering fans a place to talk about Making a Murderer have arisen, as reported by Digg. It’s an outcome that the Making a Murderer creators didn’t expect.

[Photo by Morry Gash/AP, File]