Kathleen Zellner and Ken Kratz have exchanged heated back-and-forth remarks to each other for weeks now, especially with the release of the second season of Making a Murderer. Kratz called Zellner’s methods “junk science” as she tries to prove Steven Avery’s innocence, and claims that the Wisconsin court considers her evidence a “joke,” while Zellner has repeatedly called the former Calumet County District Attorney a “sweaty, sexting ex-prosecutor.”
Zellner, Steven Avery’s spitfire defense attorney, has been tirelessly working to overturn Avery’s conviction, with the goal of poking as many holes in the prosecution’s theories about the murder as she can. She has raised several new theories for the case, from the blood pattern evidence in Halbach’s vehicle to the possibility that Halbach’s bones were planted on Avery’s property.
However, Kratz, who tried the now-famous Wisconsin v. Steven Avery case that the original 2015 Making a Murderer documentary was based on, doesn’t consider Zellner’s methods credible. He recently responded to a series of questions from USA Today Network-Wisconsin about the second season of the docu-series, slamming Zellner for the new evidence that she claims to have regarding Avery’s innocence. Kratz claimed Part 2 of the series left out critical evidence in his reasoning against Avery and stated the first season did the same, and called her evidence “junk science.”
“The second season, unfortunately, uses the same playbook as Season 1: deceptive editing, the omission of crucial evidence and personal attacks against the prosecutors, cops, and Teresa’s friends, which combine for a very one-sided view,” he said.
During his conversation with USA Today Network – Wisconsin, he mentions Zellner’s research tactics, and her attempts to discredit the prosecution’s crime scene evidence that was used to convict Avery, calling her new evidence a “joke,” and claiming the Wisconsin courts don’t take her seriously. He also claims her interests in exonerating Avery are just a publicity stunt.
“The audience is never told that Attorney Zellner’s ‘new evidence’ was little more than junk science, with its results having so little relevance to the contested issues that the court rejected them without even needing an evidentiary hearing,” he told USA Today. “Most legal experts in Wisconsin view Attorney Zellner’s ‘new evidence’ as a joke. I’m not sure how many times she needs to be thrown out of court before she admits her promises of identifying the ‘real killer’ was nothing but a desperate publicity stunt.”
He continued: “There’s an old saying that when you have the law on your side, pound the law; when you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; when you have neither, pound the table. That’s Kathleen Zellner.”
Zellner didn’t hesitate to fire back at Kratz after the comment, calling the former DA a “sweaty, sexting ex-prosecutor” who shouldn’t pass judgement on her team of experts with a suspended law license. She has tweeted several times about Kratz since his interview with USA Today first went live, and hasn’t held back her reaction to Kratz’s accusations that her research methods were a joke.
Check out some of Zellner’s most recent tweets about Kratz below:
Zellner Was Quick to Respond to His Comment About Her “Junk Science”
In response to Kratz’s comment about her “junk science” methods and claims that the Wisconsin courts don’t take her seriously, she had a scathing comeback that she posted on Twitter.
“So the sweaty, sexting, ex-prosecutor Ken Kratz who has never met the likes of my experts is blabbing again about “junk science” w/ a suspended law license,” Zellner wrote on Twitter on November 1.
She followed that tweet up with another on November 2, claiming Kratz is an enormous contrast to “great” prosecutors like James Glasgow. She again called Kratz a “sweaty, sexting ex-prosecutor.”
“In contrast to the sweaty, sexting ex-prosecutor Kratz there are great prosecutors like Jim Glasgow who released my client and w/FBI caught the real killer of 3 yr. old Riley Fox,” referring to a client that Zellner helped exonerate year ago, who was accused of raping and murdering his own 3-year-old daughter.
Zellner’s “sexting” comment refers to an incident that occurred in October 2009, when Kratz was involved in a scandal after the former D.A. was accused of “sexting” a domestic violence victim whose boyfriend he was prosecuting. The victim filed a police report in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, alleging that Kratz had sent her 30 sexually suggestive text messages over the span of three days. She told police she felt that Kratz was trying to coerce her into a sexual relationship at the risk of dismissing the case against her boyfriend. During the investigation, two more women came forward accusing Kratz of similar intimidation and harassment. At the time, Kratz was serving as chairman of the Wisconsin Crime Victims’ Rights Board. He resigned the following October, and settled in court with the victim in 2013.
She also called him out on November 2, claiming Kratz was trying to “get gullible journalists to report on old discredited allegations against SA that [the] trial judge refused.” She added #SameOldGarbage to the end of the tweet.
Zellner Claimed That Kratz is a “Disgraced” Prosecutor & That It Was The Prosecution That Concealed Evidence, Not The Creators of Making a Murderer
Shortly after Making a Murderer Part 2 was released, and likely in response to Kratz’s claim that season two left out crucial evidence and used a lot of deceptive editing, Zellner posted a picture of Kratz with the caption: “The only thing left out of the first season of MaM was evidence this sweaty, sexting disgraced prosecutor concealed from SA’s [Steven Avery’s] trial team … btw that evidence is in MaM2 E8, 9, 10.”
She also urged fans of the show and her followers to go on Meta Critic and “review,” after claiming that Kratz was trying to sabotage the second season of Making a Murderer. She also urged fans to go review the season on IMDB and Rotton Tomatoes as well as Meta Critic.
She Took To Twitter to Answer Fan Questions About MaM2 & Kratz Was Brought Up Several Times
She also took to Twitter to answer some of the most pressing questions fans of Making a Murderer had after watching season two, which was on October 19. Kratz came up several times.
When asked if any action could be taken against Kratz for his “clear attempts to bias the case,” Zellner replied: “It is an issue in our appeal that he has crossed the line ethically but, more importantly, in terms of concealing evidence.”
She then answered a few more questions, once claiming that she and her team “enjoy Mr. Kratz’s appearances in MaM2 with his sweat-soaked shirt,” and then stating that she and her team would like to “slap him in the legal sense – not the physical sense,” when a fan asked if she wanted to slap him.
Her Most Recent Tweet Involved a Look at Kratz’s Claims in His Book The Case Against Steven Avery and What ‘Making a Murderer’ Gets Wrong
In response to his adverse portrayal in the series, Kratz went on a media tour, gave numerous interviews about the series, and wrote a book called The Case Against Steven Avery and What ‘Making a Murderer’ Gets Wrong.
Zellner recently posted a graphic on Twitter with a handful of facts that Kratz covered in his book, all with Zellner’s disputed follow-up facts claiming they were all false.
“Let’s take a stroll through the litany of lies KK(sweaty) peddled to the public re my client in his rock bottom giveaway book. This may take a while,” she wrote beneath the graphic.
In The Case Against Steven Avery, published in 2017, Kratz wrote that he “didn’t make anyone a murderer,” he “did [his] job and convicted one.” Kratz also often posts about how much he looks forward to the upcoming 2019 documentary Convicting a Murderer, which Deadline reports is a follow-up to Making a Murderer, but with the story retold from the point of view of the prosecution.
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Kathleen Zellner’s Tweets About Ken Kratz: ‘Sweaty, Sexting Ex-Prosecutor’