Vial of Steven Avery's Blood to Be Retested

Wednesday marked a big step forward for Steven Avery and his lawyer in their quest to prove the Manitowoc, Wisconsin, man's innocence in Teresa Halbach's 2005 murder. An agreement that allows for testing on a number of key pieces of evidence was on Wednesday signed by both sides. The Herald Times Reporter outlines the nine "critical items" that will be retested in the Making a Murderer case, and says they nearly all relate to Halbach's Toyota RAV4, which was found at Avery Salvage Yard six days after Halbach was last seen. (Among them: "Swab of bloodstain taken from the rear passenger’s door." "Swab of the RAV 4 ignition area where blood was found.")

Esquire explains what Avery attorney Kathleen Zellner is hoping to achieve: One of the items covered by the new testing order is a vial of Avery's blood said to be from 1996. Zellner alleges blood from that vial was planted in Halbach's car, and in August said carbon testing "has the ability to tell us how old the blood is. If the blood is from 1996, it was planted." (More Steven Avery stories.)