Avery Sentenced To Life In Prison

MANITOWOC, Wis. -- Steven Avery was sentenced to life in prison with no early release for the murder of Teresa Halbach.

Avery, 44, was also sentenced to 10 years for possession of a firearm -- five in confinement and five on extended supervision. The sentences will be concurrent.

Judge Patrick Willis told Avery there is no reason to think the public would be safe if he was freed.

"The evidence forces me to conclude that you are probably the most dangerous individual ever to set foot in this courtroom," Willis said.

The judge could have given Avery a date to be eligible for parole, but he said after reviewing Avery's criminal past, dating back before he was wrongly convicted in a rape case, he felt Avery is too dangerous to be free.

"From what I see, nothing in your life suggests that society would ever be safe from your behavior," he said. "As you've grown older, your crimes have increased in severity."

"He needs to be put behind bars for the rest of his life until he has to answer to the ultimate judge," said Maria Halbach, a friend and relative of Teresa Halbach.

Avery spoke briefly and said he feels sorry for Halbach's family but insisted he didn't kill her.

Halbach, a 25-year-old from St. John in Calumet County, disappeared on Halloween in 2005 after going to the Avery family's auto salvage yard near Mishicot on a photo shoot for a minivan Avery's sister wanted to sell in Auto Trader magazine.

Avery was accused of shooting Halbach in the head and then burning her body and belongings in his back yard.

Avery's 17-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey, was convicted in a separate trial of participating in the crime. Dassey was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating the corpse and second-degree sexual assault. Dassey is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

Teresa Halbach's brother Mike Halbach said that he thought the judge's decision was fair.

"It doesn't bring Teresa back, but it's what he deserved," Mike Halbach said following the hearing.

Avery had previously spent 18 years in prison for a 1985 rape that DNA evidence showed he didn't commit. He was freed two years before Halbach was killed.

Halbach's family sobbed as prosecutors played a video of her that was taken three years before she died. Halbach spoke into the camera, talking about how much she loved hugs, her family, God, making people laugh, compliments and her favorite music groups.

"Let's say I die before I'm 31. Let's say I die tomorrow. I don't think I will. I think I will have a lot more to do," Teresa Halbach said in the video. "Whenever I do die, I just want people I love to know that whenever I die, that I was happy -- that I'm happy with what I did with my life. The only thing is if it happened now is that I wish I could have become a mother, because that's the one thing I've always known that I want to be -- a mom."