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The Meaningful Way 'MaM' Lawyers Are Marking Today

by Claire Elizabeth Felter

Dean Strang and Jeremy Buting had a lot on their plates when they went to court nearly a decade ago to try to prove Steven Avery's innocence in the murder of a Wisconsin woman. The two have been finding themselves equally busy in past months, ever since Netflix's December release of the documentary series exploring Avery's case, taking interviews and making appearances to discuss the case and its future. And on Friday, the duo's recent reemergence into the national spotlight and their involvement in Avery's trial years ago will come together for real. Here's how the Making A Murderer attorneys are marking Steven Avery's conviction anniversary.

It was on March 18, 2007 that a jury of six men and six women from Manitowoc County found Steven Avery guilty of intentional homicide and of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That means Friday will mark the ninth anniversary of the conviction that again put Avery behind bars and, that time, for life in prison without parole. Well, that same date this year happens to be the day that Strang and Buting have decided to begin their tour across the country, "A Conversation on Justice." Neither Strang nor Buting has announced that the tour start was intentionally scheduled to begin on the anniversary, but any Making A Murderer or Avery follower would assume the first stop was purposefully set for March 18.

The Friday event is going down at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater in where else but the state of Wisconsin. But the discussion, which is being hosted by radio station WUWM and moderated by Lake Effect host Mitch Teich, is not exactly part of the official tour line-up. The Riverside Theater appearance was announced back in late January, before Strang and Buting released news of the full-blown tour to the public. It's also framed as a stand-alone event, going by the title "A Conversation on Making A Murderer" in place of the tour name. The official schedule, as described on the tour's site, doesn't begin until April 16 with an event at Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

The significant gap between the Milwaukee event date and the first official "Conversation on Justice" event makes it all the more likely that Strang and Buting felt they should mark the anniversary of Avery's conviction in some way. That Friday's discussion is happening in Avery's home state pushes the likelihood into the territory of "there's just no other possibility."