steven avery was standing trial for the murder of teresa halbach in 2007. for his defense, he hired two of the most respected attorneys in wisconsin, dean strang and jerry buting the vast majority of their evidence was all circumstantial. >> in court, the attorneys set out to prove a simple defense -- steven avery was framed for the murder of teresa halbach by the manitowoc county sheriff's department -- desperate to stop his 36 million dollar civil lawsuit. avery said as much in his interviews with reporters. >> reporter: who would wanna set you up in something like this? >> the only thing i can think of is manitowoc county with the money. so, they didn't have to pay nothin' out. >> while he was awaiting trial avery settled his 36 million dollar lawsuit for 400 thousand dollars. the county did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. avery used the money for his defense. during the trial, defense attorney buting told the jury that the state's evidence was weak, and could easily have been planted, beginning with that car key. >> your theory is that the key was planted in the residence? >> that is where we thought the evidence pointed, yes. >> buting pointed out that th