'Making a Murderer' victim describes 'horrendous error' after realizing Steven Avery was innocent

NBC

Penny Beerntsen.

Netflix's hit documentary "Making a Murderer" has recently brought attention to Penny Beerntsen, whose testimony helped convict an innocent man of sexual assault in 1985.

In 2013, before the documentary came out, Beerntsen spoke to "Radiolab" about how she felt once DNA evidence proved that the convicted man, Steven Avery, was not actually responsible.

"I remember feeling if I wrote down every good deed I did from the day I was born until today, it would not possibly be sufficient to balance the scales in terms of this horrendous error that I made," she told "Radiolab" in 2013. "That day was worse than the day I was assaulted."

Beerntsen was sexually assaulted and attacked while out on a jog along a Lake Michigan beach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. She chose Steven Avery's photo out of a lineup provided by the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office, which seemed to push her into selecting him as her assailant, the documentary suggested.

DNA evidence would later prove that a man named Gregory Allen had actually attacked her. That revelation came only after Avery had served 18 years in prison for the crime.

The sheriff's office considered Allen a suspect as well, but did not show Beerntsen a photo of him, according to the Radiolab report. At the time of the revelation, Allen was serving time in prison for a separate, violent sexual assault, following his attack on Beerntsen.

In her interview, Beerntsen spoke about how she felt in the immediate aftermath of the revelation of Allen's guilt and Avery's innocence.

"I remember running along a railroad track, a seldom-used railroad track, but just thinking, 'God, it would be a blessing if a train just came along and flattened me,'" Beerntsen told "Radiolab."

"How many women had their lives turned upside down and inside out because I misidentified the man who assaulted me," she said.

What happened in Avery's 1985 conviction isn't uncommon. Eyewitness misidentification is the top reason for wrongful convictions that have been reversed by DNA testing. It's behind 70% of wrongful convictions, according to The Innocence Project.

Avery is now serving a life sentence in jail over another crime with a controversial verdict. He was convicted in 2007 of murdering Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. Avery contends that he's innocent of the crime. In her "Radiolab" interview, Beerntsen seemed to suggest that Avery's time in prison made him capable of murder.

Beerntsen said:

Would Teresa Halbach be alive today if I hadn't misidentified my assailant? I accused Steven of something he doesn't do, he's convicted, he spends 18 years in prison. Prison is enormously damaging to guilty people. What happens to someone who's innocent?

Here's Beerntsen's 2013 interview with the "Radiolab" podcast: