'Making A Murderer' Prosecutor Blames Addiction For Sexting Scandal

Since the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer became a hit, the prosecutor who successfully convicted Steven Avery of murder in 2007 has been forced back into the limelight.

Ken Kratz, the infamous former Calumet County district attorney, has been forced to answer for his sordid past. Not only was he the villain in the Steven Avery case—since many people believe Avery was wrongfully convicted—but Kratz’s professional life came to a halt after a sexting scandal a few years later in 2009.

His addiction to prescription drugs were to blame, he recently told Radar Online. “I had become dependent on a combination of prescription medications, and started behaving in a very erratic, really creepy way,” he said, referencing the sexting scandal. “Including hitting on people as part of my job. It culminated in sending these text messages to a crime victim.”

To make matters much, much worse, the woman who received his creepy messages was a victim of domestic violence. Kratz was defending the woman’s boyfriend. When the scandal came to light, Kratz was forced to resign as district dttorney and was suspended from practicing law for four months. He reportedly paid a “very large settlement” to the victim. He claims to have lost his family, his home, and eventually filed for bankruptcy.

In an effort to repair his public image, Kratz insists he’s a changed man. He says that he is five years sober after receiving inpatient treatment for his addiction. He now works as a criminal defense attorney for his own Wisconsin-based group, Kratz Law Firm. He uses his past struggles to help his clients, many of whom struggle with addiction as well.

“I get to help people every day,” he told Radar Online. “I tell every one of them my story, because lots of stuff happened to me. I tell them, ‘If I can change and make better decisions, you can do this, too.’ So I turned what was the darkest thing on my life into a positive. I’m just really proud of that journey.”

Kratz is unhappy with the attention he’s been getting since Making a Murderer began streaming on Netflix, since it has been forcing him to relive his dark past. “All of these consequences forced me to change,” he said. “I completely changed my personality. If you watch the Netflix series, I’m arrogant, narcissistic, I’m a dick! It’s not an attractive personality that’s out there. Some of that bravado was required [for the job], but some of that was me. But that’s not me now.”