'Making a Murderer' Steven Avery Sues: You Framed Me and Stole My Gas!!!

Steven Avery, the man at the center of the incredible documentary, "Making A Murderer," filed legal docs saying the cops violated his civil rights by damaging his car and using too much gas.

Avery, who's serving a life sentence for the murder of Teresa Halbach, claimed in court documents -- filed in 2012 and obtained by TMZ -- that the cops damaged his 1993 Pontiac Grand Am when they seized it for the murder trial.

Avery, who repped himself, claimed when the car was returned, it was in disrepair. He says the alternator and battery needed replacing, the shifter on the transmission was bent and had to be repaired, and "the gas tank was missing 3/4 of a tank of gas when it had been full before it was taken."

The now-famous defendant was asking for $455 for the damage and "used gas." He also asked for $250,000 in punitive damages. He lost the case.

In a separate case he sued for seizing his wood cabinet book case, 4 paperback books, a handset for a cordless telephone and an AC power cord.