''Making a Murderer'' is an American
true crime
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events.
The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...
documentary television series written and directed by
Laura Ricciardi and
Moira Demos
Moira Demos is an Emmy Award winning American filmmaker, producer and editor. Demos rose to prominence with her documentary ''Making a Murderer'' which she co-directed with filmmaker Laura Ricciardi, in a process that took 10 years to complet ...
. The show tells the story of
Steven Avery
Steven Allan Avery (born July 9, 1962) is an American convicted murderer from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who had previously been wrongfully convicted in 1985 of sexual assault and attempted murder. After serving eighteen years of a thirty-tw ...
, a man from
Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
Manitowoc County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 81,359. Its county seat is Manitowoc. The county was created in 1836 prior to Wisconsin's statehood and organized in 1848. Manitowoc County ...
, who served 18 years in prison (1985-2003) after his
wrongful conviction
A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...
for the
sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
and
attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...
of Penny Beerntsen. He was later charged with and convicted of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. The connected story is that of Avery's nephew
Brendan Dassey, who was accused and convicted as an accessory in the murder of Halbach.
The first season mainly chronicles the period between 1985 and 2007, portraying Avery's 1985 arrest and conviction, his subsequent exoneration and release in 2003, the
civil lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
Avery filed against Manitowoc County, his 2005 arrest, and his ensuing trial and conviction in 2007. It also depicts the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of Dassey, focusing on the accusations of
coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
and
attorney ineptitude.
The second season explores the aftermath of both Avery's and Dassey's convictions, focusing on Avery's and Dassey's families, the investigation and findings of Avery's new attorney
Kathleen Zellner
Kathleen Zellner is an American attorney who has worked extensively in wrongful conviction advocacy. Notable clients Zellner has represented include Steven Avery (who was the subject of the 2015 and 2018 Netflix series ''Making a Murderer''), Ke ...
, which supported the thesis of Avery's innocence and him being framed for the murder of Halbach, and Dassey's legal team's efforts in arguing that his confession was coerced by prosecutors and his
constitutional right
A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...
s were violated.
The first season premiered on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
on December 18, 2015.
It was filmed over the course of 10 years, with the filmmakers moving back and forth from New York City to Wisconsin during filming.
To promote the series, Netflix released the first episode concurrently on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
and on Netflix, which it had not done for any other original programming.
In July 2016, Netflix announced the second season, to explore the aftermath of Dassey's conviction and the numerous appeals that had taken place. The 10-episode second season was released on October 19, 2018.
''Making a Murderer'' won several awards, including four
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
s in 2016. As a production, the series was favorably compared to the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series ''
The Jinx'' and the podcast ''
Serial''.
''Making a Murderer'' was widely viewed and has generated considerable controversy, both in Manitowoc County, the setting of events,[ and nationwide. A petition in December 2015 to the ]White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
to pardon Avery garnered more than 500,000 signatures. The White House's statement noted "the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense."[
]
Subject matter
''Making a Murderer'' details the life of Steven Avery
Steven Allan Avery (born July 9, 1962) is an American convicted murderer from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who had previously been wrongfully convicted in 1985 of sexual assault and attempted murder. After serving eighteen years of a thirty-tw ...
, a man whose family owned an auto salvage yard
A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brough ...
in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
Manitowoc County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 81,359. Its county seat is Manitowoc. The county was created in 1836 prior to Wisconsin's statehood and organized in 1848. Manitowoc County ...
. In 1985, Avery was arrested and convicted
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which is consid ...
of the sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
of Penny Beerntsen, despite having an alibi. After serving 18 years in prison, Avery was exonerated with the aid of the Innocence Project
Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futur ...
, when the DNA in the case was matched to another man. After Avery was released from prison in 2003, he filed a $36 million civil lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against Manitowoc County and several county officials associated with his arrest and conviction.
Two years later, in 2005, Avery was arrested and charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer who disappeared after she photographed a vehicle at Avery's salvage yard. The handling of the Halbach murder case was highly controversial. Steven Avery and his lawyers argued that he had once again been "set up". Bloodstains recovered from the interior of Halbach's car matched Avery's DNA. Avery maintained that the murder charge was a frameup
__NOTOC__
In the United States criminal law, a frame-up (frameup) or setup is the act of framing someone, that is, providing false evidence or false testimony in order to falsely prove someone guilty of a crime. While incriminating those who a ...
, promulgated to discredit his pending civil case. His attorneys accused Manitowoc officials of evidence tampering
Tampering with evidence, or evidence tampering, is an act in which a person alters, conceals, falsifies, or destroys evidence with the intent to interfere with an investigation (usually) by a law-enforcement, governmental, or regulatory authority. ...
after a vial of Avery's blood, stored in an evidence locker since the 1985 trial, was found with broken container seals and a puncture hole in the stopper, suggesting that blood from the vial could have been used to plant incriminating evidence in the victim's vehicle. The Avery tube contained ethylenediamine
Ethylenediamine (abbreviated as en when a ligand) is the organic compound with the formula C2H4(NH2)2. This colorless liquid with an ammonia-like odor is a basic amine. It is a widely used building block in chemical synthesis, with approximately ...
-tetraacetic acid (EDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is an aminopolycarboxylic acid with the formula H2N(CH2CO2H)2sub>2. This white, water-soluble solid is widely used to bind to iron (Fe2+/Fe3+) and calcium ions (Ca2+), forming water-soluble complexes eve ...
), which prevents blood coagulation
Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanism o ...
and degradation. EDTA is not naturally present in human blood, and the defense argued that if EDTA was found in the crime scene blood, it would prove the blood was planted. While the tampering charge was never substantiated, accusations of prosecutorial misconduct
In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct or prosecutorial overreach is "an illegal act or failing to act, on the part of a prosecutor, especially an attempt to sway the jury to wrongly convict a defendant or to impose a harsher than appropri ...
have persisted. The series further explores issues and procedures in the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department that led to Avery's original conviction, and suggests that the department had a conflict of interest in investigating Halbach's murder.
The series also covers the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was accused and convicted as an accessory to the murder, based largely on his confession under interrogation. The series depicts his trial, along with subsequent accusations of coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
and ineffective assistance of counsel
In United States law, ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) is a claim raised by a convicted criminal defendant asserting that the defendant's legal counsel performed so ineffectively that it deprived the defendant of the constitutional right gua ...
.
On August 12, 2016, Dassey had his conviction overturned by a federal judge on the grounds that he was unconstitutionally coerced by the police into confessing to the murder, and this was the only substantial evidence in the case. On November 14, 2016, Federal District Court Judge William Duffin ordered Dassey's release from prison within 90 days if Wisconsin prosecutors did not move forward with a retrial. On November 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:
* Central District of Illinois
* Northern District of Ill ...
blocked Dassey's release while the appeal was being heard. A three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit affirmed Judge Duffin's decision to release Dassey, and stated that Dassey should be freed unless the state chose to retry him. In December 2017, an en banc
In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller ...
panel of seven judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:
* Central District of Illinois
* Northern District of Il ...
ruled in favor of upholding the original conviction, in a split vote of 4 to 3, ruling that police had properly obtained Dassey's confession. In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
declined to hear Dassey's appeal of the 7th Circuit's en banc decision.
In other media
The story of the crime for which Avery was initially charged and imprisoned was featured in the ''Radiolab
''Radiolab'' is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast. Live shows were first off ...
'' episode, "Are You Sure?" (airdate March 26, 2013), in the segment "Reasonable Doubt". The show featured an interview with Penny Beerntsen, the subject of the attack for which Avery was wrongfully convicted.
Persons featured
Avery family
* Steven Avery
Steven Allan Avery (born July 9, 1962) is an American convicted murderer from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who had previously been wrongfully convicted in 1985 of sexual assault and attempted murder. After serving eighteen years of a thirty-tw ...
– Wrongfully convicted of a sexual assault, for which he served an 18-year sentence. Defendant convicted of Halbach's murder.
* Allan Avery – Steven Avery's father
* Dolores Avery – Steven Avery's mother
* Chuck Avery – Steven Avery's brother
* Earl Avery – Steven Avery's brother
* Barb Dassey – Steven Avery's sister, mother of Brendan and Bobby Dassey
* Brendan Dassey – Avery's nephew, son of Barb Dassey, defendant convicted of assisting Avery in Halbach's murder.
* Bobby Dassey – Brendan Dassey's brother, son of Barb Dassey
* Scott Tadych – married Barb Dassey (before the trials), stepfather of her children
* Kayla Avery – Brendan Dassey's cousin
* Kim Ducat – Steven Avery's cousin
* Carla Chase - Steven Avery's niece, Brendan Dassey's cousin
* Brad Dassey - Brendan's half brother, voice actor, and aspiring rapper.
Victims
* Penny Beerntsen – Victim of a sexual assault and attempted murder in 1985, for which Steven Avery was wrongfully convicted
* Teresa Halbach – Murder victim in 2005
* Rape victim of Gregory Allen, convicted for an attempted rape on Penny Beerntsen.
Defense lawyers
* Kathleen Zellner
Kathleen Zellner is an American attorney who has worked extensively in wrongful conviction advocacy. Notable clients Zellner has represented include Steven Avery (who was the subject of the 2015 and 2018 Netflix series ''Making a Murderer''), Ke ...
– post-conviction attorney for Steven Avery
* Dean Strang – for Steven Avery
* Jerome Buting – for Steven Avery
* Robert Henak – post-conviction attorney for Steven Avery
* Stephen Glynn – civil rights lawyer for Steven Avery
* Len Kachinsky – Brendan Dassey's first appointed lawyer
* Mark Fremgen – for Brendan Dassey, appointed lawyer (second lawyer)
* Ray Edelstein – for Brendan Dassey, appointed lawyer (second lawyer)
* Steven Drizin
Steven A. Drizin is an American lawyer and academic. He is a Clinical Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, where he has been on the faculty since 1991. At Northwestern, Drizin teaches courses on Wrongf ...
– post-conviction attorney for Brendan Dassey
* Robert Dvorak – post-conviction attorney for Brendan Dassey
* Laura Nirider
Laura Nirider (née Hepokoski, born October 16, 1981) is an American attorney and legal scholar working as an associate professor of law and the co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. An ...
– post-conviction attorney for Brendan Dassey
Prosecution
* Denis Vogel – Manitowoc County District Attorney, prosecuted Avery's 1985 sexual assault case
* Ken Kratz
Kenneth "Ken" R. Kratz (born 1960/61) is an American former lawyer who served as district attorney of Calumet County, Wisconsin. He gained attention for trying a highly publicized homicide case, ''State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery'' (2007), in ...
– special prosecutor, district attorney of Calumet County, Wisconsin
Calumet County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,442. The county seat is Chilton. The county was created in 1836 (then in the Wisconsin Territory) and organized in 1850.
Calumet ...
, prosecuted Halbach murder case
* Norm Gahn – special prosecutor, assistant district attorney of Milwaukee County
Judges
* Patrick Willis
Patrick L. Willis (born January 25, 1985) is an American former football middle linebacker who played his entire eight-year career with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the 49ers in the first rou ...
– Manitowoc County Circuit Court Judge, presided over Steven Avery's trial
* Jerome Fox – Manitowoc County Circuit Court Judge, presided over Brendan Dassey's trial
* Angela Sutkiewicz - Manitowoc County Circuit Court Judge, presides over Steven Avery's appeals
Law enforcement
* Tom Kocourek – Manitowoc County Sheriff (1979–2001)
* Kenneth Petersen – Manitowoc County Sheriff (2001–07)
* Gene Kusche – Manitowoc County Chief Deputy Sheriff at time of Avery's 1985 trial
* James Lenk – lieutenant, Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department
* Andrew Colborn – sergeant, Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department
* Judy Dvorak – deputy, Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department
* Tom Fassbender – investigator, Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, lead investigator in Halbach murder trial
* Mark Wiegert – sergeant, Calumet County Sheriff's Department
* Jerry Pagel – Calumet County Sheriff
Private investigators
* Michael O'Kelly – investigator hired by Len Kachinsky
Production
The series was written and directed by filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos
Moira Demos is an Emmy Award winning American filmmaker, producer and editor. Demos rose to prominence with her documentary ''Making a Murderer'' which she co-directed with filmmaker Laura Ricciardi, in a process that took 10 years to complet ...
. They met as graduate students in Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's film program. The two learned about Avery after reading a 2005 article in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' about his 2003 exoneration and 2005 arrest for murder.[ Both thought that his case could be an interesting subject for a documentary.
Before meeting with Netflix, Demos and Ricciardi met with executives at ]PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
and HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
, but neither network was interested in the project.[ Netflix originally planned an eight-episode first season, but later expanded its order to 10.][
The show's graphics and main title sequence were completed by Santa Monica–based design studio Elastic.
]
Reception
Critical response
The series alternately received praise and criticism from critics. Some praised its comprehensive nature,[ and the first season has an approval rating of 98% on ]Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 8.65 out of 10. The site's critical consensus describes ''Making a Murderer'' as "a spellbinding slow burn that effectively utilizes the documentary format to tell a twisty mystery." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the first season has a weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 84 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Lenika Cruz, writing for ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', commended the series for its "sense of total immersion".[ Mike Hale, for ''The New York Times,'' described it as giving an:
Some critics, however, have described ''Making a Murderer'' as one-sided] and emotionally manipulative. Prosecutor Ken Kratz
Kenneth "Ken" R. Kratz (born 1960/61) is an American former lawyer who served as district attorney of Calumet County, Wisconsin. He gained attention for trying a highly publicized homicide case, ''State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery'' (2007), in ...
claimed that key evidence from the trial was omitted from the documentary, claiming that, on one of Halbach's previous visits, Avery had come to the door in his towel, and that Halbach "said she wouldn't go back because she was scared of him."
''Making a Murderer'' has been compared to '' The Jinx'', a miniseries on HBO, and '' Serial'', a podcast. All three series investigate criminal cases: ''The Jinx'' detailed murders allegedly committed by Robert Durst. The first season of ''Serial'' dealt with the Killing of Hae Min Lee
Hae Min Lee (; born October 15, 1980) was a Korean-American high school student who was last seen alive on January 13, 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. Her body was found four weeks later in Leakin Park; she had been killed by manual stra ...
.
The second season received positive reviews from critics, although less acclaimed than the first season. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 71% approval rating based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 6.52 out of 10. The site's critical consensus is, "''Making a Murderer''s return may not yield closure for this maddening saga of crime and punishment, but the series' exploration of the U.S. justice system remains riveting." On Metacritic, it has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Accolades
Public reaction
The series gained a very large international audience. Some celebrities, including Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
, Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...
, and Mandy Moore
Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her debut single, "Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Her debut studio album, '' So Real'' (1999), recei ...
, praised the series on social media.
A petition to the White House that requested pardons for Avery and Dassey garnered more than 128,000 signatures. The White House responded that, as the convictions were made in state court, the President had no authority to pardon either defendant. Then-governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he would not consider a pardon.
Dassey is being represented by the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
. Appeals within the state courts failed, but his conviction was overturned in federal district court on August 12, 2016, by a Magistrate Judge, based on the unconstitutional coercion of his confession. His defense team had petitioned the court to hear his case on ''habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' grounds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit granted a stay of the release on November 16, 2016, pending resolution of the appeal.
As of January 9, 2016, Avery was being represented by Kathleen Zellner
Kathleen Zellner is an American attorney who has worked extensively in wrongful conviction advocacy. Notable clients Zellner has represented include Steven Avery (who was the subject of the 2015 and 2018 Netflix series ''Making a Murderer''), Ke ...
, a noted Chicago-area attorney, and Tricia Bushnell, legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project. In April 2019 Bushnell stopped representing Avery.
Local reporters' comments
Local reporter Angenette Levy was interviewed after the series and said: "I did notice there were some parts of the state's theory, and some other things that weren't discussed in the documentary," but she also noted that it was a six-week trial with much evidence reviewed in court. She said she was surprised that the trial, which she found compelling on many levels, had not received more national attention when it was being conducted. She found Dassey's conviction "tragic," as was Avery's wrongful conviction in 1985 but did not comment on the conviction in the Halbach case. TV reporter Diana Alvear wrote on her blog that she believed Halbach's life and character deserved more coverage in the series. Other local reporters said that the case still weighed on them nearly a decade after the trial.
Law enforcement comments
In an interview with the Manitowoc ''Herald Times Reporter
''The Herald Times Reporter'' is a daily newspaper based in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and owned by Gannett as part of its ''USA Today Network Wisconsin'' division. The newspaper is distributed primarily throughout Manitowoc County, as Green Bay and S ...
,'' Sheriff Robert Hermann criticized the series, calling it "skewed" and not objective, but he admitted he had not watched it.
According to Fox local news, Ken Kratz
Kenneth "Ken" R. Kratz (born 1960/61) is an American former lawyer who served as district attorney of Calumet County, Wisconsin. He gained attention for trying a highly publicized homicide case, ''State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery'' (2007), in ...
, the former Calumet County district attorney who prosecuted Avery, said that he had not been able to give his side of the story. In another interview, he said that in 2013 Demos and Ricciardi denied him an opportunity for an interview. The documentary makers said this statement was false, as it was Kratz who refused an interview.
In an interview with ''People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' magazine, Kratz has said that the Netflix documentary left out key pieces of evidence against Steven Avery. He said Avery used a fake name when requesting Halbach as a photographer, and that he had placed three calls to her cell phone on October 31. Kratz said Halbach's cellphone, camera and PDA were found near Avery's trailer. He noted other physical evidence that was found in the firepit on Avery's property, and that Avery's DNA was found on the hood latch of the victim's car. A ballistics report indicated that the bullet found in the garage was fired by Avery's rifle. In an email sent to The Wrap
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'','' Kratz alleged that while in prison for the rape conviction, Avery told another inmate of his intent to build a "torture chamber" to use for young women when he was released.
In February 2017, Kratz published a book titled ''Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What "Making a Murderer" Gets Wrong''.
Filmmakers' response
The filmmakers have said that they gave prosecutors an opportunity to answer questions,[ but that Kratz refused invitations to be interviewed for the series.] Demos and Ricciardi said they believed the documentary was fair and included the most significant evidence of the six-week trial, including much of the state's key evidence. Demos said that Kratz "is going on television and lodging accusations against us. Much of what he says, simply his facts are not true. It's not about 'do we include it, do we not include it', they simply are not facts." The filmmakers maintain that their documentary was thorough, accurate, and fair.
Strang comments
Dean Strang, one of Avery's attorneys for the Halbach trial, stated the filmmakers did "a good editorial job" with the documentary. Strang noted that the trial lasted for six weeks and featured approximately 200 to 240 hours of evidence. Strang believes that showing the full trial would have been too long for audiences and that only the most significant points on both sides could be shown. He disagreed that significant evidence was left out.
Comments by other involved parties
Jodi Stachowski, a former fiancée of Avery's, defended him in the documentary. But, during an interview on HLN's ''Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...
'' in January 2016, she was asked whether she believes Avery killed Halbach. She said, "Yes, I do, because he threatened to kill me and my family and a friend of mine." Stachowski also said that Avery forced her to lie to Netflix producers, threatening that otherwise she would "pay for it." She quoted other alleged comments by him.[
]
The Halbach family stated they were "saddened to learn that individuals and corporations continue to create entertainment and to seek profit from their loss."[ In a ''People'' article, Kay Giordana, Halbach's aunt, was quoted as saying that the documentary was "terrible" and "unfortunate", and
]not even close to what really happened. Everybody has their own side of a story. That is the Avery family's side of the story. I wouldn't expect it to be different. They think he is innocent. I am not surprised. I am surprised that someone would put that together in that way and have it eone-sided." She added that Avery is "100 percent guilty. No doubt about it."
Halbach's cousin-in-law, Jeremy Fournier, described the documentary as "very one-sided" and feels that viewers are "only getting one side of the story."
Beerntsen, whose testimony contributed to the wrongful conviction of Avery for rape, declined to be interviewed for ''Making a Murderer.'' Beerntsen had previously apologized to Avery, in 2003, after learning of his exoneration; they later met and collaborated on The Forgiveness Project. In a 2016 interview, Beerntsen said she had watched the show and that its portrayal of her case was accurate. However, as to the murder of Halbach, Beerntsen expressed that she was "not convinced" of his innocence, and that she had refused to speak to the documentary's producers for being "too close with Avery’s family and attorneys".
Episodes
Season 1 (2015)
Season 2 (2018)
See also
* ''The Confession Tapes
''The Confession Tapes'' is a true crime television documentary series that presents several cases of possible false confessions leading to murder convictions of the featured people. In each case, the documentary presents alternate views of how th ...
''
References
External links
*
*
{{Netflix original ended series (2012–2018)
2015 American television series debuts
2010s American documentary television series
English-language Netflix original programming
Netflix original documentary television series
Overturned convictions in the United States
True crime television series
Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
Television series about conspiracy theories
Television controversies in the United States