Making A Murderer
5 / 5
The documentary and case that everyone is talking about!
Before I go into the details of the Stephen Avery case, I will talk about the making of this documentary. To compress decades of footage, hundreds of hours of trial and interviews with key figures into a 10-part documentary was an achievement in itself, but to create a good timeline of events which was interesting and gripped viewers throughout the series is testament to the makers of the programme.
An aspect of the programme that I found very helpful, especially in the early episodes, was the subtitles and the captions of the people involved accompanied with their professional or personal role in the case. (Not often you can praise the use of subtitles and captions!) I also felt the music and cutaway or closeup shots were very well done, and it helped to establish the mood of a particular situation and to also convey the person’s emotions.
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Now on to the case…
I think I am with the majority with the opinion that there is reasonable doubt to say that Stephen Avery did not commit the murder of Teresa Halbach. I won’t profess to say that I can expertly say who is guilty and who isn’t but there are plenty of issues in Stephen’s and Brendan’s cases to say that they are not guilty. It was interesting to hear that more jurors thought Stephen was innocent in the initial vote.
One aspect which the prosecution had no answer to, which featured in the trial was the fact that there was no Teresa DNA evidence found in the garage except a bullet with Teresa’s blood on (found 6 months after the initial searches), yet there was no other DNA evidence found in the garage which is very unusual considering there should be some blood or hair on floor following a bullet to the head.
Where was Teresa’s DNA in Stephen’s bedroom if he and Brendan had supposedly tied her up, raped and cut her? Surely there should be something in the bedroom in the form of DNA, sweat or hair that belongs to Teresa if what the prosecution had argued happened.
The whole business with the discovery of the Toyota Rav4 is extremely fishy. The testimonies given by Colburn and Lenk respectively were both questioned by Buting, with no definite or convincing answer given by either of them. The fortuitous circumstance of the discovery of the car and the poor logging system, combined with the phone call from Colburn (not radio) suggests that both Lenk and Colburn were aware of the location of the car before it was even discovered by the search party. And to top it off, there were irregular blood stains in the car, which would seem a pointless move by Avery as he didn’t take the body to a different location. He wouldn’t drive a body 10 yards would he?! 
In the media and quite a bit on reddit, there is a lot of conspiracy theories, some fantastical and some very convincing.
Some things “not case related” that came out of watching this documentary;
1 : We all hate Ken Kratz
2 : Despite the situation, I found myself being annoyed by Mike Talbach.
3 : Even though they lost the case, Jerry Buting and Dean Strang are two brilliant lawyers.
Latest Update
Kathleen Zellner, a respected lawyer who specialises in rectifying false convictions, has said she will take Stephen’s case, and she has taken to Twitter over the last month or so to publicly say that she won’t rest until justice is done. Zellner is joined by Tricia Bushnell. You can follow any update of theirs on Zellner’s Twitter, as well as through the news undoubtedly.
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Let me know your thoughts on this controversial case and television series. Did Stephen do it? Was Brendan there? Was the programme too one-sided? If Stephen is innocent, do you have your own theory?
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It was such an incredible documentary. I personally don’t believe he is guilty and for some reason my money is on her brother and his friend (her ex-boyfriend?) It was his attitude in press conferences and often those end up being the guilty party.
But aside from where the guilt lies, it just showed how inconsistent and seriously worrying the justice system can be. Of course, I know there will have been clever editing to weight it in favour of Avery but how so many people got away with the myriad of mistakes is deplorable.
Have you seen the latest theory that it could have been another convicted serial killer who was known to frame others for his crimes?
Some interesting theories. I personally find the Bobby Dassey and Scott Tadych theory quite plausible, as it explains the third burn pile which is never actually answered by either the defence or prosecution. It was as if they forgot about it or didn’t value the importance of it much.
Cracking documentary though! I’m following Buting and the new layer on Twitter for the latest updates! 🙂
Yes, that theory is the most likely but, I don’t know what it is, I just don’t trust the brother.
My friend keeps sending me full updates and tagging me in everything related on Facebook. Won’t be avoiding it for a long time!
I think that the documentary shows there is a good case for reasonable doubt and there should be a re-trial to go over these facts that the jury weren’t allowed to hear. I couldn’t 100% say Avery didn’t do it but a re-trial or some kind of appeal seem to be the fairest way to deal with this case. I feel sorry Teresa’s family as it must be difficult having this dragged up again (especially as a lot of people are now suspisous of her brother and ex boyfriend) but if there’s a chance that the real murderer is still out there (and there’s a strong case to say there is) then it needs to be looked at. After all the rapist on the first case was able to repeatedly attack women because the wrong man was locked away.
Exactly, no-one can be 100% positive he committed the murder given the flaws in the prosecution’s case. Hopefully the publicity can have a positive effect in finding out the truth once and for all!
I also think there’s enough evidence, coupled with the malfeasance on the part of the prosecutors and police , that Avery definitely should have a new trial. I also feel that Brendan’ s conviction should be overturned. What was done to him was disgusting.
That “confession” was ridiculous. He was blatantly trying to give “correct” answers from the detectives. How that was included in the trial by Judge Willis was mind-blowing?!
Honestly? The whole thing made me sick to my stomach. Remember how when the whole Amanda Knox story was going on and how so many of us we’re disgusted by the Italian judicial system, (me included)? Well, to me what was done to Brandon Dassey was just as bad, if not worse.
Keep in mind that the documentary is not the whole story.
Yeah, it would have been good to have the prosecution also involved in the documentary but I think I read somewhere that they declined. I have no idea if he’s guilty or not, but at least the documentary highlights his case and provides the chance to find the absolute truth. Hopefully for the family’s sake the truth comes out through the further investigations.
Yeah, that’s kind of what I mean. If you’d been exposed to the whole story, you would see that it’s far from the total travesty of justice that the documentary presents. Most people who do know the whole story (and have been following it since it happened, not just since a filmmaker stumbled onto it) are incensed by the documentary. It’s good that the prosecution declined to be involved; the filmmakers had already decided whose side they were on before they started making the film, and they weren’t going to get a fair presentation. Most people who are familiar with the case (after watching its twists and turns in real time) tend to think that justice was done, but that the involvements of the Manitowoc county sheriff’s department in obtaining the evidence means that most onlookers from outside the area will never believe that.