- Feb 10, 2000
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Is anyone watching the new Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer? Trailer is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxgbdYaR_KQ
I am through three episodes and find it really gripping. I would certainly recommend it to fans of Serial, The Jinx, and similar types of documentaries (if you are such a person, I would also highly recommend the Staircase and the Paradise Lost films - they are great and heavily influenced Making a Murderer).
A few observations:
Please do use spoiler tags if discussing case details - I doubt many people have finished the show yet, as it just became available on Friday.
I am through three episodes and find it really gripping. I would certainly recommend it to fans of Serial, The Jinx, and similar types of documentaries (if you are such a person, I would also highly recommend the Staircase and the Paradise Lost films - they are great and heavily influenced Making a Murderer).
A few observations:
I have worked in criminal justice quite a bit over the years, and honestly was shocked by the measures to which the state went to prosecute Avery for the original rape. The investigation was not just corrupt, it was so badly conducted that at some point it looks more as though they intentionally framed him than that they were merely incompetent. Really awful. I can't imagine being on the wrong end of such an abuse of the justice system. They really really screwed him over.
I am still only now getting into the murder itself. That being said, it appears all but certain that someone in the Avery junkyard compound committed the murder, and he would certainly seem like a logical suspect. (Though that is a complicated question - on the one hand he has a history of violence and alleged weird sexual behavior - on the other hand, he seemed to be in a happy relationship and it's hard to understand why he would abruptly have committed such a terrible crime.)
I will be curious whether we are ever offered any real alternative suspect. If the only alternative posited is that the police committed the murder and placed evidence in the Avery compound to try to frame him, I will have a very hard time swallowing that as a feasible theory. That being said, it looks very likely that the police manipulated evidence to build a case against Avery for the murder, and their interrogation of his teenage nephew was obviously very very flawed.
It occurs to me that a lot of what has happened to Steven Avery, both in the rape and murder cases, flowed from the fact that he and his family are such outsiders, and frankly have such limited mental capacity. It's just much easier to manipulate and frame people who are not smart. The whole thing really makes me wonder how often the authorities engage in these kinds of shenanigans to get someone they believe is guilty.
I am still only now getting into the murder itself. That being said, it appears all but certain that someone in the Avery junkyard compound committed the murder, and he would certainly seem like a logical suspect. (Though that is a complicated question - on the one hand he has a history of violence and alleged weird sexual behavior - on the other hand, he seemed to be in a happy relationship and it's hard to understand why he would abruptly have committed such a terrible crime.)
I will be curious whether we are ever offered any real alternative suspect. If the only alternative posited is that the police committed the murder and placed evidence in the Avery compound to try to frame him, I will have a very hard time swallowing that as a feasible theory. That being said, it looks very likely that the police manipulated evidence to build a case against Avery for the murder, and their interrogation of his teenage nephew was obviously very very flawed.
It occurs to me that a lot of what has happened to Steven Avery, both in the rape and murder cases, flowed from the fact that he and his family are such outsiders, and frankly have such limited mental capacity. It's just much easier to manipulate and frame people who are not smart. The whole thing really makes me wonder how often the authorities engage in these kinds of shenanigans to get someone they believe is guilty.
Please do use spoiler tags if discussing case details - I doubt many people have finished the show yet, as it just became available on Friday.
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