Making a Murderer

[Darth Yan]

So I've started watching the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, about Steven Avery. Avery was wrongfully convicted and served 18 years in jail before dna proved it was actually a man named Greg Allen who commited the crime. Avery planned to sue the Manitowoc County Sheriff's office and DA, since there was disturbingly compelling proof that not only had the Sheriff known he was innocent, but that Gregory Allen was the one who actually raped the woman Avery allegedly attacked. In 2005 a photographer named Theresa Halbach went missing and her remains were found on Avery's property. Avery was suspected and he and his nephew were both convicted. The documentary raises the possibility that the police, while they may not have killed Theresa, probably planted evidence in order to avoid having to fork over $36 million (since the insurance didn't cover that much, they'd have to pay from the pocketbook), and that Avery might even be innocent.

Honestly, I've watched the first episode and I have mixed feelings. The episode does paint a somewhat rosier picture of Avery than he was (he was involved in animal cruelty as a youth), but the depositions that the police gave where they try to deny their misconduct was pretty fucking cringe inducing, and from what else I've heard the police WERE guilty of planting at least some of the evidence in the Theresa Halbach murder. Most damningly the confession of Brandan Dassey (Avery's mentally handicapped nephew) was proven to have been done when Dassey was unaccompanied by parents or a lawyer, and featured coercion as bad as what the WMPD did to Jessie Miskelley. What's more, some of Avery's other family members (Scott Tadych and Bobby Dassey) had a history of violence against women and rather shaky alibis.

I'm gonna watch more of it later on, but so far it paints a picture where pretty much everyone was a piece of shit. Even if Avery is guilty, it's pretty clear he was fucked out of a fair trial, and that the police and state were guilty of misconduct despite their claims otherwise.

PS: The Prosecutor of Avery's trial has gone on to say that some important information was allegedly left out. One such thing was that allegedly the victim Theresa Halbach said she didn't want to go to the Avery place again because Avery allegedly came out to see her wearing only a towel. However, two of the employees who worked with Halbach directly said that didn't happen. What actually happened was
"The argument that ... she didn't want to go back to the Avery property was in fact blown up by two Auto Trader witnesses who did testify at trial. So this is a really good example of less significant prosecution evidence omitted and defense evidence omitted. The Auto Trader witnesses said [Halbach's] reaction when [Avery] came from his little splash pool in a towel was 'ew,' but not that she was unwilling to go back there."

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

If Avery committed the crime, he did it in a way that doesn't match either of the prosecutions (mutually incompatible) theories of the case that they used at his and Brendan Dassey's trial. In Dassey's trial, Theresa was raped and had her throat cut in the bedroom in a way that would have been impossible for anyone but a trained forensic analyst to hide. In Avery's trial, she was killed in the garage by gunshot wound to the head, which might have been possible to clean up with bleach except that it also would have removed traces of Avery's own DNA, which were found all over the supposed scene of the crime.

Both theories literally violate the laws of physics, and I have to wonder how any jury could possibly convict based on such utter nonsense. Maybe Wisconsin hired the water treatment team that now works in Flint and all the jurors had acute lead poisoning.

For me, it's pretty simple to get to the most likely scenario: 1) Ask "who benefits?", 2) Follow the money. $36 million for a rural county would have been a tremendous blow and the careers and reputations of everyone involved in the 1985 case would have been kaput. People have committed mass murder over far less, so it's absurd to think that a sheriff's department that's already been caught railroading the same guy without the monetary incentive would have any qualms about knowingly framing him. My opinion is that they found Halbach's car and remains days earlier and then drove the car onto the Avery salvage yard and scattered the remains near the fire pit. Alternatively, the real killer(s) might have noticed their laser focus on Avery and arranged the evidence to give them what they wanted.

Does anyone actually think Avery did it, and if so, what is your theory of the case, since the prosecution's is physically impossible?

[Darth Yan]

I've heard that Scott Tadych and BOBBY Dassey might have been the killers. Scott had a history of beating women, openly despised Avery and may have been jealous of him, and had a dodgy alibi. What's more Tadych owned the van Theresa was there to photo.

Watching the depositions was cringe inducing and I can easily buy that the police wanted everything to go away.

[Darth Yan]

Considering that Gregory Allen hurt more people because they focused on Avery, that makes their actions more despicable. Allen may have hurt as many as 11 more people because the cops wanted to punish Avery.

[Temjin]

I just started to watch this myself. Only on episode 3. Really getting into it. Reserving judgement on his guild until I'm done watching and have done a bit more research. In the interest of fairness though, I thought I should post an article that lists all the information that the film-makers supposedly left out:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 07961.html

Making a Murderer has caused quite a stir online, with 380,000 viewers signing a petition to pardon the series’ subject matter Steven Avery after he was convicted for the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005.

However, since it’s release, the 10-part Netflix series has come under fire from those it attempted to vilify, particularly special prosecutor on the case, Ken Kratz.

Although he was given the chance to be interviewed for the show - something he refused to do - he has since been very vocal about the documentary in recent interviews.

Below is a list of all the major pieces of evidence apparently left out from Making a Murderer. First, a quick explanation from the filmmakers as to why they were not included in the show.

Talking to The Wrap, co-director Moira Demos explained that they had to limit what to include in the show as getting a six-week trial down to just 10 hours increasingly difficult: “We tried to choose what we thought was Kratz's strongest evidence pointing toward Steven's guilt, the things he talked about at his press conferences, the things that were really damning toward Steven.

“That's what we put in. The things I've heard listed as things we've left out seem much less convincing of guilt than Teresa's DNA on a bullet or her remains in his backyard." With that in mind, here’s the numerous pieces of evidence missed from the show.

More DNA evidence in Halbach’s vehicle

Those who have watched Making a Murderer will know that a serious amount of time was spent looking at the blood left in the Toyota Rav4. It was later shown to be Avery’s, with the documentary implying it was planted by Wisconsin officers.

According to Kratz, however, there was more DNA evidence found in the car. In an interview with Maxim, he said sweat was found under the car’s hood, asking: “Do the cops also have a vial of his sweat that they are carrying around? The evidence conclusively shows that Steven Avery’s hand was under the hood when he insists he never touched her car.”

Dean Strang, Avery’s defense lawyer, has defended this piece of evidence, saying - according to the New York Times - that it was never identified as sweat and would not require Avery to actually touch the car.

Avery met Halbach in just a towel, had previously ‘creeped’ her out

Another piece of information Kratz said was not mentioned was that Avery had allegedly met Halbach while “just wearing a towel”. He also told People that: ”She was creeped out [by him]. She [went to her employer and] said she would not go back because she was scared of him."

Avery used a fake name to meet Halbach

Kratz also says the day Halbach was killed he had asked AutoTrader magazine to send "that same girl who was here last time.” In an email, Kratz also asserts that Avery used a fake name when asking for Halbach to ‘trick her’ into returning.

The burning cat

Kratz has also spoken about an incident only briefly mentioned at the beginning of the series in which Avery apparently burnt his cat. In an email, Kratz says Avery actually covered the cat in gasoline and wanted “to watch it suffer” as it burnt.

Of course, this is just another character trait, rather than evidence showing him to be the murderer. In the documentary, Avery comments on the incident, saying: “Another mistake I did, I had a bunch of friends over and we were fooling around with the cat and, I don't know, they were kind of negging (sic) it on.

“I tossed him over the fire and he lit up. You know, it was the family cat. I was young and stupid and hanging around with the wrong people.”

Avery ‘told inmates’ he wanted to ‘build a torture chamber’ when he got out

From an article written by the Appleton Post Crescent at the time of the inquiry: "While he was in prison [from 1985 to 2003], Steven Avery planned the torture and killing of a young woman, new documents released Wednesday indicate.

“Kratz also included in Wednesday's filings statements from prisoners who served time with Avery at Green Bay Correctional Institution. They said Avery talked about and showed them diagrams of a torture chamber he planned to build when he was released.” Whether these testimonies were proven true is not clear.

The bullet with Halbach’s DNA on it was fired from Avery’s gun

That bullet which was apparently ‘planted’ in Avery’s garage had Halbach’s DNA on it and was seemingly fired from Avery’s gun, according to ballistics report.

In an interview with The New York Times, Strang holds that bullets were found all over the land, saying that Halbach’s DNA on it “really didn't move the needle one way or another.”

Avery used a hidden phone number

According to the email from Kratz, Avery used a hidden phone number to call Halbach so she would pick up: “One at 2:24 p.m., and one at 2:35 p.m. Both calls Avery uses the *67 feature so Teresa doesn't know it him (sic)…both placed before she arrives. Then one last call at 4:35 p.m., without the *67 feature.

“Avery first believes he can simply say she never showed up so tries to establish the alibi call after she's already tied up in his trailer, hence the 4:35 p.m. call. She will never answer of course, so he doesn't need the *67 feature.”

Suspicious items including handcuffs

An article published in Milwaukee Magazine reports that handcuffs were found at Avery’s house as well as leg irons. Avery claimed they were bought for him and his then girlfriend Jodi, while it was discovered that neither his, nor his cousin Brendan Dassey’s, DNA was on either item.

Halbach’s purse and other items were found near the property and her bones were “intertwined” with tires

“Teresa's phone, camera, and PDA were found 20 feet from Avery's door, burned in his barrel,” Kratz continues in his email. In the documentary, it is mentioned that her bones are found in a 'burn barrel' near the house, implying they could have been planted there by the state. If they were planted, why couldn’t these items have been too?

A 2005 Wisconsin State Journal article also asserts that “Investigators said in the court documents that they found steel belts of about six tires that were used as fire accelerants. They also found a number of 5-gallon buckets that appeared to have been used to distribute burned remains.”

Kratz holds that this is key evidence showing that Halbach was burnt there, otherwise why would tires be “intertwined” with the bones?

[Darth Yan]

At least one of those claims was debunked. Several employees at the autoshop said she was weirded out but never implied she didn't want to go back. Also, the alleged murder scene had no blood or other traces. Maybe they used bleach....but they ALSO found Avery's DNA....which would have been destroyed by the bleach. They also presented a mutually incompatible theory in both trials.

Even if Avery did it Krantz has no credibility. Brandon's confession I've seen compared with that of Jessie Miskelley from the WM3 and having heard the audio on THAT travesty I can confirm that Jessie was definately coerced (his later confessions were complete bullshit as well).

They also need to look into either Ryan Hillegas (who admitted to hacking his girlfriend's phone) or Scott Tadych (he had a history of violence against women).

[Darth Yan]

http://www.thefrisky.com/2016-01-06/the ... hsomeness/

At this point, I'm leaning toward Tadych and Bobby.

[TheDarkling]

Having just finished this I'm equal parts depressed and angry.
It beggars belief that Brendan got convicted on no physical evidence whatsoever, simply his recanted confession and the recanted evidence of a 15 year old girl.
People in the justice system should have clearly gone to jail over the previous Steven Avery case.
Is it any wonder that the defences allegation of state corruption got so close to working when there was obvious evidence of it happening before and that the state did nothing to mitigate the possibility?
Massive and rampant failure on the part of Manitowoc police and court system and yet as in the earlier case nobody will be held to account and it will no doubt happen again.

[Knife]

I found the whole thing massively interesting, sad, and frustrating.

After watching the whole series, and before all the news hype about 'all the stuff not in the documentary', I came away not knowing if Avery did it but absolutely appalled by the court system and the trial both he and Brandon Dassey got.

Even if Avery did it, there is no way that trial should stand, no way there shouldn't have been a mistrial with all the hinky things that happened. The participation of the county sheriff's department alone, let alone isolated evens like who kept finding all the clues, should have sunk that trial. Dassey's case should have been laughed out of court. It is just insane.

I kept looking over to my wife while we were watching this and say 'It's not their fault they are literally stupid, but it is REALLY not helping them.'

[Nephtys]

Yes, documentaries are rarely objective. And yes, Steve Avery is almost certainly not an amazing person.
However, no matter what evidence is 'left out', there's no explaining away the forced confession local police made a mentally disabled minor basically go through to get himself AND Avery. Not to mention the absurd 'defense' of his, that gave him a comical soviet-parody 'Pick one: I am Guilty and Sorry, or I am Not Guilty and Sorry', followed by pressure to draw Wile-E-Coyote-esque torture stick figures for how the two killed the victim.

Really, absurd. The actions of the prosecution in both cases continued to be outright shameful. The Dassey side of it is just comical and downright evil.

[Darth Yan]

8 months later, but apparently Dassey is getting free.
http://decider.com/2016/08/12/making-a- ... ssey-free/