Making A Murderer part 1 was super suspenseful but part 2 is even more. I just finished watching part 2 and it was super interesting and constantly made me think about everything. Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey were framed, 100%.
So, if you've watched the Netflix documentary part one you would know that in 1985 Steven Avery was falsely accused of a rape and spent 18 years out of his 20-year sentence in prison even though he knew he didn't commit the crime. That's crazy! The police basically arrested the wrong guy because "that sounds like something the Avery's would do." Eventually after spending 18 years in jail, he got exonerated because of DNA evidence. In 2003, Avery filed a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowac County along with the former sheriff and the former district attorney for wrongful conviction and imprisonment. In 2005, when that lawsuit was still going on, he was arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach and in 2007 he was charged first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. If you're interested in all of the evidence I recommend watching the series because there's just too much to go over in an article unless I make it into 5 parts.
Not only did Steven Avery go to prison for being wrongfully convicted but his 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey was involved too. The police say that Brendan helped his uncle kill Teresa Halbach. Brendan has an intellectual disability and these investigators questioned him without having a parent around. The investigators kind of made him tell a narrative that wasn't true just so they could get enough information from him to convict him too. Brendan was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse. He was convicted of life in prison with eligibility for parole in 2048. There was a petition for having a Brendan Dassey's law where if a child is under 16 years old that they can't be questioned by investigators without having a parent present. However, Brendan's mom consented to the interview that day because the investigators had to pull him out of school for the day. And another big factor in Brendan's case is he waved his right to a lawyer and that's why his appeal got denied over the summer.
In Making A Murderer part 1, Steven's lawyers didn't really do him the justice that he deserved. They did fight a fight, but Steven also admitted that they eventually did give up and said that there was nothing they could do anymore. This is completely different in part 2 of the show because Steven has a new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, and all she does is fight for those who are wrongfully convicted. She's a total lady boss and doesn't give up. She's found way more evidence than Steven's first lawyers did and this completely changes his case.
I'm thinking about minoring in criminal justice because court cases and wrongfully convicted cases are super interesting to me. I'm majoring in Sociology now but the major is super broad and there's a lot I could do with it and minoring in criminal justice would give me more opportunities. Two things I love: sociology and criminal justice. I 10/10 recommend watching the entire series of Making A Murderer.
