Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the complete infatuation the general public has formed with Netflix’s "Making A Murderer," which examines the alleged rape and murder of Teresa Halbach by Steven Avery.
The documentary follows Steven Avery throughout his ongoing journey with the United States criminal justice system, much like a mouse weaving between mouse traps. Frankly, the guy can’t catch a break. And maybe he’s not supposed to; maybe he truly did commit a really heinous crime. But that’s the entire point behind this brilliant series – to get us thinking.
A key ingredient in the recipe of fascination with "Making A Murderer" is Avery’s immensely complicated history with the justice system. I mean, the guy spends 18 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, is released, then is hauled back into a cell two years later and maintains his innocence at that. Either he is a really good liar, even to himself, or the man is innocent. It’s one or the other. A storyline with that kind of complexity simply cannot fail.
There’s a certain uniqueness following this case because of how Avery’s family members were affected. They have already seen one wrongful conviction and waited 18 years before that was sorted out. As filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi put it, the entire Avery family served as their protagonist in this show.
Now let’s get to the real star of the show – our corrupt-as-all-get out criminal justice system. As Avery’s defense attorney, Dean Strang puts it, this entire documentary examines the “tragic lack of humility within our criminal justice system.”
The prosecution presented the case using Avery’s blood found in Teresa Halbach’s car and a key to her vehicle found in Avery’s bedroom as their main talking points. However, there was supposedly no DNA discovered of Avery’s in her vehicle, meaning either Avery was careful in that aspect and got “sloppy” with leaving his blood in there, or he could have been framed.
As Jerry Buting, Avery’s other defense attorney, puts it, “this could have been done by one or two people.” So it doesn’t mean this case is necessarily some big government conspiracy. But sadly, we will probably never know that for sure.
For myself and other viewers alike, that isn’t even the most troubling part. The real trouble occurs when Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, is interviewed and apparently coerced into a confession of a crime he still maintains neither him or Avery committed.
There is a lot of room for potential victims in this story. On one hand, you have Teresa Halbach’s family. They are completely puzzled as to what happened to her. Then you’ve got Steven Avery’s family, who could potentially be living through yet another wrongful conviction. And lastly, you’ve got Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery, who could possibly be serving life sentences for a crime they didn’t commit. And if my last statement is true, that means you’ve got a murderer out there somewhere.
We can dance around and toss out theories all we want. We may very well never truly know who murdered Halbach. Alongside giving us a glimpse into just one particular case, what this show does is makes us question our criminal justice system as a whole.
And that is something we, in theory, shouldn’t have to do.
