At the tail end of 2015, the Netflix phenomenon everyone was talking about most was neither a light, fluffy sitcom nor a Shonda Rhimes-produced drama of epic proportions: it was Making a Murderer, a 10 part documentary on a compelling criminal case in Wisconsin. Steven Avery served 18 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit: but while he was suing the Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, police department that wrongfully convicted him, he was arrested yet again for the murder of Auto-Trader photographer Teresa Halbach. Moreover, his then-sixteen year old nephew Brendan Dassey, was also convicted for admitting that he was Avery’s co-conspirator in Halbach’s murder. While the main trial that the documentary series covered occurred nearly ten years ago, the case has become news again, with the growing popularity of the Netflix series and with Avery now attempting to file another appeal to his murder conviction.
I could go over all the details in the case that have lately been subject to a lot of media scrutiny, but instead, I’d like to present the perspective of a college-aged viewer who merely selected this intense program for her winter-break Netflix binge out of pure curiosity.
Throughout the series, I felt very confused. A large reason why viewers like me, and even the people directly associated with the case, were confused, was due to questionable evidence. It seemed that there were a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle: for example, if it was proven that the evidence could not have been planted in Avery’s house, then why did it appear that Avery’s blood sample kit was opened? Why didn’t we hear about more suspects associated with the case? Why didn’t we hear more from the Halbach family throughout the trial?
Both sides of the story seemed perfectly plausible to me because the lawyers on both sides made very valid arguments. What’s frustrating is that despite the conviction of both Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, and the contentious trial processes preceding them, I’m still very unsure of how Teresa Halbach died, and to what degree Avery and Dassey were involved. As recent responses to the show still emerge, I am also wary of the perspective presented in the television show. There is likely a lot of information that was omitted from the series that could help us form a more balanced understanding of both sides of the case. The show evidently focused on Avery: the documentarians, Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, presented the storyline of a man, once exonerated of a crime he served 18 years of prison for, facing criminal charges again, this time for a more serious offence. As I mentioned before when I was discussing the evidence, there was much more we could have learned about the case if we had heard more from the perspectives of the Halbach family, and the Avery family’s acquaintances.
Oddly enough, just a few months prior to this show’s debut, I was learning about crime and deviance in my Sociological Perspectives class. While watching Making a Murderer, the links between crime and the factors involved in deviance, such as lower social status or income, have never been clearer to me: this series was the example I wish I could have written about on my final exam. The Avery family had expressed, particularly in the first episode of the series, how they were seen and treated differently than the other residents of Manitowoc County. Steven’s cousin, Kim Ducat, expressed how the outside community labeled Steven as a “troublemaker” and as “another Avery” who was bound to cause a commotion in their town. This led me to believe that this long-standing perception of hatred and fear of the Avery family played a major role in Steven’s difficult encounters with the police. That belief affected my experience of watching the whole show, as I found myself sometimes viewing Steven Avery, not as an accused murderer, but as a victim of some very extreme bullying.
This theme of deviance was also present with Brendan Dassey: his low intellectual capacity was frequently mentioned, and possibly taken advantage of, in his case. It pained me to see how higher levels of authority, such as the police, seemingly picked on Brendan, someone born with disadvantages such as low socioeconomic status and disability. However, I could not fully feel sympathy for him or Steven Avery, because I am not totally sure that they are innocent of this murder. After watching the series, I have reason to believe that they were both involved in the murder, but I am very unsure as to how, in terms of who exactly killed Teresa Halbach, and why.
I do not recommend binge-watching this series as a nice little break from your studies (hence, I watched it over winter break). Making a Murderer demands that you pay attention to details, and it is an emotional rollercoaster. All I can tell you is that if you do decide to indulge in this documentary series, be prepared to think, feel, and debate the arguments and case with your friends for months on end. Based on my current feelings on the matter, and based on the fact that new developments on the case are coming up now, I would also warn you to prepare for your opinion to change.
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Images Obtained From:
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