Sunday Night With John: Questioning A Murderer

I just cannot stop thinking about it...my head is spinning. “The Making a Murderer” documentary on Netflix is about Steven Avery and his two run ins with the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department in Wisconsin. I binge watched it over three days with my wife and every conversation we’ve had this weekend eventually turns to our thoughts on the documentary.

**Alert Spoilers are coming, spoilers are coming!!!!!!!** Do not read further if you haven’t watched it yet. In fact, whatever you are doing stop it, carve out roughly ten hours and watch this gripping, suspenseful documentary series on Netflix. If you don’t have Netflix, order it asap. This is a must watch show shedding light on our legal system the people working within the system both good and bad.

Steven Avery’s first run in with the Manitowoc Sheriff’s Department happened when he was wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years for a rape he did not commit. He was exonerated due to new DNA evidence presented by the Innocence Project of Madison Wisconsin. The documentary highlights questionable police work from the 80’s which lead to Steven Avery’s unfortunate 18 year imprisonment as an innocent man. He was offered parole only if he would admit to the rape and sexual assault.  He refused to admit guilt to crimes he did not commit.

The second run with the same Sherriff’s Department is right after he sues for 36 million dollars for his false imprisonment. Steven Avery is arrested and charged with the murder of a woman who was last scene on his property.  Subsequently, his family is dragged through another trial and more questionable police work in the pursuit of the truth. Steven’s nephew Brenden is either an involved party with his uncle in the murder of this women or had a confession coerced out of him by very suspect methods. The Avery family splinters as he again claims he is innocent and was framed by someone. Steven points his accusations at the same Sheriff’s Department who wrongly prosecuted him over 20 years ago for a crime he did not commit.

As my wife and I consumed the documentary, I couldn’t organize my thoughts quick enough for the amount of unbelieveable facts coming from those involved. I was attempting to file away certain facts and my wife and I both kept asking each other over and over again, what was said, what does that mean and no way, did that really happen?  I was angry and confused at certain procedures our legal system deems ethical. I was saddened about how a 16-year-old could be manipulated by the legal process over and over again. I jarringly watched his youthful innocence fade away over the span of ten hours.

I flip-flopped on who the murderer of this young woman was roughly a thousand times. I shook my head when I saw that the police didn’t question certain people. I laughed out of sheer sarcasm at the actions of the prosecuting attorney.  After we ended the series I googled Steven Avery on my phone and read through roughly ten more articles with different facts than the documentary, leading to further confusion of how this legal process became so wonky. I read through reddit and fan theories about who the murderer was and how people could have set up Steven Avery. I also read other reddit posts about how it was Steven who committed the murder. I just don’t know what to think, I’m still spinning and I still have questions. Still after ten hours of film and five hours of reading, I can change my mind about what I just consumed in a blink.

The one thing I do know Steven Avery’s lawyers by far, are the moral compasses for the documentary and quite frankly could be the moral compass for the justice system. They talked about how the justice system is not supposed to be about convictions, but about the pursuit of the truth. After viewing “Making A Murderer,” I’m much like Steve Avery, his nephew, their families, the victim’s family, and everyone else involved in the case, searching for the truth.

Now I have to go back down the Internet hole and refresh all the reddit pages I have been reading, because I’m still fully engaged in the thought process and the emotions of our justice system. It’s not often a documentary can make me re-think everything I know about right and wrong and contemplate who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. After what I have witnessed, I’m questioning the conclusions of this murderer and the ultimate question, what is the truth?