Following Netflix’s release of the documentary series Making A Murderer, prosecutor Ken Kratz was forced to deal with a lot of flack from people on the Internet after the documentary painted a negative picture of the lawyer and the law enforcement who prosecuted Steven Avery for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. Now, the man is coming out swinging, saying that those who watched Making A Murderer really don’t have all of the facts. Here’s what he had to say in a recent email:
You don't want to muddy up a perfectly good conspiracy movie with what actually happened and certainly not provide the audience with the evidence the jury considered to reject that claim.
Writing to People, Ken Kratz alleges that the evidence the police had at the time was sound, including finding a vial of Avery’s blood under the hood of Halbach's car. In addition, Kratz says that phone evidence and ballistics evidence is unswayable.
If you haven’t seen Making a Murderer, you probably have no idea what Kratz is going on about, but here’s what happened. Avery spent 18 years in prison for a sexual assault conviction he didn’t commit. He was released in 2003. Avery then sued the government for wrongful conviction, wanting $36 million for his troubles. Soon after (in 2005), a woman named Teresa Halbach would visit the Avery family business, Avery Auto Salvage, in order to take a picture of a Plymouth Voyager minivan for her job at Auto Trader Magazine. Avery was later charged with the woman’s murder for all of the reasons that Kratz is alleging.
The counterargument, and the one that Making A Murderer makes, says that the law enforcement who was on the case may have planted evidence in order to frame Steven Avery. (That vial of Avery's blood, for example, appeared to have been tampered with by someone after it was logged into evidence.) Other complaints relate to Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also charged with first-degree murder, and many have questioned if his confessions shown on the documentary were coerced through bad methods.
Earlier this week, Anonymous even got in on this debate, noting that Avery may be innocent. The group has come across some evidence supporting the fact that Steven Avery may be innocent this time around, too. Reportedly documents supporting this theory will be released soon.
Whatever ends up happening, I think we can all agree that the evidence, the circumstances and the prisoner central to Making a Murderer make for an intense and insane case. If you haven't caught it on Netflix, you should definitely give it a watch.
In addition, here's what the streaming service has coming up at midseason.
