The documentary Making A Murderer has become a hit for streaming service Netflix since it debuted a month ago. People are riveted by the true crime aspect and have become engrossed in the story of convicted murderer Steven Avery, and many people are starting to believe he was wrongly convicted. But, the show has also received flack for not putting forth a lot of evidence that led to his prison sentence in the first place. Now, Netflix has a response to those claims.
This film is 10 years in the making. There’s over 700 hours of footage. To split hairs about what was left in and what was left out — it’s a great film and we want people to watch it and decide for themselves.
Speaking during a panel at the Television Critics Association gathering, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos threw down his gauntlet to those blaming the series for making convicted felon Steven Avery seem to have been wrongly imprisoned for murder by leaving out evidence that supports the conviction, according to The Wrap, which reported on the event.
Making A Murderer centers on Steven Avery and his case. Avery first spent 18 years in prison for a sexual assault which, it turns out, he didn’t actually commit. He was released for that crime in 2003. About two years later, photographer Teresa Halbach came to his family’s auto salvage business to photograph a vehicle for her job at Auto Trader Magazine. Avery was charged with her murder and convicted.
One of the people who’s not a fan of the way the series paints the case, is prosecutor Ken Kratz, who helped put Steven Avery behind bars for a life sentence. The documentary has been known to paint the prosecutor and law enforcement team who worked the case in a negative light, leading to people’s idea that they railroaded the Wisconsin man. Kratz has called Making A Murderer “a perfectly good conspiracy movie” that isn’t truly concerned with what really happened while they were making the case against Avery. Other people featured in the documentary, as well as outsiders, have voiced similar concerns.
But, the people who are beginning to believe that Steven Avery was framed, have noted that a vial of Avery’s blood appeared to have been tampered with after it was logged into evidence. That same segment of the public doubt the confession of Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also charged with first degree murder, believing that he was coerced.
Whatever your thoughts on the actual case, Making A Murderer presents a good example of how to get people talking about a documentary. Some would say that it’s poor form on the part of the filmmakers to appear to be taking sides, but, considering the way they’ve made law enforcement look, it certainly seems that they have definite opinions surrounding the case. Either way, Ted Sarandos is right, you’ll have to watch for yourself and make your own decision.
