Is Steven Avery guilty?
The Thrilling True Crime Docuseries: “Convicting a Murderer”
The first three episodes of my new true crime docuseries, “Convicting a Murderer,” premiered last week, so I sat down with Brandon Tatum, a former police officer, to delve into the case. But it wasn’t just his law enforcement background that intrigued me; it was also his deep fascination with this particular case. When the Netflix docuseries “Making a Murderer” came out, he was so captivated by the story that he binge-watched every episode in one night. Now, he eagerly awaits each new episode of “Convicting a Murderer” every week.
“Making a Murderer” took the world by storm, unraveling the story of Steven Avery, a man failed by the justice system. He spent 18 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. It was only years later, through DNA testing, that his wrongful conviction was overturned. Like Tatum and countless viewers, I too started the series believing that Avery could never commit murder after enduring such a long and unjust imprisonment. His life story seemed tailor-made for a gripping mystery.
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Everyone who watched “Making a Murderer” couldn’t resist the allure of its narrative. Tatum revealed that one of the reasons he couldn’t stop watching was the cliffhangers at the end of each episode. The one-hour journey took viewers on a rollercoaster ride, leaving them with burning questions: Is there more to the story? Did Avery really do it? How was the evidence obtained? Tatum, viewing through the lens of a police officer, noticed how the narrative constantly oscillated between Avery’s guilt and innocence.
Avery’s criminal record was extensive, especially for someone living in a small town where everyone knows each other. The same cops were likely arresting him repeatedly for similar offenses. However, “Making a Murderer” often portrayed those who spoke out against Avery as problematic, while simultaneously painting him as the victim. The docuseries downplayed his crimes, suggesting, for instance, that he stole because he was hungry. Yet, as I delved deeper into his story, one of the first red flags that caught my attention was his history of animal torture.
First, I discovered that he had tortured his family’s cat, dousing it in flammable liquid, setting it on fire, and cruelly throwing it back into the flames when it tried to escape. As Tatum aptly put it, “I think you have to be a level of crazy to want to see an animal suffer and die by way of burning it.” While hanging out with the wrong crowd may lead to poor decisions, not everyone contemplates animal cruelty or derives pleasure from witnessing suffering. That’s a whole different level. And the cat incident wasn’t an isolated event. Avery’s own brother revealed that when their family dog ran away, Avery’s twisted solution was to chain it to the back of a pickup truck and drag it down a gravel road. But Avery’s violent tendencies didn’t stop at animals.
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Upon hearing rumors that his cousin, Sandra Morris, had been spreading false stories about him engaging in public sex, Avery took matters into his own hands. He tracked her down, attempted to run her off the road, and held her at gunpoint, all while her toddler was in the car (a crucial detail omitted by “Making a Murderer”). As it turned out, Morris wasn’t the source of the rumors at all; a neighbor had reported Avery’s lewd behavior. Avery was sentenced to six years in prison, during which he wrote letters to his children, proclaiming his intention to commit murder upon his release — yet another significant piece of information left out of the Netflix docuseries. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “Convicting a Murderer” sheds light on so much more.
It’s challenging to truly understand someone’s character when crucial information about them is deliberately omitted. So why did they leave out such vital details about Avery’s character? Popularity. The objective seemed to be making the show a hit rather than presenting the whole truth. If they had revealed more about Avery’s character, especially early on, there would have been no cliffhangers, and viewership would have dwindled. Yet, even Tatum admits he still has unanswered questions about the evidence in “Convicting a Murderer,” particularly regarding Brendan Dassey.
My response? I can’t wait for you to see it. Once you witness the lengths people went to in order to tarnish the reputation of the police, you’ll be astounded. After all, every story has two sides.
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