It sounds like the plot of an often implausible movie. A man and his entire family are regarded as “white trash” by their town. Spats and accusations over the years flare up, and one of the children is accused by his own cousin of crimes he swears he didn’t commit. But these crimes, for which he is fighting at the time, pale to the breaking news that a local woman was sexually assaulted in his Wisconsin town - and that he matches the description of the man who is the prime suspect.
At the same time, the local sheriff’s office knows another man is nearby, who also matches the description of the rapist and has a history of similar behavior. But that other man is ignored, and the entire department goes after the local suspect. That this particular law enforcement department looks shady and even criminal is not in question.
Making a Murderer is the true story of one man, from Wisconsin, Steven Avery, who is accused and convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder that he did not commit.
It is also the true life case of a man who spent 18 years in jail, after being sent to jail for a crime he did not commit, and then released. He went to jail vowing to prove his innocence. He was set free and became the poster boy for those unjustly jailed. His case even started a movement.
The documentary of this tragedy is hard to stop watching, as millions of Americans can attest.
Once Avery is set free, thanks to the diligence of lawyers digging into the modern DNA results found in Avery’s file case, as Avery is just about to receive a $450,000 payout from the government due to some shady and what seems to be purposeful mishandling of his case that sent him to prison for almost 20 years, a women goes missing in his home town.
Yes, if you assume this story gets more surreal you are correct: Avery is arrested for her rape and murder, along with his then 16-year old “low IQ” nephew.
The film is shot by documentarians who show a unique perspective to the viewers: that of the accused and the convicted, who are perhaps victims in their own right.
But the real importance of this heavy series goes above and beyond the mishandling and accusations against the local sheriff’s department that put Avery in prison wrongfully the first time - and most likely purposefully - for 18 years, or the conviction of Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey for murder.
No matter what you believe about the guilt or innocence of Avery and his nephew, who is shown as a high school boy with a low IQ, and a suspect with no adult to guide him during tricky and confusing briefings by local police, the film series clearly shows that our justice system isn’t just flawed but also at the mercy of very human errors - and consequences.
When a person is put away for a crime he did not commit there are many domino effects. The rapist or murdered who did the crime is out free, and probably continuing to harm others. That man who did not get caught when Avery was mistakenly convicted and sent to jail for 18 years? He went on to rape again.
The sheer weight of the injustices in this documentary series isn’t shocking because it happened to Steve Avery, who may or may not be guilty in the rape and murder of 25-year old victim Teresa Halback whose remains and DNA were found on his property.
The tragic loss of this vital young woman’s life is horrific, but also not the only point of the film.
Instead, this series offers a universal truth that the justice system, as all justice systems, is flawed.
Mistakes by attorneys, judges, juries and law enforcement in any legal case are not rare. No matter how you slice it, through error or misguided attempts to do good for the general population, innocent people are sometimes sent to jail. In most cases, I have to believe the guilty are serving time, but in many cases, I also believe the entire system can mistakenly put away someone who is truly innocent.
I have no idea if Avery and Dassey are guilty of this terrible murder of a young woman.
Watch this series and see what you think.
The deeper conversation, of course, should be how to safeguard our justice system, since the bottom line is, as always, that every victim deserves justice.
Like the title of this fascinating series, your views may go either way: that Avery is innocent and being made out to be a murderer, or that his serving 18 years in prison made him a monster.
Share your opinion here.
STATISTICS FROM THE INNOCENCE PROJECT
There have been 337 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.
• The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in 37 states; since 2000, there have been 263 exonerations.
• 20 of the 336 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row. Another 16 were charged with capital crimes but not sentenced to death.
• The average length of time served by exonerees is 14 years. The total number of years served is approximately 4,606.
• The average age of exonerees at the time of their wrongful convictions was 26.5.
Races of the 336 exonerees:
206 African Americans
104 Caucasians
25 Latinos
2 Asian American
• The true suspects and/or perpetrators have been identified in 166 of the DNA exoneration cases. Those actual perpetrators went on to be convicted of 146 additional crimes, including 77 sexual assaults, 34 murders, and 35 other violent crimes while the innocent sat behind bars for their earlier offenses.
• Since 1989, there have been tens of thousands of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued—until DNA testing (prior to conviction) proved that they were wrongly accused.
• In more than 25 percent of cases in a National Institute of Justice study, suspects were excluded once DNA testing was conducted during the criminal investigation (the study, conducted in 1995, included 10,060 cases where testing was performed by FBI labs).
• 71 percent of the people exonerated through DNA testing have been financially compensated. 30 states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia have passed laws to compensate people who were wrongfully incarcerated. Awards under these statutes vary from state to state.
• An Innocence Project review of our closed cases from 2004 - 2010 revealed that 22 percent of cases were closed because of lost or destroyed evidence.
• The Innocence Project was involved in 177 of the 337 DNA exonerations. Others were helped by Innocence Network organizations, private attorneys and by pro se defendants in a few instances.
• 33 of the DNA exonerees pled guilty to crimes they did not commit.
Leading Causes of Wrongful Convictions
These DNA exoneration cases have provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events, but arise from systemic defects that can be precisely identified and addressed. For more than 15 years, the Innocence Project has worked to pinpoint these trends. Many wrongful convictions overturned with DNA testing involve multiple causes.
Eyewitness Misidentification Testimony was a factor in more than 70 percent percent of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases in the U.S., making it the leading cause of these wrongful convictions. At least 43 percent of these eyewitness identifications involved a cross racial identification (race data is currently only available on the victim, not for non-victim eyewitnesses). Studies have shown that people are less able to recognize faces of a different race than their own. These suggested reforms are embraced by leading criminal justice, legal, and law enforcement organizations and have been adopted in numerous states from New Jersey and North Carolina, to Georgia and Texas, as well as large cities like Minneapolis and Seattle, and many smaller jurisdictions. Read more.
Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science played a role in 46 percent of wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing. While DNA testing was developed through extensive scientific research at top academic centers, many other forensic techniques – such as hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons, firearm tool mark analysis and shoe print comparisons – have never been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation. Meanwhile, forensics techniques that have been properly validated – such as serology, commonly known as blood typing – are sometimes improperly conducted or inaccurately conveyed in trial testimony. In other wrongful conviction cases, forensic scientists have engaged in misconduct. Read more.
False confessions and incriminating statements were present in approximately 31 percent of cases. Looking at only the homicide cases, false confessions are the leading contributing factor - contributing to 71 (63%) of the 113 homicide cases among the DNA exonerations. Thirty-three of the DNA exonerees pled guilty to crimes they did not commit. The Innocence Project encourages police departments to electronically record all custodial interrogations in their entirety in order to provide an accurate record of the proceedings and provide fact-finders with a solid understanding of the questioning that led to the confession or admission.
Informants contributed to wrongful convictions in 16 percent of cases. The continued use of jailhouse informants and other incentivized witnesses is a demonstrated contributing cause to wrongful convictions. A tragic number of innocent individuals have been forced to confront these types of situations without any clear protections against untruthful testimony. A comprehensive study of the nation’s first 200 DNA exonerations revealed that 18% were convicted, at least in part, on the basis of informant, jailhouse informant or cooperating alleged co-perpetrator testimony. There are many reasons as to why a witness might lie and without the necessary process for regulating and disclosing informant statements before their testimony taints fact-finder judgment, these harmful actions will continue to pervert the justice system. Read more.
