‘Making A Murderer’: The Case For And Against Steve Avery And Brendan Dassey
A few weeks ago, I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 17th, 2015 (Review here). It ruled. I have insomnia, so I often go on Netflix in the middle of the night to look for something to watch. I’m a huge fan of non-fiction because it actually happened. If something actually happened to people, it’s a lot more interesting to look at than fiction. So, I came upon a new Netflix original series called Making A Murderer, which happened to premiere on the 18th.
The banner pic for the series was a recognizable face for someone who follows crime. I remember nearly 10 years ago hearing about this guy who was convicted of rape, but then raped and killed a young lady. Since it was 10 years ago, I paid attention, but not enough to actually go into the background of the entire case. Why would I? I was 19-years-old. I’m more concerned about who’s the designated driver to the house party instead of investigating in-depth murders.
I watched Making A Murderer a second and third time all the way through. I don’t watch TV shows live, but I usually have something on in the background while I write or do other stuff. This one was interesting.
During my first watch, I thought: “This is complete bullsh*t, they’re setting him up! He just got out of jail a little bit ago, is suing the place that put him away, and now this happens? Everything is corrupt! Sheriff office is corrupt! The prosecution used BS practices!” There is no denying it when you binge-watch the show over a weekend. I served on a jury for a fairly big case in my area, so I know what is going on in the jury room for something like this. You will meet the dumbest people ever. The defendant pleaded guilty and two women on the jury wanted to say she’s innocent because, “my daughter is that age.” There is never a moment of coming to grips more than sitting in a jury room with a few smart people and a majority of people who weren’t paying attention. It’s like explaining a simple joke to a group… for three days. Torture.
When you’re sitting in a jury room, the words “Beyond a reasonable doubt” is repeated over and over. During the deliberations, it’s repeated over and over. What the prosecution does is trying to prove is that the defendant is 100% guilty. What the defense does is try to prove they didn’t do it, and also prove that there is reasonable doubt. What does that mean to find someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Let this picture put a stamp in your brain:
In this piece, I will go over both sides of the argument: Are they innocent or are they guilty? It has taken the country by storm, but it’s sadly 10 years after the verdict for most of the population to care now since it’s mainstream news. I wonder how many of these stories are flowing across your screens each night while you’re eating dinner. That’s that scary part.
NOT GUILTY:
This is the majority of what you will read and think after watching the series. The series largely shows the side of Avery’s family and that of the defense. The prosecution and Sheriff’s office are understated because they didn’t want to take part in the series, and because they were pretty much bumbling idiots. Seeing that they bumbled it so bad, there is clear evidence that should prove Steve Avery and Brendan Dassey’s innocence beyond a reasonable doubt.
- There is no DNA from Teresa Halbach inside of Avery’s home. None. If you are to take Dassey’s testimony as truth, it’s practically impossible to not find a trace of DNA in the bedroom or garage where she was allegedly raped, had her throat cut, and then shot multiple times. This doesn’t count the bullet from Avery’s gun with Halbach’s DNA on it found randomly in the garage under stuff which had traces on of the DNA on it. But it was an impacted bullet, yet not traces of blood or anything else was found around it.
- Random side note: the guy who drew the original photo from his rape case — where he was acquitted — actually framed the drawing he drew from a mug shot he saw of Avery from a previous case. He literally framed the person he framed:
- Another side note is that the reporters covering the case kept shooting the persecutor the WTF face whenever he talked to them. It was hilarious.
- There’s no way that two people of limited mental capabilities could’ve covered up evidence of that scale. If you take a look at the garage and inside of Avery’s trailer, you’ll notice that it’s a mess. If it was the set of a movie, it would have won best set design because there was so much crap everywhere. The garage has so much stuff on the walls that someone shot in the head multiple times would’ve had blood splatter all over the walls and in the cracks. There would’ve been so much that Avery and his nephew would’ve had to bleach everything in the garage. There was such a lack of evidence that investigators had to tear up the ground where there were cracks just to find evidence. They found nothing.
- Steven Avery had an existing lawsuit against the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department for 36 million dollars. They were supposed to be excluded from the investigation, but managed to show up when all the major evidence was found: key to RAV4 that was previously not found on the property in a location that was already inspected. Avery was walked into court by one of the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department people he was suing. The key was completely scrubbed and then had Avery’s DNA on it. Hmm..
- One of the jurors was related to someone in the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department.
- The blood evidence of Halbach in the back of her RAV4 (which no one could say correctly in the entire series). So the two slit her throat, then shot her in the garage after doing that didn’t do the trick… yet they put her back in the back of her own RAV4 where her blood evidence is the only place existent in the entire crime? Why clean up the blood in the trailer and garage only to sloppily put the body in the car where there was blood and hair from Halbach?
- Her RAV4 was found on the massive Avery property. It was pretty close to the car crusher that they could use. Why not crush the car and make it unrecognizable instead of covering it with branches and other things like a cartoon character trying to hide in Looney Tunes?
- In the RAV4, there was blood evidence from Avery. It looked similar to where if you turned the car on, your knuckle would possibly hit the plastic behind the wheel. The doc shows that Avery had a cut on his right middle-finger. The problem with that is that there are no fingerprints of his in or on the entire vehicle. No even a partial print! How could he leave a gigantic blood mark on the inside of her vehicle without leaving prints?
- The interviews given by Brendan Dassey are largely coerced. The kid has an IQ of 70. Now I know that IQ should be largely ignored since the testing is iffy, but Dassey was in special-ed classes. He was not the brightest of people, and his Uncle had the same IQ. What the police did in the interview is feed him information, and then Dassey would then tell them the same thing he was just told. Previous interviews at the school also led them to this information he was asked. The craziest part is that he really just wanted to get back to class and then back home so he could watch Wrestlemania. I know it sounds insane: how did this kid make up all this stuff and then they used it against him? Check out the West Memphis 3 case. 3 kids went to jail based on wearing Metallica shirts and backed by the testimony of a kid with the IQ of around 70. Like Dassey, he just told the investigator what they wanted to hear so he could go home like they said he could.
- The tampered with a vial of Avery’s blood from a previous case. Not only was there a pinhole at the top of the vial, the damn thing was taped shut when it was put back. That’s illegal. I understand that the pinhole at the top could happen because of the need to keep testing, but the tape on the side is suspect.
- Sgt. Andrew Colborn and Lt. James Lenk shouldn’t of been allowed on the scene. They were both Manitowoc County Sheriff employees and objects of Avery’s lawsuit. Why the hell were they allowed on the scene? Not only were they allowed on the scene, other investigators from separate departments were told to watch them so that they don’t do anything fishy. If this is a possibility, why the hell are they even allowed there? Not only that, but they found the keys — which weren’t there in previous searches — and knew way more about the case than usual. For example: Sgt. Andrew Colborn knew details about Teresa’s car — the license plate, make and model — before she went missing. WHAT?!
- Teresa Halbach’s brother and ex-boyfriend just happened to guess her cellphone password? I know this goes into more about the conspiracy part of it, but I mean, what the hell is the ex-boyfriend doing in this situation? Why did they delete two messages? How come no one really asked them much about what happened when it was clear that they we a bit sketchy.
- Bobby Dassey and Scott Tadych’s (Steven’s brother-in-law) alibi were complete garbage. Scott claimed that Halbach was gone from the property at 3 p.m. the day she was murdered. The bus driver claims Teresa was on the property at 3:30 p.m. on that very day. Bobby also had new scratches on his back when he was questioned and examined that day by the police. The scratches? They were from a puppy, he claims. Bobby’s alibi is complete crap because of his step-dad’s testimony. Where did his step-dad get the alibi for Bobby? He got it from Bobby. Believe the bus driver. The bus driver has no earthly reason to lie about anything. Plus, the bus driver was doing her job and keeping track of time and what was going on during her routes.
- The only evidence of rape and torture discovered in the case was from Dassey’s testimony. Avery was proved innocent of this charge in this case. When he was asked about it in court, Dassey said he “saw” it in a book called Kiss The Girls. I’m assuming he saw the movie since he doesn’t seem to be the reading type. The background of the serial killer in the book is “A serial killer from North Carolina who “collects” beautiful, exceptional young women whom he holds in an underground “harem”, raping and eventually murdering them.”
- Dassey’s original lawyer, Len Kachinsky, basically wanted to have him confess to everything. Here he is being a big piece of garbage as he lies under oath:
- Let us not forget Sgt. Colborn calling in the tags of Halbach’s RAV4 before it was even discovered.
There’s more to show, but looking over my notepad after watching the series has tiny stuff that would turn this article into a novel. If you want more proof the two are innocent, watch the show, but until then, I will now get into my “Guilty” section.
GUILTY:
The above section has a load of points that show there is evidence or lack of evidence that Avery and Dassey did the crime. I mean, there is A LOT of stuff I probably left out. However, there is a lot of evidence that proves that the two are guilty. There is also evidence that the documentary series left out. It has been said that the show is 10 years in the making and the creators had no bias, but that doesn’t answer for why they left a lot of things out… things that would nudge the viewer back towards the middle of the road. Let’s take a look.
- Avery’s history is glossed over heavily. How? Avery doused a cat in oil and threw it on a bonfire. Read that again. F it, I will repeat; Avery covered a cat in oil and threw it on a bonfire. Does that mean he did this? No. Does this go against his character? Absolutely. Why I find this especially bad is that I lived next to a psycho who did something like this. I was at his house and he asked if I wanted to see something cool. I was young, so I said “yeah.” He quickly picked up his cat, put it in a box, and then threw it down a staircase. This happened within 20 seconds. Avery put oil on a cat and threw it on a fire. Wow.
- The documentary only showed some of the conversations between Dassey and his Mother. They pretty much show he was involved in the murder in some way, oh, and they also show Avery as an incestuous molester. (Read the whole transcript here).
- Remember the how it was repeatedly stated that Avery was in jail for 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit? It was 12 years. 6 were for assault. He chased his cousin down at gunpoint.
- Avery used Halbach multiple times to take pictures of cars to sell in Auto Trader. He specifically asked for her. Halbach requested not to be sent to the lot because Avery creeped her out (one time she went out to take photos of cars and he appeared wearing only a towel). He called Auto Trader twice under *67, which hid the number.
- To be more specific, Avery called her 3 times on the day of her murder, two of the times were *67 dials.
- The bullet found with Halbach’s DNA were from Avery’s gun… the gun he kept hanging above his bed.
- Dassey was made to draw the scene of the rape where it was said that Avery chained Halbach up with leg irons and handcuffs. Avery recently purchased handcuffs like Dassey described, but he said he would use them with his ex-girlfriend Jodi.
- In one of Dassey’s illegally obtained statements, he said that he helped Avery move Halbach’s REV4 into the junkyard. He said that Avery lifted the hood and removed the battery cable. Avery’s non-blood DNA was found on the hood latch of the RAV4.
- Brendan Dassey’s pants were covered in bleach the day the murder took place.
- Reviewing the transcript to Brendan Dassey’s confession, he gave very thorough accounts of how they killed Teresa Halbach. The series edits it very convincingly to prove otherwise.
There is more for each side of the argument for Avery and Dassey. That is why watching this series is maddening. They totally did it, but then they totally didn’t do it. The cases for and against are so strong that it’s no wonder that this case and series is taking over the Internet. There is one thing that I was to say as I end this article: the amount of reasonable doubt is enough to get both of them off. Sorry, even if they did actually murder Halbach, the amount of doubt in the case would have me vote not-guilty, but also never live in Wisconsin.
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post,UPROXX,BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com