Netflix has another hit series on its hands that the world cannot stop talking about. "Making a Murderer" is the latest true crime documentary series that tells the story of Steven Avery, a man from Wisconsin who was released from prison after being wrongfully convicted for sexual assault only to be arrested and imprisoned for the murder of a young woman a few years later. The series was shot and produced over a 10-year period and explores all the twists and turns of Avery's intriguing case.
The new series has been closely compared to both the HBO true crime series "The Jinx" and the popular podcast "Serial." Like the two other series, the central question in "Making a Murderer" is: Did Avery actually commit the murder? If he is not guilty of the murder, then why was he convicted of it? One of the aims of the documentary is to show that Avery might have been framed for the crime.
Here are five things to know about the Netflix series "Making a Murderer."
1. Steven Avery was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and spent 18 years behind bars even though he maintained his innocence
Avery was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman named Penny Beerntsen in 1985 even though there was no physical evidence that tied him to the crime. He was imprisoned for 18 years despite claiming his innocence the entire time, according to BuzzFeed. The documentary implies that the only reason Beerntsen identified Avery as her attacker was because authorities strongly suggested him. As a result he was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
After 18 years in prison, newly tested DNA evidence exonerated Avery in 2003 thanks to the Innocence Project. The man who was actually guilty of sexually assaulting Beerntsen, Gregory Allen, was ignored throughout the entire initial investigation. Avery was released from prison as a free man, but not for long.
2. Avery was arrested and charged for the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005
After Avery was released from prison he filed a $36 million civil suit against Manitowoc County for wrongful incarceration. In the middle of the lawsuit he was charged with another crime, the murder of car photographer Teresa Halbach. Halbach was a 25-year-old car photographer who worked for an automotive magazine. She had visited the Avery family's car salvage yard to photograph a minivan they had.
In October 2005, Halbach was reported missing. Avery was one of the last people to see the young woman alive, and there was a ton of evidence that came in that pointed towards Avery. His blood was found in Halbach's Toyota RAV4, which was discovered in the Averys' salvage yard, according to the New York Times. The key to her car was also found on the floor of Avery's bedroom and a bullet casing with her DNA was found in his garage. Fragments of Halbach's bones and teeth were also found in a fire pit next to Avery's home.
Brendan Dassey, the then 16-year-old nephew of Avery, confessed to police that he helped Avery kidnap and murder Halbach. Dassey is described multiple times in the series as someone who has learning disabilities and changed his statements multiple times. The makers of "Making a Murderer" aim to show that Dassey was allegedly prompted by authorities to pin Avery down as the murderer of Halbach.
Once again, Avery maintained his innocence and claimed that he was framed by officers who were angry at him due to the public humiliation they endured after he was exonerated. In order to finance his trial, Avery settled his pre-existing $36 million lawsuit with the county for only $400,000 and hired two experienced defense lawyers, Dean Strang and Jerome Buting. The case was lost and Avery was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Dassey was also found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
3. Avery is still imprisoned for the murder of Halbach
Both Avery and Dassey are still serving out their life sentences in prison and have appealed their cases to no avail. Avery is now acting as his own lawyer because he ran out of money and is no longer entitled to a court-appointed attorney, according to People. Avery has used up all of his state appeals and is trying to find a different way to get a new trial and lawyer.
Dassey is still receiving help from the lawyers at the Center of Wrongful Convictions of Youth. The organization is trying to get him a new trial and has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case. The organization's argument is that his constitutional rights were violated when his confession was allegedly coerced by police and when his pre-trial lawyer allegedly worked with the prosecution.
4. It took 10 years to make the series
The creators of "Making a Murderer," Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, spent a decade following the case of Avery and compiling a 10-part true crime series. In 2005, Ricciardi, 45, and Demos, 42 were two graduate film students at Columbia University and had been dating for two years. The two were in in the middle of working on their theses when they read about Avery's case and thought it could be an opportunity for a documentary.
The two then traveled to to Manitowoc, Wis., to "test the waters to see if there was a story," according to the New York Times. They arrived at the initial hearing with other members of the media as well as onlookers who were all interested in the case. In January 2006 they subleased their apartment in New York City and moved to Manitowoc for a year and a half to work on the project.
Ricciardi and Demos shot more than 500 hours of interviews and visuals then recorded another 180 hours at the trials. As the two started to piece together their documentary, they met with executives from HBO, PBS and other various networks with no luck. The two continued to work on "Making a Murderer" and submitted a rough cut of three episodes with a proposal to Netflix in 2013. As a result, they were offered an eight-episode series, which was later expanded to 10.
5. There is a petition circling the Internet calling to pardon Avery.
After the success of "Making a Murderer," supporters of Avery have grown in numbers since the show premiered last month. More than 200,000 people have signed a petition that calls for President Barack Obama to pardon Avery and Dassey.
"Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the U.S. criminal and civil justice systems," the Change.org petition reads.
Another petition was aimed at the White House and asked the president to pardon Avery and his nephew.
"There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriff's department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey," the White House petition reads.
"This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as such, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible," the petition continues.
"Making a Murderer" is now available to stream on Netflix.
Check out the trailer for the true crime series below:
