The hit new Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer" mainly explores what happened to Steven Avery following his exoneration for sexual assault via DNA evidence. But regardless of his innocence or guilt in what came later, viewers must not forget that 18 years of his life were taken for a crime he did not commit. Earlier this week, with Avery's story capturing the attention of audiences around the world, the victim of that heinous crime in 1985 entered the public eye to discuss her role in Avery's wrongful imprisonment.
"The day I learned of the exoneration was worse than the day I was assaulted," Penny Beernsten wrote in a first-person essay published by the Marshall Project earlier this week.
Beernsten was jogging on the beach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, back in 1985 when she was attacked and sexually assaulted by a stranger. While investigating, authorities provided her with a photo lineup and then an in-person lineup. In both instances, she selected Avery, who was later sentenced to 32 years in prison, of which he served 18 before game-changing DNA evidence proved that another man, Gregory Allen, was responsible.
"After the DNA results came back, I just felt powerless," Beernsten writes in the opening paragraph of her essay. "I can't un-ring this bell. I can't give Steve back the years that he's lost."
It wasn't just the man at the center of "Making a Murderer" who lost time; his family was also greatly impacted by the whole ordeal. This fact is not lost on Beernsten.
"The man I misidentified was 23 years old at the time. He had five children and twin sons who were just a few days old. There was really no physical evidence connecting the two of us. It was a she-said-he-said case. And my testimony sent an innocent person to prison. His kids have grown up without him. I absolutely wanted the earth to swallow me."
Beernsten didn't go out of her way to have this man locked up. Until the new DNA evidence that exonerated him surfaced, she was of the belief that Avery was the man who tried to rape her that day. After going through such a traumatic ordeal, she attempted to remain steadfast in her conviction despite the skepticism that her testimony generated from certain individuals.
"At one point, this must have been a good dozen years after the crime, Craig approached me and he said, 'Are you sure that Steven Avery was the guy who attacked you? Because his wife Lori insists she was with him all day and that he couldn't possibly have committed it.' And I remember saying, 'No, I'm really sure.' But that planted the first seed of doubt.
"I would find a way to explain away any bit of information that he was innocent."
Beernsten suffered through tremendous internal turmoil following an already grisly encounter. Fortunately, she was able to find some measure of peace when her and Avery met in 2004 following his exoneration.
"We sat down, and he is a person of very few words, although he polite and attentive. When we finished I said, 'I would welcome the opportunity to apologize to your parents, but I totally understand if they don't want to be in the same room with me.'
"His response was, 'I think my mom would be OK, but I think my dad is very bitter. And then he apologized for his dad's bitterness. I remember saying, 'Steve, I have a son. If someone accused my son of doing to a woman what I accused of you doing to me, I would be bitter if I knew that my son was innocent."
Both "Making a Murderer" and Beernsten herself contend that she was steered towards Avery by authorities involved in the investigation. The case has raised several important questions about the validity of the current criminal justice system. Though Beernsten has owned up to her mistake, she says that the Manitowoc County departments never seemed to take responsibility for the mistake, even after Avery's exoneration.
"One of the things that really troubled me is that I was one of the only people who apologized to Steve. It would have been nice if the prosecutor and sheriff had said, 'Actually, we all got it wrong.' I felt like I was the only one taking any responsibility."
