The true crime documentary series "Making a Murderer" has become the latest hit for Netflix and the directors/creators went on "The Late Show" to discuss the controversy surrounding the program. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos sat down with host Stephen Colbert to discuss the case of Steven Avery and whether or not they truly think he is guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach, for which he is serving a life sentence in prison.
Steven Avery was convicted in 1985 for sexual assault and went to jail for 18 years only to be exonerated for the crime when DNA evidence proved he did not do it. When Avery was released from prison, he sued the local police for $36 million. In the middle of his lawsuit, Avery was arrested for the murder of Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. The docuseries follows the trials of Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also arrested for killing Halbach. One of the biggest arguments in the documentary is that the state mishandled Avery's trial and that he was possibly set up my law enforcement.
"Do you think - regardless of what the intention of the series was, people are debating all over the United States 'is he guilty or not?' What do you guys think?" Colbert asked Ricciardi and Demos.
"My personal opinion is that the state did not meet its burden in either Steven Avery or Brendan Dassey's case," co-director Ricciardi said. "I would say in my opinion not guilty."
Demos then agreed with Ricciardi. "There are things he could be guilty [of]," Demos said. "Is he guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Nothing I've seen, and I've seen a lot of stuff, nothing I've seen has convinced me of that."
"We feel like there are no winners here," Ricciardi said. "What we hope to achieve by sharing this story with as many people as we can is to engage Americans and get people to feel responsibility and understand their own agency here. For instance, if we see someone in a perp walk on television, we can check ourselves and reserve judgment about that person, because at that point that person stands accused, has not been proven guilty."
Check out the entire interview with Colbert and the directors of "Making a Murderer" below:
