SPOILER: Making a Murderer Breakdown

According to NBC News, more than 2,000 false convictions have been made in Manitowoc County in the past 23 years. A large group of those individuals have combined to spend more than 10,000 years in prison, averaging more than 11 years per person. The Netflix series, “Making a Murderer,” covers one of these 2,000 false convictions.

The series first streamed on Netflix on Dec.18, 2015. This docu-series was created over the course of 10 years and has stirred up a lot of controversy since its release. The 10-part series explores the story of Steven Avery of Manitowoc County, Wi, who served 18 years in prison for sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen before being exonerated in 2003. The documentary is presented through actual footage of everyone involved in the process. Nothing has been reenacted.

The camera follows Avery as he proves error to the justice system and reclaims his freedom for the entire world to see.

Shortly after Avery’s release in 2003, he filed a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County and several officials. After settling for $400,000, the case was closed, and the Averys returned to their property and business. But only two years after filing the suit, he was arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer who was last seen on the Avery family property photographing a minivan for sale.

The series then covers the arrest, prosecution and conviction of Avery and Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey, whom was also charged in the murder of Halbach. After cloudy evidence and rough cuts of the investigation, Avery is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with no chance for early release. His nephew, Dassey, is sentenced to life with a chance of early release in 2043.

The camera follows as Avery’s family and lawyers work to prove both Dassey and Avery’s innocence and claim error to the justice system, yet again.

The main controversy to this series is the biased perspective from which the story is told. Fans from around the world are raging with anger toward the justice system, while others claim details of the story were kept hidden from the series–not allowing the audience to receive all the evidence. The series suggests that the county officials might have had a conflict of interest when conducting the investigation.

Todd Bailey, video producer in the Grand View marketing department, said that showing the live footage of the actual people makes the audience feel like they can really connect with the show.

“The producers seemed to not be completely honest within the show, leaving out important facts,” Bailey said. “It seems to be a pretty biased piece.” “You can’t show everything when producing, but you should be fair to both sides.”

David Lubbers, a feature producer for ESPN, also commented on the ups and downs of making a documentary-style production.

“The producers only had the opinions and feelings of the Avery and Dassey family to work with, which would make it very hard for someone to not come off biased,” Lubbers said. “They did not get much information from the females’ families, making it difficult to speak on their behalf.”

After getting through the show, viewers are left with the question, Is he guilty or not?

“Documentaries are hard to create because viewers never know what information is included and what is left out,” Bailey said. “I think that the producers of this show really have a hard task of proving their honesty in the next documentary they create.”

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