By Dustin Rowles | Streaming | October 4, 2017 |
By Dustin Rowles | Streaming | October 4, 2017 |
A few years ago, you may recall that I got really hopped up on Netflix’s Making a Murderer docuseries. I had an axe to grind with Steven Avery — who is definitely guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach — and with the documentary series, as well, which manipulated viewers and cherry picked evidence to suggest that Avery had been wronged. In fact, not only did I watch the series repeatedly, but I ended up reading three books about the case. I was not only left more convinced of Avery’s guilt, but that his nephew Brendan Dassey was involved, as well.
That doesn’t mean that the police acted appropriately, and in the case of Dassey, they clearly did not act properly in eliciting his confession. I believe the confession to be true based on the evidence, but I also believe that the confession was properly thrown out by an appellate court because it was obtained illegally. Dassey currently remains in custody pending an appeal. If the confession ultimately remains tossed, it is likely that Dassey will be sprung from prison. I think that’s appropriate; regardless of Dassey’s involvement in Halbach’s murder, there is little doubt that Avery coerced an intellectually limited teenager into aiding him in the murder of Halbach, and Dassey has served an appropriate amount of time for his involvement.
Meanwhile, Avery is not going anywhere. The Associated Press reports that his petition for a new trial based on additional evidence has been denied. Sheboygan County Circuit Judge Angela Sutkiewicz stated that the new evidence presented was not enough to warrant an additional trial, adding that the new evidence would not result in a different result.
In other words, Avery is going to serve out that life sentence and continue rotting in prison, as he should.