Re: Making a Murderer (spoilers expected) did Steven Avery do it?
My assessment, based upon the series.
First, I always worry a little bit in these about what I'm not being told. No interviews with the cops or prosecutor. No question which direction the filmmakers leaned.
There are a couple of things that bother me about the evidence of Avery's guilt, ignoring anything the kid may have said in his "admissions." Why do the prosecutors think Avery killed her? The guy was no saint, but nothing in his past (at least revealed in the movie) suggests even a hint of a motive. What was the prosecution argument about what actually happened? Where was she killed, and then what? Based upon strictly what we saw in the series, I couldn't convict Avery with the idea that he supposedly killed her in the house (or at least stabbed her in the stomach and slit her throat), hauled her to the garage and shot her in the head, then loaded her into her own vehicle and transported her somewhere(?), burned her body, then loaded her burned remains back up and took them back to his house and burned them again? That just makes no sense at all, and there is too much physical evidence missing to corroborate the thin physical evidence supporting such a summary.
The prosecution must have had some sort of argument that made sense, or I can't see a jury convicting.
On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd just open Avery's cell door right now, pat him on the back and set him free without knowing a lot more than what this series told us.
First, the whole thing with the cops and the evidence is troubling, but I'm not yet convinced of a conspiracy by them. Conspiracies of many, many people, simply don't work. Someone breaks rank. I do think it is entirely credible that the key was planted, given the prior photos and search. Cops undoubtedly have been guilty of trying to "enhance" the strength of their case because they don't trust the evidence they have. You could see that even in some of the testimony. But what I'd like to know is if the cops planted the key, where did they get it?
Second, the filmmakers and defense did nothing to challenge the plain fact that this girl was last seen alive at Avery's home, that no calls or cellphone activity was performed by her after that point, and she turned up dead. Avery isn't the only one there, but there is also no evidence that she came across someone else who may have killed her, AND had the ability to try to pin this on Avery. I mean, let's assume Avery didn't kill her, and someone else other than the police did. That person now has to figure out a way to frame Avery by burning her and then either getting her bones back to Avery's house, or making sure the cops find them and trusting that they'll get them back to Avery's house. Same with the key.
If you want to go further and say the cops killed her to frame Avery, then you have to show that in fact the cops knew there was some connection between Avery and this girl. Otherwise you just happen to have a cop kill a random girl and dump her remains at Avery's.
The only firm conclusion I did reach from the series, no matter how biased the filmmakers, is that the justice system clearly failed the kid, Dassey. The interviews by the cops, while probably pretty standard for cops, would cause me to dismiss the relevance of that admission as a member of the jury. The treatment of Dassey by Len Kachinsky and his investigator makes me sick to my stomach. Neither of them should ever see the inside of a courtroom again, except as defendants.
At the end of the day, I am probably 51-49 that Avery killed her (which is not enough under our system), but open to the idea that the filmmakers edited out evidence that would make my confidence level higher. I don't believe for a minute Dassey was involved.
