Going to make this one short, but I want to post it in a timely manner because it is a prediction. As you may, or may not, have heard, there is a “surprise,” “shocking” confession being talked about. Supposedly another murderer released a confession which was handed over to authorities and details of the confession are not yet being released. (And here I go thinking that it was policy to release all confessions in detail to the public via the news before trial to make sure that defendants can’t get a fair trial.)

My prediction is that this is not a real confession. I think there is a chance that it is, but all too often we hear about these things done for attention. We even known police officers who coerce jailhouse informants to lie as part of their attempt to frame people. I don’t buy that it’s the real deal. Nor do I buy that WI law enforcement will ever be bothered to actually corroborate a confession. They will either dismiss it outright, or accept it without investigation because failing to validate testimony with facts is a key factor in many past wrongful convictions. Continue reading →

So, this is it. The last episode of the original documentary. There is a Part 2, but I’m not sure whether I’ll watch it or not.

I had been told that this episode is a bit better because it shows that there’s people working to get both Steven and Brendan freed. So from a certain perspective, it’s a good thing to watch to bookend all the negative feelings. I would also add that there is a lot of validation to many of my previous questions in here as well.

But, what I see mostly is the family settling back into the routine of visiting the prison and struggling to survive in a post-conviction world. So with out more, here goes for this episode… Continue reading →

I’m not ready to finish this show yet, so I delayed the last post to write something that I feel is really important. This special post is about another case that really made me concentrate on false conviction stories. That is the Michael Peterson case which is featured in the Netflix show The Staircase.

This show is advertised as a followup to the Making a Murderer show and meant to appeal to the same viewers. But I’m not that demographic. I did not learn about that case this way. I also will probably not watch the show because I am already pretty angry about the case, I don’t need more.

So what drew me to this case? That’s a funny story… Continue reading →

This episode is about Dassey’s trial. I was warned that it was the most emotional of them all. And it is. Dassey did not get adequate defense and judge Fox fails to do his job the entire way through. It bothered me a lot and I resorted to pretty much name calling below. The names are well earned, but I’m just kind of done emotionally after this one…

Continue reading →

Today’s post is pretty late because I wanted to spend some time focusing on an event brought up in last week’s post. That’s the case of James Hill in Hammond Indiana. This is a case that I just can’t get off of my mind because the lead investigator has been proven to have planted evidence. Nothing is good enough to undo an abusive justice system.

So this blog post will focus on some of the details of the Hill, Glenn, and Pinkins saga. Several injustices that are faceted into Solan’s career like jeweled studs. Continue reading →

In this episode we get the sad news about Steven Avery’s verdict and start Brendan Dassey’s trial. The defense and family of Avery is noticeably upset.

But what we get in this episode is a clear view of just how vile Special Prosecutor Ken Kratz is. The episode will put an exclamation point on this when it shows Kratz laughing and paling it up with the media following the trial. As if he did such a wonderful job orchestrating the frame job.

There’s a lot of lies, breaking of ethics, and scary vindictive aim at taking down Brendan vision in this episode. So that is the backdrop of my commentary. Enjoy… Continue reading →

In this episode, the FBI test about whether the blood is planted is presented at the trial. It’s visible how frustrating this is to the defense attorneys. It shows some interesting bias on the FBI’s part, and the expert’s first statement to the court is a lie. Fortunately in cross examination the defense proves this. Which is satisfying.

Either way, this episode spells out the end for Avery. You can see the damage that the FBI’s testimony does, despite the fact that it is obviously untrustworthy. But it’s a sad episode.

One thing that this one has given me is an obsession with police corruption cases. Looking at the FBI’s Public Corruption Department for cases is interesting and very educational. So get ready and here goes… Continue reading →

This episode focuses a lot on the murder trial. Specifically it challenges the physical evidence that supposedly ties Halbach to Steven Avery’s trailer. I think this one was less upsetting than many others because it feels good to have my concerns up to this point talked about.

Although new concerns come up, that are a little upsetting. I wasn’t prepared for Fassbender to become more of a crooked ne’er-do-well than was already seen. I also wasn’t prepared to be so validated in my concern for “Expert” testimony at a lot of trials.

Either way, I think this episode is probably as good as it gets for the watcher before it inevitably goes wrong. Enjoy…

Continue reading →

In this episode we start to see the actual murder trial. Steven Avery has been in jail with excessive bond (which is expressly forbidden by the Wisconsin state constitution) for over a year awaiting trial. The “pre-trial” hearings were all rushed to force a verdict in a civil trial, but the actual criminal trial is being stretched out.

That backdrop leads into the defense finally being able to voice concerns about points already brought up in the show. So it is satisfying to hear things said out loud, but none of them will be acted upon. What will be seen in this episode is how the judge is clearly in on the frame job.

Wait, I thought the trial was moved counties. Well, you would be surprised to hear that the jury and judge are still from the same County. Yes, good old compromised Judge Willis is still presiding over the case in Calumet county and according to the WI constitution on Jury trials, the Jury had to be from the county in which the crime took place. Except that the missing persons report originates in a different county, but who cares about facts? So same prosecutor, same investigators, same judge, and same jury. Why did they even bother moving the trial? Judge Willis is a nincompoop.

Anyway, here’s my reactions…

Continue reading →

This particular episode was a rabbit hole for me. I wanted to know if breaking client privilege was a criminal offense. So I went a good depth into Bar Association documents. Eventually I asked a friend and found out more.

But what is significant here is that there are clear violations that are being ignored. There has to be some consequences. Especially the conflict of interest issue. It’s pretty obvious that replacing Dassey’s lawyer happened way too late. The damage was already done.

So it’s a pretty depressing episode, but here goes… Continue reading →