Netflix has just given a wonderful gift to true crime aficionados, like me. The streaming service just announced that 6 new episodes of the addictive crime documentary series Making A Murderer are currently in production. The original 12 episodes aired in late 2015 and the series received 6 Emmy nominations. As a refresher, the series told the story of the murder of Teresa Halbach and the 2007 trial of Steven Avery and his nephew Brendon Dassey, who were eventually convicted of the crime. Netflix announced via social media on Tuesday that the new season was coming, tweeting:
It's not over. @MakingAMurderer will return.
— Netflix US (@netflix) July 19, 2016
It’s not a huge surprise that the show is coming back, as the story continued after the last episode aired. The series’ directors, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, said of the new episodes, “The viewers’ interest and attention has ensured that the story is not over, and we are fully committed to continuing to document events as they unfold.”
Events have certainly been unfolding since the first season ended. Back in January, Avery got a new attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who specializes in wrongful conviction cases. She has been working on Steven’s case, using her Twitter feed to discuss and reveal some of her findings. She recently tweeted that she had a “tsunami of new evidence” to present in the case.
If you think we are just tweeting…think again. A tsunami of new evidence is on the way. @MakingAMurderer
@Nowheretorunorhide— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) July 5, 2016
In a recent profile of the attorney in Newsweek, Zellner said that her biggest piece of evidence is the cell phone records that were not introduced in the 2007 trial, reportedly showing that Teresa Halbach had left Avery’s property before she was murdered.
There is also the lack of crime scene photos showing bones alleged to be Halbach’s. Former Avery counsel Jerry Buting, who is on the record for saying, “I’ve still got my suspicions about whether something improper occurred during the deliberations,” told USA TODAY that he was puzzled as to why the investigating officers “failed to photograph the bones to show precisely how they were positioned, an elementary task in the course of such an investigation.”
Avery’s legal team is certainly hoping for a happy ending this time around. Zellner recently told People, “The new Netflix episodes will reveal all of the new evidence we have developed to show Steven is innocent and was framed for a second time.” Dassey’s lawyer, Laura N. Nirider, told the magazine that Brendan is “hopeful” he will be given a new trial, adding “What gives him hope is the letters he receives from people all around the world. Those letters and his family are the reasons he gets up nowadays. He is hopeful and grateful.”
I definitely think the right men are behind bars for this crime, but I am excited to see the legal wrangling that is sure to ensue.
Photo credit: Netflix, WENN.com
i loved this documentary when i watched it, but when i started reading about it i came to the conclusion they were most likely guilty.
It was so engrossing. We watched the whole thing one weekend.
And yeah… I read a lot of information afterwards and that was my impression too.
His obsession with halbach, the cat torture, the alleged molestation of the nephews?
I don’t know if he did it, but he is not a nice man.
Brandon? I think his mental capacity means he is easily swayed. He could easily be pressured into committing a crime and I’m even less sure what Justice looks like in that case.
Same! I was convinced of his innocence when I watched it, especially Dassey’s, but after I read about everything the documentary left out that benefited the prosecution I do believe they are both guilty. I’m not sure how I feel about a season two though. The first season was so skewered in favor of Avery that it’s hard to believe the next season won’t be the same. I believe you have a special responsibility to strive for the objective truth when you make documentaries, and not choose your narrative after what garners most attention or fit’s best with the story your want to tell. Don’t abuse the trust of the audience and contribute to misinformation.
I so agree.
I agree too. I got sucked in to that and to the Serial podcast and the longer I watched/listened the most skeptical I became. But the stories are so compelling and my natural tendency to root for the “underdog” really had me convinced these guys had been wronged at first. I just don’t know anymore!
+1
Interesting that you think they committed the crime. When my mum and I watched it, we became certain that they hadn’t killed Teresa. I mentioned it on a previous post on here but I always found the ex boyfriend and brother very suspicious.
I can’t wait to see the new season.
There is a lot of evidence that was not mentioned in the documentary that points back to Avery and Dassy. Dig deeper into the case and you may not be so swayed by the story someone else is telling you.
The problem with shows like this is that they’re completely biased. They’re going to show you the information that will lead you to come to the conclusion they want. I had to cut myself off from reading any more about this asshat of a human. I don’t know if he did murder her – I think he did, but I’m a nobody as far as the case goes – but he’s such a vile excuse for a human, that I just can’t rally behind him. I CAN rally behind the people who bumbled the case so badly getting called out/ prosecuted/ whatever. But I can’t muster any sympathy for him. Even the ex-fiance who appeared in the docuseries has now said that he was beating her and she was terrified of him so she went along with the show. He definitely got wrongfully imprisoned for the incident in the 80’s, but man – he and his brothers are just such awful people, and even while he was in jail for that first incident he was sending the mother of his children death threats. There are a bunch of other reasons why this man should be behind bars, but that first imprisonment wasn’t one of them.
Even a vile excuse for a human being deserves a competent honest investigation and a fair trial. That’s one of the hallmarks of an advanced democracy. I don’t know whether Avery did it but it was very obvious to me that Dassey did not have the mental capacity and understanding to be treated in the way he has been. The police interviews with him were outrageous. It was a gripping series and I will certainly it be watching this new series.
YES! Like, instead of calling the police and saying she was missing, they…got together and deleted some of her voicemails? Say whaaaat now?
whether they did it or not, i think it’s pretty clear that they didn’t get a fair trial.
definitely excited to see this continue.
I undecided on their innocent but I completely agree they did not recieve a fair trial.
I would agree. I also think the police took advantage of Dassey’s developmental disabilities. I was appalled that a child advocate was not present when they were questioning/leading him to agree to their concocted version of the story/his role.
It appeared as though he thought that if he agreed with the police he would not get into trouble, but really had no idea what he was agreeing to.
Meh. I one hundred percent think he is guilty. He didn’t get a fair trial, but getting another trial for a guilty person doesn’t make me interested to watch the documentary, nor do I want to give this scum more screen time. Who I do feel sorry for is the kid, and he does deserve another trial and better representation. If the documentary was just focused on him, I would watch.
Of course, I will end up watching it no matter what I say LOL
I’ll watch, I just hope they get the ending right this time….
And happily there will be no Nancy Grace fanning false flames as this goes on. She’s a DIS-Geace to the law profession.
–TheRealPinky
Well Brendon Dassey most certainly did not commit the crime, and his extreme lack of intellect was taken full advantage of by the police. So I would love to see him have a new trial and see him walk free.
I couldn’t agree more. That a child advocate was not present is beyond reprehensible.
This exactly. I believe Brandon is probably innocent, but he was absolutely screwed by the system. Even in discussions, people tend to lump him in with. Avery, despite him having a different timeline that day, an entirely different temperament, and no connection to Avery’s previous offenses.
I couldn’t make it past the first episode, and I love true crime stuff. The documentary was way too biased in favor of Avery.
This scum poured gasoline on the family cat and threw it in a bonfire for fun. That tells me all I need to know about him, his family and friends. He can burn in hell for all I care.
THIS! They’re all trash.
being a reprehensible s**t doesn’t mean the person deserves to be in jail for a crime they didn’t commit.
Being a sick twisted psychopath that no amount of therapy can cure means you should be removed from society permanently. Then we wouldn’t be discussing whether he commited a murder.
Well, I think he did commit it. I think he’s a disgusting human being. He might deserve a new trial, but he won’t get off the second time either. He’s guilty.
The kid is who I feel sorry for, and his story of more interest to me, because his own counsel’s behavior was appalling.
@ sasha, i agree completely.
Have you looked into the case on your own? He’s guilty. The “documentary” cherry-picked what they wanted to include to shape their narrative of his innocence. Most people realized once they did their own research how misleading Making A Murderer was.
What he did to the cat was dreadful but it doesn’t deserve life imprisonment. If cruelty to animals was punished by that, even more Americans would be in prison than there are already. And that’s a higher proportion than anywhere else in the developed world I believe. People have killed their children and there has been less publicity given to it than there has been to the cat. I am a huge animal lover and think that people who are unfeeling or cruel to animals are generally not very nice to people either, but the cat episode doesn’t prove he murdered that poor girl.
You’re right, as if killing/torturing/abusing your children is not publicity worthy, i mean people should know that, and be brave enough to step in when they see something wrong going on with a Child/its Family, most don’t, they look the other direction and do nothing, won’t bother with that problem…
But what he did to the cat shows what a vile piece of sh***t he is, i think he is an Psychopath, and i want some of these creatures not free outside with us, maybe Siberia would be perfect, so much place there….
No it doesn’t deserve life in prison. I’d put a bullet in his head. Same thing if he had abused a child. Murders, rapists, pedophiles, animal abusers, I’d line them up in front of a firing squad. Then we wouldn’t have a problem with prison over population.
There are also allegations that Avery beat and tried to strangle his wife and might have sexual abused his nephew. The cat received the most publicity because he admitted it. Sick freak. I place zero value on his life.
The problem with our prisons is that we sentence non-violent drug offenders to decades in prison. Killing a cat the way he did is indicative of a serious lack of empathy – but MORE IMPORTANTLY – the fact that they used his cousin to disregard that egregious act of cruelty by explaining it away as him falling in with the wrong crowd and not even giving the true details of the cruelty should have been your first hint that the documentary was completely biased. They also explained away his letters threatening to kill the mother of his children and so many other things. They tried to frame all of these serious insights into his mind as innocent mistakes.
Like I said above, if you look into all the facts they intentionally excluded, you’ll see that the guy is sick and he’s guilty.
@Sasha That bothered me so much. From that moment I just couldn’t be on “his side.”
Seeeeeriously?! I didn’t google anything about it, I just watched the series, but sweet cracker sandwiches I clearly need to! Glad I’m working from home today, y’all!
And dassey said that Avery molested him as a child. I don’t care if he murdered Teresa at that point. He’s a child molester and should rot in jail
I live in Wisconsin, and I know someone who was a juror on the Dassey trial. It was heartbreaking, and really difficult to convict someone so young. But with all the evidence that was presented, she had to go to therapy for PTSD. It was really, really hard on her. The photos, the discussions, having to think all the time about the horror that happened to this woman and yes, happened to Dassey. Most Wisconsinites believe the cops screwed up, but both of them are guilty. Just my two cents.
fellow Sconnie who concurs
If Avery didn’t do it… That means the police set him up. That means the police killed the woman, set up the crime scene… Because Halbach’s body and her car were both found on Avery property. And I can’t believe that. It’s very sensational, but purely fantasy. He’s guilty. I don’t know about the nephew, but yeah Avery is guilty.
Yep.
OR the cops found her dead in a car. Or just found the car with no body. Remember when that officer read back the licence plate to dispatch? And a couple of days later a search team finds the car in his lot.
There is enough reasonable doubt that he did it, and that is why he should have been found not guilty
He belongs to Jail….
“Making of a Murderer” and “serial” for that matter sicken me with the way they turn the brutal murders of women into entertainment.
That documentary is dishonest, they only show one side of the story. It’s hard to say, if there is enough evidence to convict Mr. Avery a second time, but even if he is found not guilty, he will have to face a wrongful death suite by the victims relatives and this time, he is going to lose.
Next time they could make a documentary about Jodi Arias, a woman who slaughtered her boyfriend and claimed self defense.
I haven’t watched all of the episodes but from what i have read of the trail, it is highly possible that Avery did it thou her ex-bf needs to be investigated more. Dassey i think is the innocent wronged party here that the docu makers should be focusing on – he’s the one who has suffered the miscarriage of justice.
The police screwed up royally and there should be a new trial, one that see’s Dassey free. That poor kid was screwed over every way from Sunday by the police, the system, HIS OWN LAWYER and his family. Never had a chance.
I tried watching the whole show but it just seemed redundant to me? I think I watched about 7 episodes, and I could have perfectly condensed them into 2 and a half. I thought it was because I’m not much of a documentary person, but then I watched The Jinx and absolutely adored it.
I felt the whole show failed at convincing me of that man’s innocence the moment they explained what he did to the family pet on the first episodes. Torturing an animal like that requieres an evil mind. That’s the kind of stuff you can’t just blame on immaturity and bad influences.