Doug Schneider

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

So, do the people who covered the 'Making a Murderer' trial agree with the jurors who convicted Steven Avery in the 2005 slaying of Teresa Halbach?

Journal Sentinel Reporter Tom Kertscher, writing for the current issue of Madison Magazine, recently asked that question of three reporters who covered the trial from a unique perspective: Colleen Henry and Dan O'Donnell held law degrees at the time; Aaron Keller would go on to earn a law degree.

And the consensus? Well, there isn't any — at least publicly.

O'Donnell, who has gone on to a career in Milwaukee news/talk radio, hasn't been shy about saying Avery is guilty; he produced a 10-part podcast to back his conviction — see what we did there? — that the jury got it right. Not surprisingly, he hasn't changed his mind.

Henry, who still works as a Milwaukee television reporter, takes the high road. She won't say what she believes, but says, "I wasn’t surprised the jury convicted.”

Keller, a former Green Bay TV reporter now teaching at a New England technical college, also declines to state an opinion.

Kertscher, who also covered the trial, also asks about other issues raised in the 10 episodes of 'Making a Murderer:'

Should prosecutor Ken Kratz have held the inflammatory news conference in which he described claims about the killing in gory detail, something critics have said poisoned potential jurors against Avery and co-defendant Brendan Dassey?

Said Keller: "In Kratz’s view at the time, he could engineer a heinously detailed criminal complaint, verbally repeat it at a news conference and skate past the general prohibition against lawyers tainting a jury pool."

Was it fair for film-makers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi to portray Dassey's court-appointed lawyer, Len Kachinsky, as "virtually incompetent"?

Henry: “Most lawyers I know would have been there if investigators were interviewing/interrogating their juvenile client in a homicide case. I have never seen anything like the video of Kachinsky’s investigator, Michael O’Kelly, asking Dassey to confess and to include drawings.”

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Speaking of Wisconsin newspaper reporters, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin's Andy Thompson has a good piece that examines what would have happened if Dassey had accepted a plea bargain instead of allowing his case to go to trial (he ended up with a life sentence, but will be eligible for parole in 2048).

Reports Thompson: Kachinsky said in the aftermath of Kratz’s appearance on "Dr. Drew” (a recent television show) that he held “informal discussions” about a potential plea deal. It would have sent Dassey to prison for a maximum of 20 years, as opposed to the life term he eventually received.

"Dassey’s relatives played a role in the progression of plea talks," according to Kachinsky. "The family pressure was pretty continuous," he said. Kachsinky noted that if the 15-year plea deal had been accepted, Dassey would be 'close to getting out' of prison."

But considering that Dassey claimed — and continues to claim — he's innocent, do you think he should have taken a plea deal?

NOTES

►Over in England, Demos and Ricciardi tell "BBC Breakfast" why the Netflix documentary took 10 years to make.

►There have been no Kathleen Zellner tweets since she took Manitowoc County's sheriff's office to the woodshed a few days ago for relying on a national police organization for PR advice for dealing with outraged "Making a Murderer" viewers. Are we OK with that?

►And where would we be without another website writing about Avery defense lawyer Dean Strang and his surprise at his sudden fame? Milwaukee Public Radio spoke with Doug Moe, who wrote a strong piece for the current Milwaukee Magazine. It's called "Everybody Loves Dean."

dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider