Alison Dirr

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

The Daily Beast reports it might have found the next "Making a Murderer" in the story of four women wrongfully convicted of a gang rape in the 1990s.

Writes Jen Yamato: "It was the equivalent of a modern-day witch-hunt: In the summer of 1994, four San Antonio lesbians were accused, arrested, and subsequently convicted on charges that they gang-raped two girls in a sensational case that preyed on the Satanic panic that had swept the nation, as well as the prejudiced suspicion that homosexuality was a precursor to child abuse."

The case is featured in the documentary "Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four," which was directed by Deborah S. Esquenazi and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The crime, Yamato writes, never happened.

The film "highlights the egregious failures of the criminal justice system that should get Americans rightfully riled up, if only so that other untold wrongful convictions may one day get their due," she writes.

► Steven Avery's defense attorney Jerry Buting told the Irish Legal News that about 40 percent of poor defendants' cases are handled by appointed private attorneys, who are paid the lowest rate in the country.

PolitiFact Wisconsin has found this claim was accurate but needs more information, rating it "mostly true."

Wisconsin pays an hourly rate of $40 to those attorneys, as Buting said. PolitiFact found that this hourly rate has not changed since 1995.

And while Wisconsin has the lowest rate among the 30 states that set hourly rates, the primary issue with his claim is that 20 states don't set hourly rates so it's impossible to completely compare, PolitiFact found.

"In those states, the pay for the private attorneys is generally either set by a judge on a case-by-case basis, or through a contract between the state and the attorney. But even within some states, there are variations," PolitiFact reports.

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TIMELINE: History of the Steven Avery case

RELATED: “Making a Murderer” coverage, archived stories and more

► Jarrett Adams, who spent almost a decade in prison in Wisconsin before being exonerated, told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey deserve new trials, though he won't weigh in on whether or not they're guilty.

“I don’t know if they are guilty,” Adams told writer Andy Thompson. “What I’m saying is they deserve a new trial because the (law enforcement) tactics were downright unethical.”

The story also chronicles his life after exoneration, including his graduation from law school.

Lunch break links:

► RadioTimes: The creators of Making a Murderer on the making of a television phenomenon

► Sharp Magazine: How Is Our Obsession With True Crime Affecting Real Justice?

► 3AW693: Steven Avery's criminal defense lawyer, Jerry Buting is coming to Australia (Scroll down on page for an audio interview with Buting.)

► Cosmopolitan: Could Steven Avery's blood be the key to his innocence? ​The Making A Murderer star's lawyer thinks she has the evidence to get him exonerated

► Fox28: "Making A Murderer" lawyer to speak at Notre Dame

► Junkee: Making A Murderer’s Jerry Buting Talks Ethics, Justice And Being Overlooked For Hot Dean Strang

Alison Dirr: 920-996-7266 or adirr@gannett.com; on Twitter @AlisonDirr