The popularity of "Making a Murderer," the Netflix true-crime documentary series, has made unlikely celebrities of lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting. As the attorneys who defended Wisconsin man Steven Avery, accused of murdering Teresa Halbach, Strang and Buting are prominently featured in the 10-part series.

The attorneys lost their case. Avery, who had earlier spent 18 years in prison after being convicted of a sexual assault DNA evidence later showed he hadn't committed, was found guilty of killing Halbach.

But the controversy generated by how the case was investigated and tried - along with outrage over how Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, convicted as an accessory to the crime, was treated - turned "Making a Murderer" into an obsession. Viewers disturbed by its portrait of a flawed justice system were sympathetic to Avery, and to Strang and Buting.

As a result of the attention stirred up by "Making a Murderer," Strang and Buting have been touring the country, offering what's called "A Conversation on Justice." The two were in Portland Sunday night at the Newmark Theatre, joined by Aliza Kaplan, a professor at Lewis and Clark Law School and co-founder of the Oregon Innocence Project.

Audience members submitted questions, which Kaplan shared with Strang and Buting. With all three of them seated in armchairs onstage, discussing jurisprudence, the event often felt like a very special assembly at a law school. Here's some of what we learned:

1. It's tough having your event on the same night as Father's Day celebrations, the seventh game of the NBA finals, and Pride weekend festivities: Maybe the stiff competition was the reason for a relatively small turnout at the Newmark Theatre. At one point, Strang wryly observed he and Buting felt strongly about the points they were making, or else they'd be home watching the NBA Final game, too.

2. Strang and Buting had some initial misgivings about being part of "Making a Murderer": "We were leery about it at first," Buting said. But once the filmmakers agreed to some conditions -- not to interfere with the lawyers' attorney-client privilege, not to speak directly to Avery, not to promote or release the docuseries until Avery and Dassey's trials were finished - Strang and Buting agreed to participate.

3. There's a reason why "Making a Murderer" seems so attuned to Avery's case: The Avery family cooperated with the filmmakers, Strang and Buting said, while, for understandable reasons, Halbach's family declined a request to participate. Some of the officers involved with the case spoke to the filmmakers, but wouldn't sign release forms allowing their interviews to be used in the film. For those reasons, Strang said, "Making a Murderer" presents a more three-dimensional view of the Avery family.

4. Criticisms of the fairness of "Making a Murderer" are connected to the prosecutor's objections: Buting said efforts to to discredit the film for not including elements that might make Avery look bad is a one-man campaign, coming from Ken Kratz, prosecutor in the Halbach murder case. Both Strang and Buting said the film covers the major elements in the case.

5. There were alternate suspects: But we didn't see them. Buting said he and Strang had prepared a list of alternative suspects, but "we weren't allowed to present them." The judge, according to the lawyers, had demanded that the defense show motive for alternative suspects. This was difficult to do, Strang said, since there was no reason to suspect anyone of having ill feelings toward Halbach.

6. The reporters who covered the trial weren't "slimy": After a question asking whether the reporters were as "slimy" as portrayed in "Making a Murderer," Strang said that reporters asking questions in press conferences were interested and often skeptical about the prosecution tactics. But when it came time to present reports on TV, the focus became more sensational. Buting added that the documentary turns the camera on the reporters, which is a switch from how news in such cases is usually conveyed.

7. The upside of the "Making a Murderer" phenomenon: Strang and Buting said while Avery and Dassey are still in prison, the documentary has helped people realize that the criminal justice system isn't infallible, and that people can play a role in making things better by educating themselves and voting in elections for local judges and district attorneys, and demanding greater funding for indigent defense.

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist