Even Jerry Buting thinks it's "odd, and totally unexpected" that he and fellow attorney Dean Strang, two defense lawyers featured in the Netflix documentary series, "Making a Murderer," are on a cross-country tour, talking about the American justice system.



That's not the usual sort of event one expects to be booked into Portland's Newmark Theatre on a June evening, with tickets selling for $39.50 to $95.



But such is the power of a pop culture phenomenon, which is what "Making a Murderer" became after the 10-episode series began streaming on Netflix in December. The documentary has captured so much attention that it's helped fuel a surge in true-crime television.



Examples of "Making a Murderer"-inspired shows in the pipeline include a CBS docuseries about the killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey; a new "Law & Order: True Crime" series, beginning with the case of the Menendez brothers, convicted of killing their parents; and a Martin Sheen-produced docuseries called, "Hard Evidence: O.J. Is Innocent."



"Making a Murderer," which was written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, became a breakout hit. Viewers were obsessed with the case of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who spent 18 years in prison after being convicted of assault. Avery was eventually exonerated, thanks to DNA evidence.



After winning his freedom, Avery became a symbol of the wrongly convicted. Avery filed a $36 million civil lawsuit against the Manitowoc County officials involved in his case. Before that suit could proceed, however, Avery was arrested again, charged with the brutal murder of a woman named Teresa Halbach. Avery insisted he was innocent, but was found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison. Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, was convicted, as well, on charges of being an accessory to Avery's crime.



Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, two of Steven Avery's defense lawyers featured in "Making a Murderer." The two are in Portland June 19 as part of their national "A Conversation on Justice" tour.

Buting and Strang defended Avery in the Halbach homicide case. Even though they lost, the lawyers' profile has soared since "Making a Murderer" spawned online debates about the evidence, theories about Avery's innocence or guilt, and outrage at how officials treated Dassey.



In a phone interview before his June 19 Portland appearance, Buting says their heightened profile is "something Dean and I never expected. But it gives us an opportunity to talk to the general public about flaws in the justice system, and chronic problems that haven't been dealt with. Our hope is that by doing this tour, we can get people talking, with their friends and colleagues."



In what's billed as "A Conversation on Justice," Buting and Strang address problems in the justice system, and take questions from the audience. The questions vary from city to city, Buting says, ranging from "the nitty-gritty evidence, and facts of the Avery and Dassey cases," to opinions about the guilt or innocence of Avery and Dassey.





"It wasn't a fair trial for either one of them," Buting says. "I never had any difficulty myself in believing in Steven Avery's innocence. The state's case never made sense."



Buting suggests part of the reason why "Making a Murderer" has become an object of fascination is that, "in Wisconsin, we have cameras in the courtroom, which allowed these filmmakers to record the entire trial. People see not actor re-enactments, but what the witnesses say, how they said it, how they looked when they said it, how the prosecutor and the police behaved, the whole investigation and prosecution. That's really unusual."





But even as the true-crime genre picks up steam, influenced as well by the success of the HBO series, "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," about a wealthy person of interest in three murders, and Season 1 of the "Serial" podcast, which dug into the murder of a high-school student, some have doubts about pop culture's impact in the justice system.





Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis has written about and made several media appearances regarding how images from pop culture can make their way into the real-life criminal justice system.



"Nothing could be more destructive in the jury room than having a juror say, I know how an interrogation really goes, I watch 'Homeland,'" Marquis says. "Now, many people will look at that and say, come on, that's ridiculous. People have a clear ability to distinguish between what's on TV and what's reality. No, they don't."



The wrap-things-up-neatly approach long depicted in crime dramas can influence public perception, Marquis says. "My concern as a prosecutor is, it raises their expectations to wildly unrealistic levels. I then have to spend a lot of time saying, this is not a television program, and I'm not going to have ('CSI' star) Marg Helgenberger coming in, and saying she can state something with 100 percent accuracy."



And Marquis has criticisms about the subjective shaping the "Making a Murderer" filmmakers brought to the project, leaving out some aspects of Avery's life that cast him in an unsympathetic light. Documentaries may claim to be unvarnished truth, Marquis says, but they can be influenced by the filmmakers' choices about what to include, and what to omit.

Marquis points to the sentiments of documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, whose 1988 film, "The Thin Blue Line," helped free an innocent, wrongfully convicted man. Morris has said, "There is such a thing as truth," which is "not relative" and "not subjective."

"There's no such thing as truth for me and truth for you," Marquis agrees. "There is only the truth."

But though some may have qualms, the true-crime genre's upsurge in popularity isn't slowing anytime soon. "I think that Americans view themselves as especially vulnerable right now," says Drew Beard, a film studies instructor at Portland State University.



Docuseries and the investigation process they depict provide, Beard says, "a way of being able to unravel and then understand and thus avoid the dangers of everyday life (and sinister intrusions on daily life.) People want to understand the criminal mind in order to gain the upper hand on it. Nobody wants to end up on Investigation Discovery."



The appeal of true crime stories is potent, agrees Curt Sobolewski, a senior lecturer in Criminology & Criminal Justice at PSU, who teaches a class called "Popular Culture and Crime." Sobolewski shows "Making a Murderer" as part of the class, to help demonstrate that our criminal justice system is more complicated than TV dramas like "Bones" or "Castle" would lead us to believe.



"I like that our criminal justice system is being exposed to a larger audience who has been fed a steady diet of network crime shows, where the guilty are arrested at the end," Sobolewski says. "But we all have to remember that true crime isn't telling us everything. It is presenting a perspective."



But though true crime docuseries may offer their own narratives, Sobolewski hopes the trend will have a positive impact in spotlighting real flaws and shortcomings in the system.



The true crime genre "has, at least, started that discussion," Sobolewski says. "And hopefully, it will lead to specific social change."



Dean Strang and Jerry Buting's "A Conversation on Justice" happens at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 19, at the Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway; tickets are $39.50-$95; for ticket purchasing information: portland5.com/newmark-theatre/events/making-murderers-dean-strang-and-jerry-buting



-- Kristi Turnquist





kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist