Netflix’s 10-part documentary has come under fire for allegedly presenting a one-sided take on the case, but the directors argue what was omitted is not significant

No documentary in recent memory has courted more attention, acclaim, derision and controversy than Netflix’s 10-part series, Making a Murderer.

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Completed over the course of 10 years, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos’s documentary starts in 2003, with a 41-year-old man named Steven Avery released from prison after serving 18 years for a rape he didn’t commit. Accusations of police misconduct swirled around the case, and Avery was eventually exonerated using DNA evidence.

Two years later, Avery sued authorities in Manitowoc county for millions of dollars, and then was arrested again, this time for the murder of a photographer, Teresa Halbach. Was he framed by the local police? Did he in fact commit the heinous crime? And why did 16-year-old Brendan Dassey admit to being an accessory to the crime if he now alleges that he’s innocent? Making a Murderer doesn’t answer these questions – but it calls everything into question about how America’s criminal judicial process works.

The doubts cast by the series as to Avery and Dassey’s guilt (the two are currently serving time in prison for their alleged crimes) have ignited a firestorm of backlash, most notably from rightwing news anchor Nancy Grace, who has in recent weeks launched an all-out assault on the documentary, accusing its makers of neglecting key evidence that proves Avery and his nephew are guilty.



“This is a documentary – we’re documentary filmmakers,” Ricciardi said in defense of the project Sunday at the Television Critics Association winter tour in Pasadena, California.

“We’re not prosecutors, we’re not defense attorneys, we do not set out to convict or exonerate anyone,” she continued. “We set out to examine the criminal justice system and how it’s functioning today. It would have been impossible for us to include every piece of evidence submitted to the court. So we took our cues from the prosecution, what they thought was the most compelling evidence. That’s what we included.”

“Of course we left out evidence,” she added. “There would have been no other way of doing it. We were not putting on a trial, but a film. Of what was omitted, the question is: was it really significant? The secret is no.”

Ricciardi said in deciding to take on the documentary, she and Demos were interested in “finding out how someone who had been wrongly imprisoned, could find himself back in the system”.

“We absolutely have a point of view,” she added when prodded further. “When we set out to make this series, we chose Stephen Avery to be our main subject. The reason we chose him was his unique status as an American who had been failed by the system in 1985, and had been repeatedly failed for another 18 years.”

Asked to address the series’ detractors, including Grace, Demos said: “It’s interesting that people would expect news reports to contain the truth. I mean if you see the news about this series, I would challenge people to do some research about what’s being presented as truth, and see whether the documentary or the news report has more veracity.”

“We did not take on Stephen Avery’s biography,” Ricciardi added. “What we set out to do here was essentially check up on the American criminal justice system, to see if it was any better at delivering truth and justice in 2005 than it was in 1985.”

Among the most shocking developments since the show’s premiere was an assertion by Avery’s ex-fiancée, Jodi Stachowski. She told Grace in an interview that the series is “all lies” and that Avery is “not innocent”. In the documentary, Stachowski is seen advocating for her former partner, though she eventually leaves him as his trial drags on.

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Asked to comment, Demos said she can’t explain why Stachowski has changed her story since filming on the project over nine years ago. Demos added that she has no knowledge of the physical abuse at the hand of Avery, that Stachowski now alleges.

Both film-makers acknowledged that they expected the backlash. “What we’re seeing now is actually history repeating itself,” elaborated Ricciardi. “It’s now on a national scale with the media demonizing this man in order to prove his guilt.”

“What we did was document the Halbach case as it was unfolding,” she added. “We showed Stephen Avery warts and all – and we included information to the extent we could accurately fact-check it with multiple sources. Just because someone is coming forward with a narrative, their interpretation of something doesn’t make it factual, doesn’t make it true.”

Making a Murder proved a national phenomenon when in January the White House responded to a petition signed by over 275,000 viewers calling for the release of Avery. In a statement, the White House said action in this case would need to be taken at state level – in this instance, Wisconsin.

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Of the petition, Demos said: “It’s understandable that people wanted to get involved. But we are trying to encourage people think more deeply about the series is about – what is it that upset them, and what they learned from the series. And how they can get involved to ensure that justice systems deliver verdicts that we can rely on.”



“This is an election year,” she stressed. “Most of the characters in this series are elected officials, they are working for their constituents. If you have a prosecutor who runs on a conviction rate, why are you surprised when they go to all measures to win? Tell your representatives what you want from the system.”

Both Ricciardi and Demos said they’re open to revisiting the Halbach case for future installments, noting that they’ve recorded several new phone conversations with Avery with the intention to include them in potential future episodes.

“This story is ongoing,” Demos said. “It’s real life. You don’t know what will happen.”