Making a Murderer -- DID STEVEN AVERY REALLY KILL TERESA HALBACH?

[HairOfTheDog]

To HoTeeDee: Simple minded, slow people are definitely able of committing crime and lying about it.

In general: I don't care if he murdered her or not. You don't get to circumvent laws and plant evidence on guilty people any more than innocent. The vial of his blood had cut security tape and a needle hole in the top. I think the police did that, and I'd throw out all evidence and let him walk. Even if I was certain he did it, I let him walk. Otherwise you're telling LE that it's open season on anything they want to do. This /is/ the same area where the guy was wrongfully convicted in the past.

That's right, Cutzarug. I agree.

The argument that a person 'isn't smart enough to commit a violent horrible crime and get caught' doesn't hold water, logically or historically. It happens everyday. Sometimes they get caught quickly, sometimes they get away with it for a long time, and there are probably more than I'd care to know about who will never be caught.

Likewise, I think there are probably a good number of simple-minded people of little means who also didn't commit crimes for which they've been convicted, due to LE/jury human error or tunnel vision/corruption.

In the Teresa Halbach murder case specifically, it's equally possible to me that the asshole LEOs (who should never have been on the case due to conflict of interest) at least planted Teresa's key in Avery's room and led or coerced a confessional narrative out of Dassey in order to bolster their case against Avery. None of which, as you noted, is okay. It's not okay whether Avery and/or Dassey killed Teresa or not. Just like it's not okay to me when cops shoot people to death and then create a false narrative as to how it went down; the false narrative puts the LEO's justification of the shooting incident itself under legitimate suspicion.

Anyway, I've watched most of the Making a Murderer series now. So far, I'm not convinced that Steven Avery was framed for a murder he did not commit and I probably would have voted guilty had I been on the jury, given what I consider the very strong circumstantial evidence against Avery and the prosecution's trial case.

But, I agree with Gunnar and others that the key was very likely planted and that the interrogation of Dassey was improper (at the least). I think the series did a good job exposing such corruption and questionable tactics, which is its greatest value. I hope both men get new trials; maybe Kathleen Zellner can make it happen.

I do care who killed Teresa Halbach, and based on the pile of circumstantial evidence alone, Steven Avery remains a suspect for me. I think he should be retried if the prosecutors feel they have a strong enough case after the questionable evidence (likely including Dassey's confession) is tossed. Avery would undoubtedly have top notch representation if he gets a retrial, pro bono I imagine. And, if a case can be made that some of the LEOs and prosecutors willfully engaged in misconduct or criminal activity, they should be charged or otherwise held accountable.

I think Dassey should definitely be re-interviewed, with counsel present; I'd personally have less a problem with him simply being set free rather than re-tried if it's evident that his confession was not only directed to match an LE narrative, but was also most likely entirely false.