Regardless of whether you believe Steven Avery and his vulnerable young nephew Brendan Dassey are guilty of the crimes theyre serving life sentences for, Netflixs gripping documentary Making A Murderer is a damning indictment of how their cases were handled and a deafening call for reform to the American justice system. Youve probably binge-watched your way through the ten-part serial by now but, for the two people who havent yet, it focuses on Wisconsin resident Avery, who served 18 years in prison for a rape he didnt commit before DNA evidence cleared him, only to be convicted and sent down for life for the murder of a freelance photographer named Teresa Halbach four years after his release. Dassey, 16 at the time, was charged with being a party to first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and sexual assault, and later convicted at a separate trial. But Making A Murderer poked gaping holes in both cases by flagging up dubious evidence, constitutional rights violations, conflicts of interest, and seemingly coerced confessions. It will leave you aghast, riveted, and stunned and thats just the hairstyles and beards. No doubt the withdrawal symptoms kicked in before episode tens credits rolled, but Avery and Dassey maintain their innocence and their gut-wrenching story is yet to reach its conclusion - so here are six developments in the case since Netflix launched the show.
