Is there more to the Making a Murderer case than what viewers have seen? Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, the directors behind Netflix's buzzy 10-part docuseries, recently spoke to Vox about which moments from Steven Avery's trial for Teresa Halbach's murder they chose to omit.
In a New York Times interview published January 5, Murderer prosecutor Ken Kratz, who has been vilified on social media, said the series "really presents misinformation" and criticized it as a facet of Avery's defense.
However, Demos dismissed Kratz's claims and said the filmmakers took their cues on what to include based on the key elements of the prosecution's case. Avery was convicted of Halbach's murder and is currently serving a life sentence, while his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted in connection with the murder, will be eligible for parole in 2048.
"What's troubling now is that Ken Kratz is coming out in the media and making statements about evidence that was left out, but nobody's asking him what his sources are, and nobody's fact-checking that evidence," Demos told Vox. "This is a man who takes a piece of information and stretches it and twists it and turns it into a story, and if you look at any one of these things he's mentioning, the seed of where his story starts is very far away from what he's saying in the media."
Ricciardi urged anyone with concerns about the series' edits to examine public records of the case for themselves.
"We would encourage anyone who is taking what Ken Kratz says at face value to take that information and claims of evidence and go back to the transcripts," she said. "Go to any part of the public record, and check what he's saying."
On Monday, January 11, Avery filed an appeal to overturn his conviction. His new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, said in a statement that she is confident the 2005 court decision will be tossed out due to "new evidence."
Making a Murderer is currently streaming on Netflix.
