Investigation Discovery Refutes Netflix’s "Making a Murderer" with "Front Page" Special – TCA
by Denise Petski
January 7, 2016


Investigation Discovery is partnering with NBC News’ Peacock Productions on "Front Page: The Steven Avery Story", slated to air late this month.

Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison will host the special, which ID says aims “to provide viewers with critical details surrounding the case” and “inform viewers in light of the nearly 300,000 people calling for the release of Avery.”





"Front Page" comes in response to Netflix’s 10-episode docuseries "Making a Murderer" from directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, which premiered last month on Netflix.

That series, which questions Avery’s arrest and murder conviction for the 2005 killing of photographer Teresa Halbach, prompted two petitions of outrage, with most signers demanding Avery’s release.

Almost all based their anger on their viewing of the Netflix series, which some critics have said withheld important information.



“As the country’s most experienced true crime network, we feel compelled to address some critical details missing from the case as presented in the Netflix documentary,” said Henry Schleiff, group president of Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel and Destination America, in announcing the project today at TCA.

He added that ID will air a “special edition” of "Front Page" “to provide critical, crucial evidence and testimony that will answer many questions surrounding Steven Avery.”





Each episode of "Front Page" covers a major case making headlines, within just weeks of the initial incident.

The quick=turnaround documentaries — or “instamentaries” — feature interviews with people closely associated with the case and expert commentary from ID’s roster of experts spanning criminal profiling, criminal psychology, investigative journalism, legal analysis, forensic science and police investigation.

http://deadline.com/2016/01/investigation-discovery-refutes-netflixs-steven-avery-docuseries-in-front-page-special-tca-1201677975/

"As the country’s most experienced true crime network, we feel compelled to address some critical details"

In other words, we're taking a break from our endless hours of programming involving women murdering their husbands to capitalize on a documentary series we wish we had instead of Netflix. :lol:

In all seriousness though, I will watch it. I'm of the camp where I'm not exactly sure of what happened on the day she was murdered, but I strongly feel that as whole, the story and conviction just do not add up.

ID is a airing a show about this case tomorrow.

And in case you haven't got your fill of this case, Nancy Grace Mysteries has an episode on it tonight.

Seems as pretty much everyone from ID to NBC to FoxNews to Nancy Grace believes Steven Avery is guilty. That Netflix withheld lots of vital info when they went out on a limb to suggest his innocence, really speaks volumes.

Can't see this "Making A Murderer" continuing on a series due to the widespread criticism.

Unfortunately for the likes of ID or NBC or FoxNews or Nancy Grace they're just repeating Ken Kratz's claims instead of independently verifying his claims that the documentary supposedly left out vital information.

Someone on reddit made a good point about the prevalence of media to simply trust law enforcement at their word, that if they say something is true they're believed and the news simply quotes them. And as far as the documentary having "widespread criticism," that's not necessarily true. 300,000 people signed a petition wanting Avery exonerated. It seems to me those who have actually seen the documentary are at the very least questioning the whole story or firmly believe he's innocent.

Like many of these stories we see in the news about those who might be incarcerated wrongly, it's important to keep a skeptical eye.

Man, this case is HOT right now. Both the pages for Steven Avery and Making A Murderer cracked yesterday's top 10 most visited wiki articles. (to put this into perspective, Donald Trump was at 46).

Seriously, this case is everywhere right now.

It's a big deal. Lots of my peeps in my "legal circle" are watching it and telling me to do the same. I guess the prosecutor may have made some questionable calls.

Given I've sat on both sides of the table, I'll be sure to chime in when I have enough info to render an opinion. :)

It's crazy how this blew up. It's a weird bit.

Interesting that Steven Avery is now going to be represented by Kathleen Zellner, who is pretty much the go-to lawyer for overturning wrongful convictions in America and has set a lot of innocent people free:
http://www.thewrap.com/making-a-murderer-who-is-steven-averys-new-lawyer-kathleen-zellner/

Admittedly, I've had mixed feelings about Avery's innocence, but the fact that Zellner has agreed to represent him gives his case a lot more credibility, IMO. She usually vets the hell out of her cases before she agrees to take one on.

Interesting that Steven Avery is now going to be represented by Kathleen Zellner, who is pretty much the go-to lawyer for overturning wrongful convictions in America and has set a lot of innocent people free:
http://www.thewrap.com/making-a-murderer-who-is-steven-averys-new-lawyer-kathleen-zellner/

Admittedly, I've had mixed feelings about Avery's innocence, but the fact that Zellner has agreed to represent him gives his case a lot more credibility, IMO. She usually vets the hell out of her cases before she agrees to take one on.

Zellner is very good at what she does. Probably most famous for getting Ryan Ferguson and Mario Casciaro freed. There was some discussion, at least on the latter case, on the boards earlier.

Caught this earlier tonight... have to say it was very well done, and gave both sides of the story a fair amount of time each to state their claims. In my opinion, there's an answer for every claim Ken Kratz has been saying about "evidence that was left out." However, I do agree with him that the inclusion at the end of the series about the sexting was kind of a low-blow. I don't think it added much to the series as a whole. Kinda weird and unsettling yeah, but let's stick with the focus on Avery and Brendan and the investigation.

Steven Avery would pretty much have to be the unluckiest guy in the world to get two wrongful convictions for two different crimes in two different decades.

Just sayin'.

So I finally broke down and watched one of the 80 bajillion shows on this subject.

In terms of whether or not Steven Avery is guilty in the murder of Teresa Halbach, I could go either way, though I lean more towards guilty. There does seem to be a counterpoint to every point, which makes this one difficult.

I think what really sways me in the direction of guilty is the location. That salvage yard (which they showed pictures of) was HUGE and would be a perfect place to dump a body and a car and a ton of evidence and not have it immediately found. While it does seem suspicious that some of the police force that wrongfully convicted him of the 1985 rape played a huge part in various discoveries, I'm not sure they could plant Teresa's body in the burn pit without one of the 100 or so other people searching notice it. Not easily anyways.

I will say this: Whether or not Steven Avery is guilty of this particular crime or not, he is a creep. There are a lot of people that are trying to make him out to be some kind of "folk hero" when he absolutely is not. This is a man that tried to run a woman off a road and kill her, not to mention his extreme cruelty to animals (dousing a cat in gasoline and setting it on fire). Even in the event he is innocent in the Teresa Halbach murder, the thought of him spending the rest of his life behind bars doesn't exactly cause me to shed a tear.

I do, however, feel that Brendan Dassey's punishment was perhaps too severe, and I'm not even sure what involvement, if any, he had. I do feel he had zero intentions of committing a crime that day and any he may have committed were probably done under the pressure of Avery, and when you throw in the facts that he was a kid and had below average intelligence, I think maybe a little mercy should be thrown his way.

And contrary to what the makers of the "Making A Murderer" documentary say, they did NOT do a good job presenting a fair and balanced case.