{"id":25230,"date":"2016-01-05T00:22:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T05:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=25230"},"modified":"2016-01-05T00:22:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T05:22:18","slug":"making-a-murderer-oh-so-many-talking-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2016\/01\/making-a-murderer-oh-so-many-talking-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Murderer<\/em>: Oh-So-Many Talking Points"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"635874987555624158-XXX-IMG-NETFLIX-MAKING-A-MUR-1-1-VGCTGMDU-78432434\"<\/a>As the winter break winds down, it\u2019s definitely worth your time to start binge-watching Making a Murderer<\/a><\/em>, a recent Netflix documentary on a real-life criminal case. A very close-to-home criminal case, at that.<\/p>\n

The documentary, filmed over 10 years, follows Steven Avery, who was convicted in 1985 of sexual assault. He maintained his innocence and, indeed, 18 years later DNA evidence exonerated him. After he was released, he sued Manitowoc County for his wrongful conviction. It looks as though that lawsuit starts digging up some very unsavory conduct among officials in Manitowoc County.<\/p>\n

But then\u2014Avery is arrested for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. Several months later, his nephew Brendan Dassey is also arrested.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll stop there with plot. If you\u2019ve been around Wisconsin, you\u2019ve probably heard of the case. If you\u2019ve been on the Internet in the last couple of weeks, you\u2019ve almost surely heard of it. But you must watch it.<\/p>\n

For law students, there\u2019s so many teachable moments. For everyone, there’s so much to talk about.When you\u2019re watching trial scenes, notice the experts on the stand. Consider (though it isn\u2019t shown) how the lawyers had to lay a foundation for their testimony. Listen, too, for how the expert witnesses express their opinions. Notice the way the questions get thrown at witnesses, and how those questions differ whether the witness is on direct or cross examination. Notice the boxes upon boxes of documents and exhibits the lawyers haul with them. Consider the hours they\u2019ve put into the case. Notice how each side (for whatever trial) develops and expresses its theory of its case. And consider how that theory seems to differ between Steven\u2019s murder trial and Brendan\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Notice, too, the conduct of the attorneys, particularly Brendan Dassey\u2019s first court-appointed attorney. Consider the difference between what attorneys can<\/em> do and what they perhaps should<\/em> do.<\/p>\n

There are all sorts of layers here; there are criminal trials, civil cases, depositions, and appeals. There are issues of the criminal justice system, generally; of social class; of education (or lack of it); of appearances. Above all, there are people. Real people. And you see them over the course of a decade. It\u2019s hard to come away from the series without some <\/em>opinion.<\/p>\n

So, post it here. What do you think about Making a Murderer? <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the winter break winds down, it\u2019s definitely worth your time to start binge-watching Making a Murderer, a recent Netflix documentary on a real-life criminal case. A very close-to-home criminal case, at that. The documentary, filmed over 10 years, follows Steven Avery, who was convicted in 1985 of sexual assault. He maintained his innocence and, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,126,30,88,68,72,36,131,37,122,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-rights","category-constitutional-law","category-criminal-justice","category-evidence","category-judges-judicial-process","category-legal-ethics","category-legal-practice","category-legal-profession","category-popular-culture-and-law","category-public","category-wisconsin","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}