Update August, 12, 2016: A federal judge has overturned the murder conviction of Brendan Dassey, one of the subjects of the Netflix series Making a Murderer. In his ruling, the judge cited investigators’ cringe-worthy interview tactics, which made us all uncomfortable as we watched the tapes replayed in the documentary, and said that the investigators failed to provide Dassey, who was 17 at the time and had a learning disability, with proper adult counsel. Prosecutors will now have 90 days to decide whether or not to retry Dassey, and he will be freed after nearly 10 years in prison if they decline to do so.
Update: Netflix has announced that Making a Murderer will return for a second season, which will continue to follow the Steven Avery and Brendon Dassey case. Creators Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos said in a statement, “We are extremely grateful for the tremendous response to, and support of, the series. The viewers’ interest and attention has ensured that the story is not over, and we are fully committed to continuing to document events as they unfold.” No release date has, as of yet, been given.
It’s been a few weeks since Making a Murderer was seemingly all anyone ever talked about, but this weekend’s TV programming is about to bring the story of Steven Avery back to the forefront. Dateline is airing a one-hour special this Friday night featuring new interviews with a lot of the series’ major players including Jerry Buting, the defense attorney we didn’t have a crush on, Ken Kratz, the prosecutor, a current Manitowoc County sheriff, and others. It will also feature a rare 2005 interview with Penny Beernsten, the victim from the original case that sent Avery to jail for eighteen years.
On Saturday night, Investigation Discovery will follow up with its own special, which is alleged to include new information that will, hopefully, help us figure out if Avery is guilty or not. His new prosecutor has been making a very compelling case for his innocence on Twitter, but we’re still on the fence. (And by on the fence, we mean that we think the victim’s brother did it, because this.) Here’s hoping this weekend’s binge-fest will answer some of our questions without raising new ones… or that it doesn’t, because trying to solve this case has been giving us a real sense of purpose lately.
The Dateline special airs Friday, January 30th, at 10 p.m. The Investigation Discovery special airs Saturday, January 30th, at 9 p.m.
