Making a Murderer
By
Julie Glover
English 102
March 26,2015
Rough Draft
Making a Murderer Research Paper
Avery has always had a record before this had happened. Before this, he was sentenced to prison for burglarizing a bar with one of his friends. Another incident he had was when he had ran his cousin off the road by putting her at gunpoint. He served 6 years for endangering persons. In 1985, Steven Avery was convicted for a the rape and assault of a young woman named Penny Beernsten. After serving 18 years in prison, DNA evidence was found to prove that Avery was wrongfully accused and was released soon after that. The officers that had arrested him, were then under a 35 million dollar lawsuit after he was in falsely convicted. (
Two years after his release, October of 2005, Avery was picked up and was under investigations for the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach. Halbach was a photographer that would go to Avery's property and take pictures of the cars on his lot so he could sell them. Police had immediately pointed the finger at Avery because of his background and his quarrel with the County Police. That was the last place anyone had seen Halbach, so it was only assumed that he had taken her. Along with Avery, his nephew Brendan Dassey was also accused of helping him with the murder. He had admitted to doing horrible things to that women, that Avery had completely denied. Though, Hallbach's burned remains were found on the Avery's property after a searched had accured.
Brendan Dassey was not one of the brightest kids around. He had an IQ under 70 and was not able to think for himself. In the documentary called "Making a Murderer," it was shown that it seemed he had been pressured into saying he had did all those things. At first he had claimed that he was guilty, but as the trial went on, he started to state that it was a lie and he didn't actually do anything to that women with Avery. Police had investigated him at that point and made him 'confess' that he had a part in the murder of Halbach. When watching the scenes, you can see Brendan getting confused and does not know how to answer for himself, then begins to start going along with what the police say. In another time, he was with a lawyer that was questioning, Halbach's burned remains were found on the Avery's property after a searched had occurred him without his mother there and starting telling Brendan to draw what he did to her. He seems to force the kid to draw these horrible images which he doesn't seem to believe he did. The footage taken of Dassey's confession look as though he was manipulated into saying he committed the crimes with Avery. Though, never once did police find any evidence linking Brendan to the murder.
Evidence wise, there was a lot of evidence used against Avery and there was also a lot of evidence left out of the documentary. One of the biggest, most talked about piece of evidence was the keys found in Avery's house. They had claimed that the keys did in fact, belong to Halbach and had evidence of Avery's DNA. Though, when looking at recent picture of Halbach, you can clearly see the keys she is holding in the picture do not actually look like her keys that were found in Avery's home. "The key chain that investigators claimed to have found in Avery's trailer had just one key on it. However, what may possibly be a ring with two keys hanging off of it, which would have helped Avery's attorneys cast doubt on whether the key chain actually belonged to her." (Bustles) Web. The theories that the key had brought up was that maybe the key was reprogrammed to Teresa's car. Also, the problem with the key was that it was found after several days of searching, in a spot that could clearly be seen with one look. How did they over look it? Well according to and interview with Ken Kratz, gravity had taken its toll with the keys and it had fallen out of a hole that was in the end table next to where the keys were found, though the documentary seemed to leave that part out.
Another thing that Kratz had spoken out about was how everyone one was saying that the sweat that was found underneath Halbach's hood, that had belonged to Avery, had been planted. He stated, "How do you get Avery's sweat underneath a hood latch of a vehicle? That is completely inconsistent with any kind of planting." (Ken Kratz New York Times) There was also evidence that included finding blood in Halbach's vehicle that belong to Avery. But with that, Avery's defense lawyer had requested and was granted access of Avery's blood vile that was collected from him during his first false conviction that seemed to be tampered with. There was a needle sized hole where there should not have been one. This blood vile was not to be touched after it was sealed and the evidence seal was in fact, broken.
Like mentioned before, Avery has had a criminal past. Police have always been on him and there are a lot of theories that police had framed Avery for this murder. Reason's being all the unanswered questions about the evidence they used, and why they were not able to find the key after they searched for several days. Another reason people believe this, is because in the documentary, there is a scene where they talk about an officer calling about Halbach's car, asking if it was here license plate, even though they claimed they had not found the car.
There are reason to suspect that Avery did commit this murder. The young photographer had gone to Avery's house to take pictures and at one point she said that he had walked out only wearing a towel. It had creeped her out and she did not want to go back there again. It seemed that Avery had had an obsession with Halbach and had called her office a few times under *67 to hid his number. He constantly requested her and even in one of Brendan's conversations, he had mentioned something that Avery was doing with Halbach. It wasn't clear so they never actually used it toward the case.
There was a few things that the justice system did not do correctly during this conviction either. One of them was not investigating the ex boyfriend or the brother that had admitted to erasing the messages off of Halbach's cell phone. And it seemed that nobody cared about how she was not reported missing until 3 days later. Why? This whole case has been full of unanswered questions, and while that trial had come down to both serving a sentence, does it really prove that either of these men had actually committed the crime of murdering Teresa Halbach?
I think that you can fix this best by just reading it aloud to yourself, and seeing the little mistakes. Here are a few examples:
...DNA evidence was found to prove that Avery was wrongfully accused, and he was released soon after that.
The officers that had arrested him, were then underinvolved in a 35 million dollar lawsuit after he was in falsely convicted.
Though, Hallbach's burned remains were found on the Avery's property after a searched had occurred .
In Another time, he was with a lawyer that was questioning,....(?)... Halbach's burned remains were found... This sentence needs to be revised.
Evidence wise, There was a lot of evidence used against Avery...
There was also evidence that included finding blood in Halbach's vehicle that belonged to Avery.
