The case continues
It's very rare when a documentary not only makes the news but defines the news itself. Making A Murderer is that type of documentary.
Following its release in December 2015, the 10-part series became a seismic television phenomenon that dominated discussion as the world was introduced to the story of Steven Avery.
Throughout the first season, directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos were given incredible access to the Avery family, the authorities and everyone involved with a case that gripped the world.
If you haven't heard about Avery's story or seen the documentary series, here's a very brief recap.
Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, served 18 years in prison for the wrongful conviction of sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen. He was fully exonerated in 2003 by DNA evidence.
In 2005, Avery was then arrested on charges of murdering Teresa Halbach, a local photographer. He was convicted in 2007.
Aside from profiling Avery's story, Making A Murderer also covers the arrest, prosecution and conviction of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also a convicted murderer.
It's alleged that Dassey was a party to first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse, and second-degree sexual assault.
Dassey was 16 and his interrogation and confession by the Manitowoc County police have caused considerable controversy.
Filmed over the course of 10 years, Making A Murderer was a landmark production for Netflix as it helped to ignite and consolidate the public's insatiable demand for real-life documentaries and stories.
Since being released, we've provided
extensive coverage of Dassey and Avery's search for justice, and there's more to come as Season 2 of the Emmy Award-winning documentary is coming to Netflix on 19 October.
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Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos return to the Midwest, where they have exclusive access to Steven Avery and his co-defendant and nephew Brendan Dassey, their families and the legal teams fighting for justice on their behalf.
Over the course of 10 new episodes, Season 2 of Making a Murderer provides an in-depth look at the high-stakes post-conviction process, exploring the emotional toll the process takes on all involved.
“Steven and Brendan, their families and their legal and investigative teams have once again graciously granted us access, giving us a window into the complex web of American criminal justice,” said executive producers, writers and directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos.
“Building on Part One, which documented the experience of the accused, in Part Two, we have chronicled the experience of the convicted and imprisoned, two men each serving life sentences for crimes they maintain they did not commit. We are thrilled to be able to share this new phase of the journey with viewers.”
Part Two introduces viewers to Kathleen Zellner, Avery’s hard-charging post-conviction lawyer, in her fight to prove that Avery was wrongly convicted and win his freedom. Ricciardi and Demos follow Zellner, who has righted more wrongful convictions than any private attorney in America, as she tirelessly works the case and uncovers unexpected evidence about what may have happened to Teresa Halbach and about how and why the jury convicted Steven of her murder.
Ricciardi and Demos also follow Dassey’s post-conviction lawyers, Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin, with Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, as they fight in federal court to prove their client’s confession was involuntary, a fight that could take Brendan’s case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Season 2 of Making A Murderer is released on Netflix on 19 October.
