New documentary series will follow up on Making a Murderer
Viewers haven’t seen the last of Steven Avery. In 2015, TV watchers everywhere learned of Avery through the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, which told the story of Avery’s strange experience getting exonerated for a false rape conviction only to then be convicted of a grisly murder alongside his nephew, Brendan Dassey. Now, a new follow-up series, Convicting a Murderer, will focus more specifically on the legal case built against Avery and Dassey.
The new series will be directed by documentary filmmaker Shawn Rech, who will also produce the new series alongside his partner, Chicago Attorney Andrew Hale. Through their Cleveland-based Transition Studios, Rech and Hale secured independent financing for the project and will shop it around.
“When Making a Murderer was produced, many on the law enforcement side of the story could not, or would not, participate in the series, which resulted in a one-sided analysis of the case,” Rech said in a statement. “This docu-series will examine the case and the allegations of police wrongdoing from a broader perspective. It will also share with viewers the traumatic effects of being found guilty and vilified in the court of public opinion.”
For the new series, Rech got exclusive access to District Attorney Ken Kratz, lead investigator Tom Fassbender, and other primary figures in the case against Avery. Rech’s previous documentary, 2014’s A Murder in the Park, presented evidence that spurred Chicago prosecutors to vacate the wrongful murder conviction of Alstory Simon.
In the wake of Making a Murderer, there was speculation that Avery and Dassey’s convictions might be overturned, but that has not happened. A Wisconsin judge denied Avery a new trial in October, and a federal appeals court upheld Dassey’s conviction in December.
