Supreme Court Denies 'Making A Murderer' Appeal | Aliya Rockind Weighs In | On Monday, June 25th, Supreme Court decided not to take up Brendan Dassey’s case, who was made a star by Netflix’s popular documentary series “Making A Murderer”. I’ve watched the series twice actually, originally for pleasure and then again in my high school Forensic’s Science class. My teacher,.... Post has been published on Rockind Law
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Supreme Court Denies 'Making A Murderer' Appeal | Aliya Rockind Weighs In
On Monday, June 25th, Supreme Court decided not to take up Brendan Dassey’s case, who was made a star by Netflix’s popular documentary series “Making A Murderer”. I’ve watched the series twice actually, originally for pleasure and then again in my high school Forensic’s Science class. My teacher, Mrs. Fetsco, showed “Making A Murderer” once a week during class throughout the semester until we completed the series. The final for the class, an assignment worth 20% of our final grade, was to present our ‘verdict’ regarding the case in groups of 5, backing up our decision with specific pieces of evidence, analysis and reasoning with tactics taught to us in the classroom.
I already had my mind made up from that Dassey and other central figure Steven Avery were undoubtably innocent from my initial run-through of the Netflix series. Watching the show my second time around only pumped an exceeding amount of confidence into my beliefs, something that serves to be a very dangerous thing for us Rockinds. As my teacher announced our assigned groups I honestly felt a bit of sympathy between each named called along with mine, considering that I acted as though I had magically just aced the bar 5 minutes ago anytime the law was even briefly mentioned during school. A totally unprecedented sense of authority that I credited myself to, which now looking back on was self-entitled solely on the basis that I had only sometimes, somewhat paid attention to my dad’s work. Thinking about it, what’s I find even more ridiculous is that even the other students granted that credibility solely because of who my dad was, when in reality I didn’t know even know the meaning of the phrase “filing a motion”. But hey, everyone’s got perks in life, mine happen to be primarily useful in situations like my high school forensic’s science class. Don’t get me wrong, working with the people in this group wouldn’t exactly have been my first choice either as they initially doubted Dassey and Avery’s innocence. Now that I think about it… maybe I’ll look into applying for a job at Netflix after I post this considering it took me around 30 minutes to make the same point that they spent 10 years of production making. Eventually we all agreed that Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey were not guilty, becoming the official position of our project. We honestly thought the assignment was going to be extremely easy, however, as we developed our report aimed to prove their innocence, it became increasingly harder to stick to our position.
This project opened my eyes to the true power of manipulation through mass media. The majority of individuals who made a conclusion on the Avery/Dassey case solely based on “Making A Murderer” believe the two are completely innocent and were framed by the Manitowoc police department, just as I had originally. Now, I’m not saying that the two are guilty, rather just that Netflix does a very, very good job at not raising any doubts about their innocence. As my group and I did some research in an attempt to back up our point, we ended up finding out that Netflix actually leaves out quiet a bit of information that’s harmful towards Avery/Dassey and definitely questions their innocence.
Here’s a screenshot from Time Magazine’s article on left out evidence
According to Time, the creators of the show Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi said it would have been “just impossible” to include every fact in the series.
I just revisited my final project from high school, remembering that I had provided a list of all the information the TV show left out after hours of research. Here is that list
– During Dassey’s session with investigator Mike O’Kelley he agreed to taking a polygraph test. The official results of the test indicate he failed it.
– Leg irons and handcuffs were found in Avery’s residence and in Dassey’s
– The car key unearthed in Avery’s residence had DNA from his sweat on it, the prosecutor says
– Dassey’s mother said Dassey helped Avery clean his garage floor
– The previous animal cruelty case involved a bonfire
– Avery had drawn a torture chamber while in prison and was violent to other women
– Avery once opened his door “just wearing a towel” when Halbach went to his property previously
– Avery called Auto Trader to specifically request Halbach the day she died
– Avery called Halbach’s cell phone three times the day she was murdered, twice using the Star-67 feature to hide his identity
– Avery gave a false name when he called Auto Trader
– The burnt bone fragments were mixed with steel tire belts
– Avery’s rifle is forensically tied to the bullet with the Halbach’s DNA on it
It seems as though the only facts that the show didn’t have enough time for are one’s that hurt them. Although it is understandable that while not every fact needs to be included, every fact that needs to be included, needs to be. More specifically, the show didn’t just cut down the interrogation from hours into minutes, but it also left out crucial parts of Dassey’s confession.
Here is what was left out:
– Dassey admits to stabbing Halbach in the stomach after Avery took her out to the garage. He also claims that Avery fired five shots into Halbach’s head.
– He admits that the entire murder was premeditated. He said they had been planning it “for a few days.” Dassey claims Avery said he was going to kill her, and he wanted Dassey’s help.
– Avery picked Halbach because “she looked good and she was pretty nice.”
“Making A Murderer” was not just another popular TV show that people watched — it actually had a very strong influence on it’s audience, causing more than 128,000 people to sign a petition to the White House asking that the two be pardoned. The White House denied the request as the President does not have the power to pardon convicts from state courts.
Although I am very skeptical of the way the Manitowoc police department has generally treated the Avery family, specifically how they handled this case, it is reasonable to believe that after learning these pieces of left out information, I had developed a carefully manipulated disposition for the case from “Making A Murderer”. All in all, the fact the Supreme Court is not taking up Dassey’s case does not surprise me.
I often find the judicial system to be unjust, and I’m not eliminating that from Avery or Dassey’s case. I do find the interrogation to be extremely invasive, manipulating and just all around inappropriate. However considering the show’s impact on the case, heavily manipulated masses that have strong beliefs in their innocence, I do trust that the courts are handling this case very carefully. I’m sure the amount and type of publicity the two have received was a strong influence to the Judge’s. In other words, they are aware of what a majority of the people concerned with this case think and want, yet they have decided against those demands. I believe this is because as much as the courts are aware of what people want, I think they are aware that those wants are is only a result of the case being portrayed only in a certain light: that of which “Making A Murderer” illustrates.
Aliya Rockind Clerk Rockind Law
