‘Convicting a murderer’ rebuttal to ‘Making a Murderer’ unveils facts not told by Netflix series

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Editor’s Note:

The Wisconsin Law Journal was provided with the opportunity to pre-screen the ‘Convicting a Murderer’ series over the past several weeks before the series airs for the general public. The Wisconsin Law Journal is not permitted to publish any spoilers or specific details prior to the respective scheduled air dates listed below.

The new, soon to air Daily Wire series ‘Convicting a Murderer,’ tells a very different story about Steven Avery and Wisconsin Law Enforcement, than the award-winning Netflix series ‘Making a Murderer’ portrayed. For the first time, the general public will soon learn what the Netflix original series omitted.

During an exclusive interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal on Wednesday, Shawn Rech, Director of “Convicting a Murderer” at Transition Studios provided a “behind the scenes” preview to the rebuttal’s production.

“When Netflix was questioned about certain edits to the Making a Murderer docuseries, the filmmakers alluded to brevity, and said you can’t leave everything in. What we find out is that every single choice they made appeared to reduce the knowledge of Steven Avery’s history and that doesn’t happen organically, in my opinion, is not only reckless but deliberate,” Rech said Wednesday.

“For the past 3 years, this project has been completely blackballed by Hollywood. My agents were afraid to sell it. My aggregators were afraid to put on a free platform. No one would touch this. One agent blasted me and said, ‘Dude, I have to work in this town.’  The power of Netflix caused people to fear being allowed to work on this movie. For this, I consider Daily Wire to be heroes for taking something so taboo and running with it,” Rech added.

Candace Owens on ‘Convicting a Murderer’

‘Convicting a Murderer’s’ commentator Candace Owens who narrated and fronted the project said, she agreed with Rech.

“How can law enforcement be expected to do their jobs when agenda-driven activists disguised as ‘objective documentarians’ are actively undermining them and deceiving the public?  The ‘Making a Murderer’ filmmakers were explicit in their agenda: they called it a ‘social justice documentary’ and said they were ‘holding a mirror up to the system’ — except they didn’t hold up a mirror, they edited the content in a way that hid facts and told a different story than the truth would have. This had the effect of stirring up anti-police sentiment and sowing blind distrust in the justice system,” said Owens, during an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal Wednesday evening.

“The facts we gathered in ‘Convicting a Murderer’ paint a completely different–and, frankly, frightening–picture of Steven Avery than what people saw in ‘Making a Murderer.’  Steven Avery is still actively appealing and is supported by a cult-like movement created by ‘Making a Murderer.’  We saw a similar situation with Adnan Syed from ‘Serial’ who was freed, arguably as a result of the popularity of the series.  If Steven Avery were to be freed because of ‘Making a Murderer,’ I would have huge concerns about that,” Owens said.

The Wisconsin Law Journal reached out to Netflix and Avery’s current defense attorney Kathleen Zellner requesting comment.

Zellner declined to comment. No response was received from Netflix prior to publication of this article.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, the release date for ‘Convicting A Murderer’ was announced by DailyWire+ back in August.

According to DailyWire+, the first three episodes of the series on its platform will air on September 8, 2023. The first two episodes will stream for free and the third episode will be available for DailyWire+ members only. Episode one will also be available to view on the DailyWire+ YouTube channel as well as on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The remaining seven episodes will debut weekly on the subscriber-based streaming service every Thursday.

The trailer advertising the coming scenes “dropped” back in August.

Also previously reported by the Wisconsin Journal, Steven Avery, Ken Kratz, Andrew Colborn, Tom Fassbender will soon return to your living room in a never-been-seen-before series, “Convicting a Murderer.”

The new series is far from another season or sequel to the controversial Netflix series, “Making a Murderer.” In fact, “Convicting a Murderer” was actually made to rebut the original Netflix docuseries, according to Ken Kratz, the original prosecutor of the Avery case.

Avery is currently serving life in prison after being found guilty for the murder of Teresa Halbach. Halbach was murdered on Oct. 31, 2005. For the past 18 years, Avery has had a number of new criminal defense attorneys who have all been unsuccessful at his release. However, Avery’s current attorney Kathleen Zellner remains optimistic that new evidence will prove her client’s innocence.

The Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” which originally aired in 2015, received criticism from the media, government officials and the general public for allegedly only telling one side of Avery’s story, revictimizing Halbach and her family, as well as incriminating law enforcement professionals.

Ken Kratz on ‘Convicting a Murderer’

During an exclusive interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal earlier this Summer, Kratz praised the series.

“‘Making a Murderer’ bears much of the responsibility for this outcome,” Kratz added.

“It’s time for the public to see just how ‘Making a Murderer’ fabricated events and courtroom testimony, all for the purpose of entertainment,” Kratz added. “Hopefully those justice professionals who have lost their reputations and careers, like me, as a direct result of this deceptive and defamatory TV show will be vindicated,” Kratz added.

The Wisconsin Law Journal previously reached out to Netflix, Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi — the creators of the original “Making a Murderer” series. Demos and Ricciardi did not immediately respond for comment.  Earlier this Summer, Erika Masonhall, a spokeswoman for Netflix previously said, “Thanks for the opportunity, but we’ll decline to comment.”