UNDATED (WTAQ)- The Netflix docu-series ‘Making a Murderer’ has sparked a worldwide conversation about the conviction of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey in the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. After watching the documentary, many questioned if justice was served. Milwaukee radio reporter, Dan O’Donnell, has a law degree and was only 25 when he started covering the case.
“I never realized it would be this big. I never thought it would become this global phenomenon,” says O’Donnell.
However, he says there’s no question in his mind that the jury got the conviction right.
“Yes, justice absolutely was served. Any doubt is not reasonable doubt…and it is not reasonable to base reasonable doubt on a conspiracy to plant evidence unless there is affirmative evidence that that conspiracy existed,” says O’Donnell.
The documentary focused on the possibility that the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department planted evidence and that there was a huge conspiracy to convict Avery of murder. O’Donnell doesn’t buy it.
“Nowhere was their affirmative evidence of anyone planting any evidence against Steven Avery. There was just innuendo and insinuations based on supposed motivation,” say O’Donnell.
But many question if Avery and his nephew, Dassey, had the ability to clean up after the brutal murder, which the prosecution says happened in the garage.
“Yeah, I think it’s sort of remarkably condescending that we assume just because somebody has a low IQ, they don’t have the self-preservation instinct to clean up after a crime,” says O’Donnell.
The series is clearly shown from the defense’s point of view and the audience is not privy to all the evidence presented in the case.
“To me, neither ‘Making a Murderer’ nor Steven Avery’s defense at trial… nowhere was there affirmative evidence of anyone planting any evidence against Steven Avery.”
You can hear more of the interview with Dan O’Donnell by clicking here.
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