Steven Avery’s original defense attorneys are not pleased with author and Daily Wire host Candace Owens‘ new docuseries “Convicting a Murderer” (CAM), which tells the other side of the Avery case not told by Netflix’s hit limited series “Making a Murderer” (MAM).
“MAM” focuses on Wisconsin resident Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who were convicted of murdering photographer Teresa Halbach back in 2007. The series became a smash, garnering attention from celebrities and others online contending Avery is innocent, though “MAM” also generated some backlash for revictimizing the Halbachs and peddling conspiracies.
“Theme of Convicting a Murderer is to trash Avery based largely on inadmissible rumors & gossip,” said Jerome Buting, who represented Avery in the Halbach case. “One interviewee expressly stated: ‘it was just bar talk. I had no proof that she said it or proof that it really did happen, it’s just what my friend told her.'”
Theme of Convicting a Murderer is to trash Avery based largely on inadmissible rumors & gossip. One interviewee expressly stated: “it was just bar talk. I had no proof that she said it or proof that it really did happen, it’s just what my friend told her.”https://t.co/xF1z9ZaNli
— Jerome Buting (@JButing) September 8, 2023
Owens responded to Buting, “I cannot express how much it warms my heart to know that #StevenAvery’s Attorney — the man who quite literally defended the indefensible — is upset about my docuseries.”
The BLEXIT founder then plugged the premiere of “CAM,” which is already holding a spot as the second-most popular TV documentary on Rotten Tomatoes, and boasting a 92% audience score.
I cannot express how much it warms my heart to know that #StevenAvery’s Attorney— the man who quite literally defended the indefensible— is upset about my docuseries. #Convicting #ConvictingAMurderer
Premiering shortly here on X! https://t.co/I7Sej9C0k5
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) September 9, 2023
Dean Strang, another one of Avery’s former defense attorneys, is also upset about “CAM.”
“I don’t need a movie that runs for 10 hours to tell me about this case,” Strang said. “I was one of the lawyers on the case. I spent 500 hours in a courtroom over 15 months. I lived the case. I had a front-row seat. I don’t need a DailyWire docuseries to help me with that.”
The attorney added that “MAM” left out “rumors and gossip,” which he’s not interested in. “What do I care what rumors are about some person 20 years ago in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin?” Strang said. “These people didn’t become President of the United States or an ambassador to a foreign country. I really don’t care about rumors regarding private citizens.”
WATCH: ‘Convicting A Murderer’
Owens has argued that “MAM” strategically omits information about Avery to its audience to paint a narrative that doesn’t jibe with reality.
“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,'” Owens said, according to the Wisconsin Law Journal. “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.”
Director of “CAM,” Shawn Rech, similarly told the Wisconsin Law Journal that the “MAM” filmmakers’ editing choices were “reckless” and “deliberate.”
“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,” Rech said. “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.”
“For the past 3 years, this project has been completely blackballed by Hollywood,” Rech continued. “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.”
