It seems like only yesterday that the whole world was riveted by the case of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, from Netflix’s smash hit true crime series, Making A Murderer. Over the course of the show, where everyone seemed to have it in for Avery and Dassey, from the shady Manitowoc Sheriffs to creepily soft-voiced prosecutor Ken Kratz, audiences fell in love with the guys who seemed like the only ones seeking justice — Avery’s lawyers, Jerry Buting and Dean Strang. People made Valentines for them, hell, they even went on a speaking tour.
It seems the only person not thrilled with Buting and Strang’s performance was Avery himself. Avery’s poorly-spelled, hand-written jailhouse diatribe against them has hit the internet. Here’s a bit of that:
Dean and Jerry didn’t do no investigation on this case, if they did I would not be in prison, They would have the Suspect if they did there job!! [..]
Lawyers sould loose there license when they dont investigate they case to proof there client’s and they violating the Ethics, the State should take there license for good
It had to be a bit of a bummer for Buting and Strang to read that after working so hard for their client (I thought they could’ve been a little less polite about implicating the Manitowoc Sheriffs, but hindsight is 20/20). Nonetheless, Buting seems to be taking it in stride, responding:
Please don’t blame S Avery for his misdirected frustration. In his spot we’d all be unhappy. Dean & I still support his cause for justice.
Being a criminal defense lawyer, I’m sure Buting is probably used to clients taking out their frustrations on him and having to let it roll off his back. And Steven Avery has spent a good portion of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t do — even if you think he did kill Theresa Halbach — so it’d be understandable if he went a little nuts and started blaming people for his predicament. Why does he have to be his own worst enemy?! Why can’t he be better at defending himself?! It’s sort of like when an unarmed dude gets shot by the cops on video, and internet commenters Monday morning quarterbacking a different tone or body language he should’ve used during the arrest. Well, sure, wouldn’t it be nice if cops and defense lawyers only got called to deal with nice, level-headed folks out for a stroll and not agitated people in high-stress situations?
In any case, Steven Avery has a new lawyer (Kathleen Zellner), and an appeal set for August, so maybe he’ll get to do a Pepsi challenge between defense lawyers, and with a second season of Making A Murderer planned (which, like Avery and Dassey, still doesn’t have a release date), maybe we’ll get to watch.