The case I write about today has more than one victim. Although the actual heinous crime was committed against Penny Beernsten, Steven Avery was a victim of severe injustice. Losing freedom for 18 years of his life, shortly after the birth of his twin boys, must have caused an unimaginable pain that would have broken most men. However, in Avery’s case, he stayed in good spirits and maintained his innocence until DNA evidence was used to exonerate him.
The victim’s eyewitness testimony was the most crucial evidence to put Avery away. Looking back on it now, it is evident that the testimony was inaccurate. In many similar cases, innocent people have been jailed or, worse, due to an imprecise eyewitness account. Most of the time, it isn’t an intentional act; it occurs due to subconscious processes in the witness’ mind. Forgetfulness and absent-mindedness are habitual among witnesses and ordinary folk who haven’t been called to the stand. Eyewitnesses’ memory could get distorted due to influences from what others claim to remember or develop a false memory because they hear the same “truth” being repeated, changing their aim from providing testimony to validating these suspicions.
Watching the first episode of Netflix’s Making a Murderer, I was dumbfounded by how this crime was investigated. The out-of-proportion tunnel vision of the Sheriff’s Department and the prosecutor in fabricating and modifying evidence to prove Avery was guilty and ignoring all exculpatory evidence was bizarre. The department had a bias toward the Avery family, and they hinted that bias to Beernsten on numerous occasions, assisting in her overblown confidence that Avery was her assailant.
The Sheriff’s Department carried out its duties very unprofessionally. For instance, Deputy Judy Dvorak told Beernsten that her description of her assailant sounded like Steven Avery and instructed her to sign a statement she couldn’t confirm. Moreover, their lineup was flawed, as a photo of Avery was shown to Beernsten before she picked him from the lineup.
Eighteen years of a man’s life wasted; a vicious sex offender allowed to roam about destroying lives because of an avoidable mistake. The faulty identification could have been easily circumvented if the department was willing to investigate the case rather than choosing their scapegoat and manipulating evidence to prove him guilty. This case has caused me to wonder how much the history and relationships between suspects, victims, and investigating parties factor into dispensing justice.
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You’re so right – the Sheriff in Manitowoc was absolutely heinous. I also was pretty surprised watching how poorly they handled that case. That last line you mention also made me wonder over the subtle interconnectedness of both sides of the law like in Steven Avery case. I wonder how many of these faulty cases have sent innocent people to jail that aren’t documented like Avery. There’s probably 100 cases of innocent people wrongfully convicted for every one that’s documented like Walter Snyder or Steven Avery.