From left to right: Ken Kratz, Steven Avery and Dean Strang.
The Making a Murderer phenomenon marches on.
“Right now murder is hot,” said an unnamed Dateline NBC producer midway through the 10-episode Netflix documentary series about convicted Wisconsin murderer Steven Avery (at the 27:04 mark of episode four, if you want to cue it up). “That’s what everyone wants. That’s what the competition wants. And we’re trying to beat out the other networks to get that perfect murder story.”
Dateline NBC aired its report on April 1, 2006, a few months after the murder of Teresa Halbach and roughly a year before Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were convicted of the crime in separate trials. The producer excitedly called it “the perfect Dateline story” and now the newsmagazine says it’s preparing to air a new segment about the case on Jan. 29 at 9 p.m.
The program teased its plans Monday night on Twitter:
But it won’t be the only Making a Murderer-inspired television show this weekend.
The Investigation Discovery cable network will premiere a one-hour special, Steven Avery: Innocent or Guilty?, on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m.
Hosted by longtime Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, trade magazine Variety reports that it will include new interviews with such “key players” as Avery defense attorney Jerry Buting, former Calumet County district attorney Ken Kratz and current Manitowoc County assistant district attorney Michael Griesbach (who spoke to Isthmus earlier this month).
Kratz, the special prosecutor in the murder trials of Avery and Dassey, has plans to write a book to promote his views on the case.
“Finally grateful to tell the whole story,” Kratz told Action 2 News in Green Bay. “The one voice forgotten to this point is Teresa Halbach.” Kratz declined to participate in Making a Murderer, and earlier this month he told The New York Times that the Netflix series left out crucial facts and “really presents misinformation.”
Avery’s new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, is not pleased. The Chicago-based attorney, who specializes in wrongful conviction cases, recently tweeted a letter she says Kratz sent to Avery.
“This bloodsucking gives vampires a bad name,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Avery’s murder trial attorneys Dean Strang and Jerry Buting will participate in a moderated discussion at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee on March 18, the venue announced Tuesday morning.
Reserved seating tickets are $45.50 and go on sale at noon on Jan. 29.
