Detective Sues Netflix Over 'Making A Murderer'

Steven Avery

One of the detectives involved in the murder case against Steven Avery is suing Netflix over his portrayal in the hit documentary Making A Murderer. The Netflix series centers around the conviction of Avery and his cousin, Brendan Dassey, for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. The documentary claims that Avery and Dassey are innocent and has insinuated that officers from the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office planted evidence in an attempt to frame Avery for the murder of the 25-year-old photographer.

Detective Andrew Colborn is fighting back against those claims in a lawsuit against Netflix and filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. He says the show left out key evidence in an effort to portray Avery and Dassey as victims of a conspiracy to frame them. 

"Defendants omitted, distorted, and falsified material and significant facts in an effort to portray (Colborn) as a corrupt police officer who planted evidence to frame an innocent man. Defendants did so with actual malice and in order to make the film more profitable and more successful in the eyes of their peers, sacrificing and defaming the plaintiff’s character and reputation in the process," the lawsuit states.

Colborn's attorney, Michael Griesbach, said that Colborn's portrayal on the show harmed his reputation and resulted in death threats against him and his family

The lawsuit "demands retraction and honest clarification of the erroneous and false statements and depictions described above to clear his good name and restore peace of mind."

Making a Murderer recently released its second season, which features Kathleen Zellner, an attorney who is known for freeing people who were falsely convicted, reexamining the facts of the case in an effort to exonerate Avery and Dassey. Earlier in the week, she announced that she was requesting that DNA evidence is retested in an attempt to prove that Avery did not murder Halbach. 

Not everybody is convinced that Avery is innocent. Dan O'Donnell, who covered the original trial, has created a podcast, Rebutting a Murderer, that fills in many of the details that the documentary left out. 

Photo: Getty Images


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