'Making a Murderer' rebuttal to air early summer in new series called 'Convicting a Murderer A Season of Truth'.

Byline: Steve Schuster

By Steve Schuster

sschuster@dailyreporter.com

They're back and coming to a television screen near you. Steven Avery, Ken Kratz, Andrew Colborn, Tom Fassbender may soon return to your living room in a never-been-seen-before series, "Convicting a Murderer."

The new series is far from another season or sequel to the controversial Netflix series, "Making a Murderer." In fact, "Convicting a Murderer" was actually made as a rebuttal to the original Netflix docuseries, according to Ken Kratz, the original prosecutor of the Avery case.

Avery is currently serving life in prison after being found guilty for the murder of Theresa Halbach. Halbach was murdered by Steven Avery on Oct. 31, 2005. For the past 18 years, Avery has had a number of new criminal defense attorneys who have all been unsuccessful at his release. The Netflix series "Making a Murderer," which originally aired in 2015, received criticism from the media, government officials and the general public for allegedly only telling one side of Avery's story, revictimizing Halbach and her family, as well as incriminating law enforcement professionals.

"I watched 'Making a Murderer,' did some research and found out I was lied to," said Shawn Rech, director of "Convicting a Murderer" at Transition Studios who also noted that the original series was "just layered and layered all of this nonsense."

"Making a Murderer was cut to the integrity of a Howard Stern bit," Rech added.

Rech noted that the original Netflix series "Making a Murderer" was the subject of litigation in Federal court from a libel case filed by Colborn (Colburn v. Netflix), who was a retired police officer. Colburn's attorneys said that the Netflix series falsely portrays that he planted evidence, attempting to frame Avery. In 2021, a Federal judge ruled in favor of Colborn. The ruling against Netflix stated that "Neither The Supreme Court nor the Seventh Circuit has ever suggested a speaker enjoys unconditional First Amendment immunity for making defamatory statements simply because the statements concern legal proceedings."

According to Rech, although the new series was supposed to air a couple of years ago, he is optimistic it will air early summer 2023. Rech said television networks are currently in the process of actively biding on the 10-episode season. Each of the episodes is about one-hour long, he added.

Rech says that the new series --- being called "a Season of Truth" --- tells a more complete...