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Hi. Like you, my husband and I binge-watched the entire documentary. Re: the cat, he was a stupid kid who was hanging out with a rough crowd at the time and he tossed the cat over the fire....it didn't make it over the fire. Not excusing his stupidity and cruelty but it isn't the same as dropping the cat in a fire. There is no further evidence of animal cruelty.

The first case against him was absolutely a wrongful conviction and set up. IIRC, the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense and DNA eventually exonerated him but 18 years in prison because he refused to admit guilt. His sister said for everything he was, he would always fess up when he did something and the fact that he wouldn't was her first indication he was innocent. A 36 million dollar wrongful conviction suit was filed and the Sheriff's office took it very personal. He was forced to settle for just under half a million because he needed to hire counsel. The police department tried to tell the SO they had the wrong guy from the start and the SO buried it. It was shortly after the lawsuit was filed that the dead girl's vehicle was found on his property, in a very strange place and with tree limbs tossed over it. The victim's Aunt found the vehicle and her behavior on the stand was downright bizarre. A Sheriff's officer who was involved in both cases called dispatch a couple of days before the vehicle was found on Avery's property and read the missing girl's plate to the dispatcher. The dispatcher advised it was the plate of the missing girl. When questioned, the SO "didn't recall" calling dispatch.

The car key found on the floor was the most alarming aspect. It wasn't there when the place was originally tossed, as testified to by another officer but miraculously showed up when they went back....and was pointed to by a detective involved in the original case - all the while the Sheriff's office was to have no involvement in this case as ordered by the court (by someone, anyway).

Brandon is in my mind, functionally retarded and absolutely was railroaded into saying whatever they needed him to say. His mother is barely more intelligent, as is most of the family. She did not know her rights or that of her son's.

We both feel the Avery's are innocent.

Brandon Dassey’s lawyer, “Smilin’ Jack” (I forget his last name ... Kachinksky?) the public defender before the trial really `phoned it in’ as far as I saw.
He let his client be interrogated alone, failing to appear to defend him, and amazingly let his investigator work Brandon over. appearing to want to lock him in to testimony that hurt him.
He owed zealous representation to his client, but it seemed to me he just wanted to get Brandon to plea bargain so he could close his file.
Both defendants seemed to act as though they had not been Mirandized. I’m surprised the PD wasn’t disciplined by the Wisconsin state bar association. Maybe he was going for an ‘incompetent lawyer’ appeal defense? That’s crazy. Anyway it was really difficult to watch.
Avery’s trial attorneys OTOH were very good. I was astonished to hear the verdict on the first count, but wasn’t surprised to then hear that the jurors were anxious to convict and go home.