For me, it is terrifying that you can be wrongly convicted of a crime and spend 18 years in jail for that. SA was far from an angel. He grew up poor in small town Wisconsin (which I have spent a lot of my time) and his behaviors are more common than some might want to think. Obviously they are not the norm but animals are not looked at the same way some of us do. I go as far as thinking leaving your dog outside should be a punishable crime. I think eating meat from factory farms where animals are tortured and abused before they are killed makes those eating the meat part sociopath for not caring but should I be allowed to use that to convict somebody of a brutal murder? What SA did to that cat is HORRIBLE and I own 3 rescue dogs myself so I am in no way excusing that behavior. You know that saying "I don't care who dies as long as the dog lives"? Yea, that's me. Seriously. Humans can defend but animals are at our mercy. SA and I could never be friends but it was 21 years before this. In the USA you're allowed to be an
*****, unfortunately. You can be a jerk and nobody can like you. Having a criminal record from 20 years ago does not mean the system can railroad you or do an extremely poor investigation because you "probably" did it. We need to make sure cases are being handled correctly, proficiently and honorably. How many people are wrongly convincted because of assumptions and alleged behaviors? That's emotional stuff, too. ("But he sounds so mean and I don't like that so he must be guilty!") And worse than that, how many criminals are set free because of technicalities that could have easily been avoided if people did their job properly? That is scary to me.
Other women were sexually assaulted because the police thought Avery was a bad guy and did a half-
*ed investigation letting the actual rapist run free. People aren't supposed to want to go through everything with a fine-toothed comb after the same officers had a hand in convicting Avery a second time?
If those that don't seem to even want anybody to have a conversation about this messed up case were in Avery's shoes, or anybody else YOU loved were in such a predicament, wouldn't you be want a thorough investigation? If there was even a slight chance that the police that wrongfully accused you before may have helped find evidence the second time around, wouldn't that naturally lead you to think that other evidence found might be contaminated as well or that evidence to convinct somebody else might be overlooked or that things simply weren't done appropriately? Wouldn't you ask for a second investigation of EVERYTHING?
If Avery came from a family with money this may never had happened to begin with.. but our system is corrupt and flawed. It happens every day in Chicago. Cops plant drugs and weapons on people all the time. People plead guilty to misdemeanor crimes they aren't guilty of so they do less time because they are: afraid, poor, uneducated.. Pick one or all three, it doesn't matter because it happens all the time.
Do people still believe there is no corruption within the walls of the justice system on a large scale? I have even been a part of it on a very small scale. A cop in a suburb of Chicago just committed suicide and his whole department led a wild goose chase for criminals they knew didn't exist to help cover up corruption throughout the entire department. They wasted thousands upon thousands upon thousands of taxpayers' money trying to help the reputation of a cop who had been stealing from tax payers for years and years and years. He set up his suicide to look like murder and the department helped him. If they're doing it every day for simple things, why wouldn't they do it for something as big as the Avery case? There were reputations and millions of dollars at stake. Crazier things have happened for way, way less. Brandon alone is a case for a huge injustice happening while everybody is watching and yet nobody does anything. What happened to him should make us all ashamed.
This case is so layered. Even if you think Avery did it you have to be appalled at how they got their conviction. I want my justice system to be fair and work efficiently because that is supposed to be one of the things that sets us apart.. we are civilized and fair. I would be scared every day that if somebody accused me of a crime I wouldn't be able to afford to prove my innocence and that is so sad to me. And I also didn't spend 18 years for a crime I didn't commit. I wonder what kind of person I would be if I had.
And lastly, for Theresa, the way this case was handled was mostly an injustice to her. Whoever killed her should have been convicted and put in jail forever the right way -- especially if Avery did kill her -- so her family wouldn't have to go through the pain I can only image they are experiencing right now. It breaks my heart for Theresa and those that love her. My frustration with this case comes mainly from a place in my chest that hurts for TH and all of the other victims of our justice system. Other races in this country have been screaming about this for years and this documentary series finally portrayed the flaws in our justice system in a way that should be obvious to everybody.
This isn't about how you personally feel about Avery. This case is about our flawed justice system and the lives that are ruined because of it.
