Saturday, February 18, 2017

'Dateline' Prosecution lawyer & investigator defend themselves in high profile murder

"Dateline" (NBC) can be seen each Friday evening at 10/9 p.m. It aired in Albuquerque, NM at 9 p.m. (central time) on KOB 4. Last night's episode on Feb. 17, 2017 was called, “Return to Manitowoc County.” In the overnight TV ratings it garnered 3.27 million TV viewers overall. It reached 0.8 million TV viewers in the all important 18 to 49 adult demographic. "Blue Bloods" (CBS) grabbed 9.99 overall & 1.1 with adults. “20/20” (ABC) nabbed 4.17 overall & 0.9 with adults.

“Dateline” is an investigative program focusing on crime & murder in the United States. The reporter and narrator is Andrea Canning.

Return to Manitowoc County.” I watched the 10-part series, “Making a Murderer” (netflix) several times. It delved into the murder of Teresa Halbach. The focus was primarily aimed at the defense team of Steven Avery. It raised a lot of questions about the prosecution team and law enforcement at Manitowoc county, Wisconsin. Kenneth Kratz (prosecution lawyer) went on “Dateline” to defend himself. His own written book was plugged and he called Steven a “psychopath.” He really didn't defend his job as much as he did after the 10-part series premiered. Kratz says he is moving on with his life, but there he is talking to Andrea Canning.

Tom Fassbender (investigator) defended himself also. He believed that Brendan Dassey (age 16) knew right-from-wrong and helped commit the murder. He dismissed the public criticism of his interrogation of Brendan as “arm-chair detectives.” He also said Teresa's key was not planted inside Steven's trailer by police. He claims that the police had numerous places to look. They came back to Steven's home after “seven” thorough searches. Police, all-of-the-sudden, found Teresa's key with Steven's DNA on it.

Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were both convicted of Teresa's murder in 2005. Brendan's conviction was overturned by a judge (2016) who believed his confession was “co-erced” (involuntarily) by police. The confession on tape shows Brendan as a mentally slow young man. He sits in jail pending a new trial. Steven is appealing his conviction with a new lawyer who is testing evidence that may have been planted by investigators to frame him.

Watch episodes of “Dateline” streaming online at NBC. Click photo
http://www.nbc.com/dateline
(NBC Logo)

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