A judge recently ruled against a defamation suit filed in 2019 by retired Wisconsin detective Andrew Colborn, who alleged theNetflixdocumentary seriesMaking a Murdererwrongfully implied he falsified evidence against the accused documentary subjects, according toRolling Stone.
The documentary series follows the trials which found both Steven Avery and his minor nephew Brendan Dassey guilty of a murder they didn’t commit, while presenting evidence revealing how police prosecutors coordinated efforts to frame the two suspects. Colborn in particular is heard on tape reporting the license plate number of the missing person’s vehicle – two days before police actually discovered where the victim’s vehicle was located – feigning like he was looking at the vehicle in person.
In a 2018 statement, Colborn’s representing lawyer at the time, Michael Griesbach, said about the former Wisconsin detective:
“His reputation and that of Manitowoc County, itself, has been severely and unjustly defamed. He is filing this lawsuit to set the record straight and to restore his good name.”
His lawsuit claims the filmmakers behind the 10-part series, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, “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.” The lawsuit also alleges they “did so with actual malice and to make the film more profitable and more successful, sacrificing and defining [Colborn’s] character and reputation in the process.”
U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig, however, ruled in favor of Netflix saying the series captured the gist of Colborn’s testimony and that Colborn “failed to show that the streaming service or the filmmakers acted with malice toward him.”
Related:These Are Some of the Most Eye-Opening Documentaries on Netflix
Brendan Dassey, fromMaking a Murderer 2to Present Day
A followup to the original documentary series was released on Netflix in 2018, no doubt fueling the fire that led to former detective Colborn’s defamation suit, as the second series presents Steven Avery and Brandon Dassey’s subsequent appeals to have their cases retried in light of evidence showing how police conspired against Avery and Dassey by planting false evidence and using manipulative interrogation tactics on a minor.
Both Avery and Dassey remain in prison serving life sentences, despite rejected appeals,denied requests for clemency, and outcry particularly for Dassey, who was 16 in 2006 when tape shows him being aggressively interrogated by police. Police ultimately managed to coerce a damning confession out of Dassey, corroborating their leading accusation that Brendan Avery, with the help of nephew Dassey, raped and murdered a freelance photographer named Teresa Halbach in 2005. In 2007, Dassey was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment at age 17. In 2019, he was deemed ineligible for pardon and his request for commutation was denied. More recently, in 2022, Avery’s lawyers wrote a letter to Governor Tony Evers on behalf of Dassey requesting a reduced sentence, which reads:
“The courts have failed Brendan repeatedly and at every level. We ask you to exercise the power that only you have: to free him. We ask you to do it now.”
