Read through this whole thread. I am torn.
My wife and I have discussed a couple of things that make me sympathetic to the locals that watched this drama unfold in real time:
1. We live in a small town in Oregon and have had a few local murders over the years. Of course there was all the local media coverage which we followed just like the people in Wisconsin did. I have no doubt in my mind that the people who were convicted did the crimes. I'm pretty sure if during the trial I saw on the news that the defense was crying "Frame!" I probably would have rolled my eyes. I doubt I'd be so vigorously defending the local system like some in here are doing, but I have some empathy as to why they are convinced as to Steve's guilt.
2. There are a couple of families in our area that remind me of the Averys. Many members, in-laws and cousins all the same, PWT to the core, completely dysfunctional. Several years ago one of the sons was stalking and threatening my dad over a one-time disagreement that he would not let go. We had to get a restraining order, and because he was threatening our lives we carried guns for a short time in our vehicles. Eventually he settled down, apologized, and hasn't been a problem since. But if I heard that one of these people was arrested for murder and saw the kind of things on the local news that Kratz pulled I would not be shocked and I'm sure I'd instantly buy in to his guilt. The irony of the family in my area is that the father of the stalker was a Captain in our city police until he was forced to resign for domestic violence a few years ago. Now he cooks pizza in a pizza parlor. Anyway, again I could see being convinced of their guilt and not being easily swayed, just like some of the Wisconsin folks in here.
With all of that being said, I don't know how you can watch this series - even though it is admittedly slanted toward the defense - and not second guess your convictions of guilt. The Brendan stuff is unreal, there is no way things happened the way he was coerced into confessing. He should get a new trial no question.
I'm less certain about Steve. My gut says he didn't do it, for two reasons. The first is all of the doubt over the County's involvement in finding evidence against him that has been gone over in her ad nauseum. The second is how he looked when the verdict of guilty on Count 1 was read. To me, he didn't look mad. He didn't look shocked even. To me he looked very sad and almost betrayed. He looked at the jury like, "Seriously? How can you think I'm guilty?" I don't think a guy as dim as him can be that good an actor. I think that look was legit, and in that moment I believed he was innocent. I'm probably 70/30 he didn't do it.
For me, the biggest reason my gut says he didn't do it is a lack of motive. The second biggest reason is even dumb people aren't dumb enough to park the car of the person you murdered on your property. The third biggest reason is the prosecution shows evidence of ropes and knives and a very bloody method of killing her, yet evidence of something like that happening on the property is severely lacking. I don't deny the prosecution presented evidence against Steve, but if the evidence was enough to go beyond reasonable doubt, then there was no need to suggest if Steve didn't do it, then who did, and put the burden of proof on the defendant to answer the "then who did it" question. That's not the defendants burden. The burden is on the prosecution to prove the defendant did it, which I feel they came up short on.
I don't like Steve. Well, that's hard to say having only learned about him from the documentary. But from what I've seen, he's not a guy I would likely be friends with. And that's okay, because most people aren't. I think there's a good chance he's a ####, and just wouldn't like being around him. But the law exists to protect people we don't like just as much as it exists to protect those we like.
The system failed here. I think the system has gotten to the point where it's failing a lot. Being innocent until proven guilty has been moved to just being an ideal, as there are too many people in law enforcement who's reputations, careers and lively hoods are too tightly tied to being right. So anyone falsely accused of anything has the burden of proving those people are wrong. If they can't, then it's accepted that those people are right, even when there's doubt.