Indefensible: The Missing Truth about Steven Avery, Teresa Halbach, and Making a Murderer

This book appeared to be interesting in that I hoped it would provide details of the crime and investigation not previously revealed. Unfortunately it was a bridge too far. This author is too close to the prosecutors and investigators to be objective in my opinion. He states over and over again how objective he is while at the same time unable to separate himself from his associate prosecutors and relying on the honesty and integrity of the investigators to substantiate one another’s truth.I am not an advocate for Mr Avery, I have my doubts about his guilt or innocence based on the movies and now even more so after reading this book. Not enough factual, unbiased research for my taste.The truth is very elusive and especially without enough facts. I remain undecided.

The author expends great effort throughout his book to argue that he has eliminated his biases about this case. My impression is he may have convinced himself that he is objective; however, his writing gives us many examples throughout of his slant and bias. Interesting reading but his bias diminishes the impact of this book.

Netflix's Making a Murderer is many things: entertaining, riveting, and expertly-crafted. One thing it is not is objective.After finishing Indefensible, I'm left saddened. Saddened that the creators of Making a Murderer didn't use their considerable influence to seek unbiased truth. Saddened that an entire community has been negatively impacted. Most of all, saddened for Teresa Halbach's family.If you're looking to fill in the considerable gaps that the documentary leaves, you need to read this book which includes additional testimony and background information on the major players in Wisconsin's most infamous murder mystery.

I watched the documentary's 2 seasons and was conflicted between sympathy for mostly Brendan Dassey and could the police actually have framed these 2 for this crime. Sat down and read Mr. Griesbach's book in its entirety for 6 hours last night and it completely changed my thinking towards these crimes and how the Netflix documentarians deceitfully edited and left out key evidence in their shows. Steven Avery is a sexual deviant who treats women like trash and premeditated his attack on Mrs. Halbach. Still not sure that Dassey participated in the murder or just helped clean up the crime scene, but family loyalty probably kept him from telling the truth and it cost him 20 extra years in prison. Very detailed book in explaining the evidence and the backgrounds of each participant, good read. I definitely feel sympathy for Lt. Colburn, who these Hollywood filmmakers have implicated and attempted to tarnish his reputation & career, what a shame.

I almost didn’t finish this book, since it was released before the second season of MAM. I thought it would just be a rehash of everything I already knew. After reading Indefensible, I think we can all agree that Mr. Avery isn’t a good guy. I found out lots of new information and actually read some of the transcripts to fact check, and was leaning heavily that Mr. Avery is right where he belongs. With the bombshells that dropped after the second season, I’m curious now as to how it’s all going to play out. I feel like the defense didn’t do any of the investigations that they should have done. Should Ms. Zellner prevail, I’ll be interested in another book from this author.

If all you know about Steven Avery's murder trial is from "Making a Murderer" you need to read this book. This interesting read delves deep into Avery's history, his wrongful 1985 conviction and into the truth about what really happened the day Theresa Halbach was killed. It's a fairly quick read and well worth the time to read.

I really enjoyed this book. Griesbach, a Manitowoc County prosecutor who was not involved personally in the Avery trial but who did play a part in uncovering Avery's original wrongful conviction, did an excellent job of refuting the slanted Netflix "Making of a Murderer" documentary that made it look like Avery was the victim of a police conspiracy. Unfortunately, so many people have been brainwashed by the documentary that the truth is as much a casualty in this case as the detectives and policemen who have been viciously maligned and falsely accused. When you take into account Avery's violent history toward women (including the testimony of some of the women he has abused) and the physical evidence that cannot be refuted and the evidence that the documentary intentionally hides and the manner in which the documentary distorts testimony to fit the conspiracy conclusion, there's no question or doubt at all that Avery is indeed the murderer of Teresa. Not only did he murder her but he also violated her in a horrific way before stabbing her to death, which is also in keeping with his violent history against women and with his own words regarding his twisted desires while he was in prison. I hope people who are interested in this case will purchase this book and read it. It will be an eye-opener for many who know only what the documentary has provided.

I read several different sides to the story and watched the documentary. This is by far the book that tells the most reliable facts. Just confirmed what I felt in my gut all along. Thanks for all the hard work an time put into this book. As long as Avery keeps fighting , it keeps him in the limelight and that is what he enjoys.

Michael Griesbach, Manitowic DA and a man instrumental in exonerating Steven Avery in the case relating to the violent rape of Penny Ann Beernsten, attempts to balance up what he see's as the producers of Making a Murderer's biased editing in favour of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey's innocence and the SM clamour for a re-trial or release that followed. He reasons that the evidence against Avery is ultimately so over whelming and the idea that it was planted or misinterpreted so far fetched that the jury came to the correct verdict.However, what he fails to do is exactly what the investigation itself failed in, to investigate beyond what was right in front of their own eyes and be prepared to accpet that they may have been part of a massive deception aimed at diverting attention towards Steven Avery and away from the actual murderer. Griesbach doesn't ask with any real conviction "was Avery the only individual with motive and opportunity?" Nor to question how the evidence suddenly starts to fall into officers laps, nor look into it as questionable from a scientific point of view even to the layman.Michael glosses over the potential for other family members to be treated as suspects, while ignoring the possibility that they might well be equally likely to have committed the crime having all the indicators that Steven had stacked against him themselves. That being possible its equally possible they would then jump at the chance to become witnesses for the prosecution and escape investigation, they may have gained insight into the nature of the investigation against Steven by nature of the questioning they were asked, a notable part of Brendan Dassey's final questioning is how much a smarter person might glean from the revealing nature of the questions asked, had that person been asked questions in such a manner they might then fit evidence in their possession around that in order to incriminate Avery.Griesbach starts out with the intention of sighting only the facts in evidence and sadly ends up following the same trail of bread crumbs as the prosecution leaving an unsatisfying work that takes to much on face value.It will be very interesting to hear what he makes of MAM2 and Kathleen Zellners piece by piece scientific dismantling of the prosecution evidence to the point where doubt is the only thing left.A good read, but ultimately its the company song being sung here.

This is arguably the best true crime book I have ever read.The writer approaches it from the position of unsure and sets out to examine every piece of evidence.I have been through a roller coaster ride through watching the docuseries and investigating further on the net. After series one I was certain Avery was innocent. After some internet searches I was convinced he was guilty. After series two my feelings went full circle again: I was convinced Bobby Dassey was the real killer. I was then driven by the need to find something non biased. This book is it.Author meticulously goes through the timeline of the murder and proves to me once and for all Avery is a depraved psychopath. As for Dassey, I remain unconvinced that he was a participant - perhaps just a witness. Excellent piece of investigation work and a brilliantly written script. Absolute must read!

In the book the author said he “would do everything in my power to prevent any preconceived notions from getting in the way”. That lasted 1 whole page when he called MoM “propaganda”. From there and throughout he accused the producers of selective editing to make it look like evidence was planted while he defends the police as honest people who would never do anything like that. BTW - he is now representing one of the police accused of planting evidence in a defamation suit against Netflix. Hmmmm

Upon finally getting round to binge-watching Making of a Murderer over Christmas 2018., I immediately reached the opinion that either Avery was innocent or - at best - if he was guilty, his conviction had been in large part secured by corrupt practices by the local police.However, conscious that the Netflix documentary was clearly telling one side of the story, I was keen to find what would essentially amount to a full account of the prosecution's case and this book came up top of my search.Griesbach essentially does for the Avery case what Gerald Posner's "Case Closed" does for the Kennedy assassination. That is to say, upon reading it, an open-minded person is likely to conclude that the orthodox account of events (i.e. Avery was the murderer) is indeed the correct one.He points out numerous areas in which the Netflix documentary presents evidence in a partial fashion (usually by the crime of omission, he doesn't in any way suggest fabrication on the part of its makers) and crucially tackles the following areas in a methodical, balanced and thoughtful fashion:1. The implausibility of the police being involved in such an elaborate planting and falsification of evidence as implied by the documentary (even if they were minded to frame Avery, this would be about the most complex, convoluted and high risk way of doing so imaginable)2. The contradictions, inconsistencies and curiosities in Avery's own account of his behaviour on October 31st and his interactions with Halbach. It appears he deliberately lured Halbach to the property under false pretences (booking the appointment in the name of his sister, phoning the victim withholding his number etc). Most damning of all - he changes his story about whether he saw Halbach at all (initially, he claimed not to know she was even visiting, then claims to have seen her from his window and then finally explains that she did actually enter his trailer and they made small talk)3. Dassey's confession - however inappropriately obtained - contained information which (a) was not known to the police at the time and (b) turned out to be accurate. (For example, the fact that Halbach was shot in the head twice)In reading this book, I am now of the view that Avery is very probably guilty of Halbach's rape and murder. I would recommend it to anyone who found Making a Murderer both compelling and concerning.There are two reasons I am giving four stars rather than five:1. There is a slightly self-indulgent presentation of the material as the author's personal "journey" (a term I loathe unless it refers exclusively to moving from one physical location to another). I don't care - and doubt many other readers do - about how clever his wife is, what a great memory she has, or how cold and Chrsitmassy it was when the author read through or deciphered certain documents. The book would be far more engaging if it had been presented as a straight rebuttal of the documentary rather than as a highly personalised account.2. There is far too much time given over to the reiteration of points made in the documentary series, including large chunks of verbatim text from the trial or from TV press conferences. It felt to me that only around 25% of the book focused on succint, well-argued rebuttal - much of the rest is a regurgitation of points likely to be familiar to the reader or accounts of the author's own unfolding thinking and anguish.Nevertheless, this is a valuable and very important contribution to an issue of considerable public interest (as well as of interest to the public...which isn't quite the same thing).It really is a "must read" for anyone who found the Netflix series to be a persuasive - or even definitive - account of the Avery case. Even if it doesn't change your mind, I'd be surprised if it doesn't open it. It did mine.Highly recommended.

In the torrent of nonsense spoken about this case, this examination of the evidence, both presented in court and outside of it, is welcome. The author was part of the Innocence Project effort that sought to release Avery after his first conviction. In spite of the other commentators here blindly screaming ‘bias’, I see no evidence for it. In fact, I think this account is impressively impartial. It merely reaches a conclusion that, now millions, of people are emotionally unwilling to accept. Namely that Steven Avery is rotting in jail because he is guilty of an horrific murder. Masses of evidence points to this fact. Innuendo, half truth, dishonest editing and spooky music stand against it.