A huge audience watched the new murder series like any other show, but then there was a surprise

In the year 1976 There was a police fatality in Dallas. Inspector Robert W. Wood was shot at midnight on the road after he stopped a car that was driving without headlights.

In the following trial, he asserted his innocence Randall Adams was sentenced to death for killing a police officer. His sentence was later commuted to life.

More than a decade later, a documentary director Errol Morris seized the case. A documentary film completed in 1988 The Thin Blue Line revealed significant inconsistencies in the trial, and Adams was released after 12 years in prison.

In the year of publication the film was criticized for sensationalism, but later the voice on the clock has changed. In Finland under the name Lead wire screened and awarded many times, the film was selected in the archives of the United States Library of Congress among the most significant American films in 2001, and three years later the critics of The New York Times chose it as one of the best films of all time.

According to estimates, the documentary not only freed an innocent man, but also highlighted the flaws in the legal system.

Morris’s in Vanaveti, more and more documentary makers are interested in similar cases. One of the most famous followers is Joe Berlinger. He rose to world fame together Bruce Sinofskyn by guiding with Paradise Lost – documentary series.

The series showed how three young people were convicted of a triple murder in 1993. The first documentary gave birth to a popular movement demanding the release of the trio, which eventually happened thanks to new evidence.

Ken and by Sarah Burns The Central Park Five (2012), on the other hand, deals with the wrongful conviction of five young men for the rape that happened in New York’s Central Park in 1989.

Feelings were hot, and among other things, a person starting a political career at the time Donald Trump participated in the public debate. A couple of weeks after the incident, Trump bought a full-page ad in four of New York’s largest newspapers, demanding the return of the death penalty to New York state.

More than ten years later, the serial rapist confessed to the crime, and DNA evidence confirmed his guilt. The documentary, on the other hand, shed light on what had gone wrong in the police investigation. According to the interviewees, the police had made the teenagers confess to the act by threatening them during the interrogations, which lasted for tens of hours.

In 2019, Netflix presented the acclaimed When They See Us – about the events of the drama series.

Last Over the years, investigating unclear legal cases has become a popular subgenre of true crime.

And there’s nothing wrong with that, the topic is important: crime, especially murder, and the sentencing for it reflect the entire society, its values ​​and legal concept.

Along with television, podcasts have increasingly contributed to the release of the innocent. One milestone was reached in 2014, when tens of millions of people around the world watched the 1999 murder Hae Min Leen processing of the case Serialon the podcast.

Lee’s 19-year-old ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, but the podcast brought the case back into the public eye. series presenter-reporter Sarah Koenig showed through his investigations that the evidence against Syed was shaky, and that he might even have an alibi

In 2016, the case was reopened as a result of the uproar, and in 2022, Syed was released. However, the case is not over yet, because a few weeks ago the Supreme Court of Maryland decided to return the case for a new hearing.

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Many series have been accused of over understanding the main character.

Always the journalistic output of lay detectives has not hit the mark, but they have achieved a lot of good over the decades. In the most ambitious works, legal processes have been followed for years. Prosecutors, defense lawyers, families of the accused, victims’ relatives and investigating police officers have been interviewed.

Among other things, algal-based police investigations, confessions obtained under pressure, police corruption, racism, biased judges and jurors, and the spirit of lynching in small villages have come to the fore.

On the other hand, for example, Netflix Making a Murdereria (2015) has been criticized for giving a one-sided view of the investigation into the murder.

The New Yorkerin

according to, for example, the criminal background of the convicted person and the sweat samples found at the crime scene were not brought up in the series at all.

Many other series have also been accused of over understanding the main character.

Just now the world is waiting for the retrial of yet another case. The reason is Netflix’s new drama series Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez (2024), which became the most watched service both in Finland and elsewhere.

The series is based on the sad true story of the Menendez family who lived in Beverly Hills. In August 1989, the family’s sons in their twenties called the emergency number. They said they had just returned home and found their parents murdered.

The boys were later sentenced to life in prison for killing their parents.

New a surprising twist in the case, on the other hand, reveals what kind of power Netflix has at its wildest. The other week, the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon announced that the more than thirty-year-old matter is reopened for review.

This is probably the first time that the uproar caused by a fictional series affects a decades-old verdict on this schedule.

According to the district attorney, new evidence, such as a letter sent by Erik Menendez to his cousin, supports the brothers’ claims of abuse by their parents.

According to the district attorney, he will make his decision after the attorneys of the office have examined the evidence.

This too times the creators of the series are on the side of the main characters who have been in prison for more than 30 years. The producer exuded particular optimism Ryan Murphy in an interview with Variety.

“I think they can get out of jail by Christmas. I really believe so,” he said.