Making a Murderer detective sues makers of Netflix series
David Farnor | On 18, Dec 2018
Andrew Colborn, a detective featured in Netflix’s Making a Murderer, is suing the makers of the hit documentary series.
According to Variety, the retired detective alleges that the show suggested he planted evidence to frame the murder suspect, Steven Avery, for the murder of freelance photographer Teresa Halbach. Colborn is therefore suing for defamation, saying that he has been subject to “ridiculous, contempt and disdain” since the show first debuted in 2015.
The documentary has gone on to become one of Netflix’s most talked-about programmes, collecting multiple Emmy awards in 2016 and, earlier this year, spawning a second season, which continues to examine what has happened to Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, since their conviction.
Just over a month from that second season was released, Colborn is filing a suit again directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, plus Netflix executives Lisa Nishimura and Adam Del Deo, and editor Mary Manhardt. The case was filed in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, this week.
“His reputation and that of Manitowoc County, itself, has been severely and unjustly defamed,” Colborn’s attorney, Michael Griesbach, announced in a press release. “He is filing this lawsuit to set the record straight and to restore his good name.”
Griesbach is no stranger to the events in question: he previously published Indefensible in 2016, a book that was in response to the Netflix show.