'Making a Murderer' prosecutor accuses filmmakers of omitting key evidence

The prosecutor from the Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer went on the defensive Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America, accusing the filmmakers of cobbling together a “defense piece” that was designed to make Wisconsin’s Steven Avery look like a victim.

Former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz told ABC News that filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos left out key evidence from the 2007 case against Avery, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of AutoTrader photographer Teresa Halbach. Among the omissions, Kratz said, was how Avery requested Halbach come out to photograph his car, and that he called her cell phone three times.

“Obviously this wasn’t a documentary,” Kratz said on GMA. “It was a defense piece, generated by and for Steven Avery by his defense team. It wasn’t until Netflix decided to repackage it that both sides were invited to participate.”

Kratz, who resigned from the prosecutor’s office in 2010 after a sexting scandal, declined to be interviewed for the 10-part series that began streaming on Netflix in December. Since the release of Making the Murderer, however, he has begun to speak out as viewers have inundated his Yelp page with hate mail.

Over on NBC’s Today, the filmmakers revealed how a juror from the murder case not only believed that Avery was framed by law enforcement but agreed to a guilty verdict out of fear. “(The juror) told us that they believe Steven Avery was not proven guilty,'” Ricciardi said. “They believe Steven was framed by law enforcement and that he deserves a new trial, and if he receives a new trial, in their opinion it should take place far away from Wisconsin.”

In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of viewers who watched the docuseries have signed pardon petitions for Avery here and here.

For more on the case, tune into Inside TV on EW Radio Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. P.T. to hear from the filmmakers.