Heard on the Street

One thing for certain about a case like the one involving Steven Avery is that opinions abound.

I have been observing some of the bulletin board discussions. There has been a plethora of what I call bottom feeders. These are the people who were convinced of Avery’s guilt as soon as he was mentioned as a probable suspect.

This bunch is convinced that Avery should not have been freed from his wrongful imprisonment. Or, they go into a theory that he committed the prior sexual assault using another man’s body parts and hairs. At any rate, he is guilty of the crimes for which he is being tried.

These persons applaud everything from the prosecution and disparage everything from the defense. And they pat each other on the back for their pithy remarks.

When they do discuss the defense points that are valid or develop their own line that is favorable for the defense, they immediately retreat into something like Avery is a criminal mastermind; except when he isn’t.

So they mock the defense attorneys and claim that Steven Avery is really a despicable person and for that reason alone must be guilty. These bottom feeders then extend the same thought processes to denigrate all members of the Avery family. Their posturing proclaims their own superiority by proclaiming the inferiority of others.

There are other opinions. One person told me she believed Avery guilty AND she believed the police planted evidence.

I had to go the Milwaukee VA Hospital today and during the trip, one of the passengers in the DAV van opined that the Brendan Dassey confession pointed to guilt. I expressed my opinion that the Dassey confession was bogus and gave my reasons for this conclusion.

What surprised me was the other two passengers. They each had an opinion that Avery was likely innocent. They had looked at some of the evidence as being very suspicious. The obviousness of the Halbach vehicle was one item that appeared odd. The hiding made the vehicle stand out.

I also overheard a conversation at the hospital where one person was arguing for Avery’s innocence. The other person was not as adamant about guilt although still held his opinion.

So, there are people who get most of their information from news reports and have concluded that the State has it wrong.

In the end, the jury will make the decision. I suspect that this will be a tough case to decide. But, the thing that counts is the verdict.

In the public though, despite Special Prosecutor Kratz’s attempt to mobilize public opinion against Avery, many people don’t believe him.