The Staircase - Netflix
Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:03 pm
Spoilers ahead, I guess! Seems weird to talk about something that really happened in such terms..
So we watched this after I saw it got some good recommendations from folks back in the old PW TV thread. I mentioned as such in the TV thread here but figured it might warrant its own thread for discussion if anybody is interested.
Man, what a brilliantly put-together documentary following the trial of Michael Peterson. My wife and I were in opposite camps on whether or not he did it. I started to think he was innocent as soon as it came to light that a woman from his past was killed under similar circumstances. Despite that actually being quite damning on the surface, I thought that surely a man of his (apparent) intelligence would surely know that it would be dug up and used against him if he decided to use that questionable method/excuse a second time in what would be a second murder by that point.
Suddenly a lot of the arguments from the defense made more sense to me. I know the documentary was filmed entirely from the defense's perspective (which my wife liked to remind me during our discussions), but I do think the police were gunning for him almost immediately and then making the evidence fit. The locating of the blow-poke near to the end of the trial was a double edged sword but the forensics suggested it hadn't been used to beat anyone to death.
When they came back with the verdict, I was actually a bit gutted (although the reaction from his daughters made it more sad for me I guess). Then when the "blood spatter expert" was proven to be a fraud... Wow.
Anyway - good TV was that. I did read the Owl Theory by the way. Fascinating theory!
So we watched this after I saw it got some good recommendations from folks back in the old PW TV thread. I mentioned as such in the TV thread here but figured it might warrant its own thread for discussion if anybody is interested.
Man, what a brilliantly put-together documentary following the trial of Michael Peterson. My wife and I were in opposite camps on whether or not he did it. I started to think he was innocent as soon as it came to light that a woman from his past was killed under similar circumstances. Despite that actually being quite damning on the surface, I thought that surely a man of his (apparent) intelligence would surely know that it would be dug up and used against him if he decided to use that questionable method/excuse a second time in what would be a second murder by that point.
Suddenly a lot of the arguments from the defense made more sense to me. I know the documentary was filmed entirely from the defense's perspective (which my wife liked to remind me during our discussions), but I do think the police were gunning for him almost immediately and then making the evidence fit. The locating of the blow-poke near to the end of the trial was a double edged sword but the forensics suggested it hadn't been used to beat anyone to death.
When they came back with the verdict, I was actually a bit gutted (although the reaction from his daughters made it more sad for me I guess). Then when the "blood spatter expert" was proven to be a fraud... Wow.
Anyway - good TV was that. I did read the Owl Theory by the way. Fascinating theory!