Making a Murderer creators sued by man who investigated Steven Avery case

A former Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Detective who appeared on the Netflix series Making a Murderer is suing its creators.

Andrew Colborn filed a lawsuit on Monday (18 December) in Wisconsin claiming Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos edited the documentary in a defamatory way.

Colborn alleges the directing duo made it appear as if law enforcement had planted evidence to frame Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who are both serving jail time for the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005.

“At no time during plaintiff’s employment at [Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office] did [Colborn] serve as a spokesperson for the department,” the lawsuit reads, according to Deadline.

“Declining dozens of media requests for interviews, plaintiff has refrained from public comment and has in no other way injected himself into the controversy surrounding the Avery case and the release of [Making a Murderer]. As such, he is neither a ‘public figure’ nor a ‘limited purpose public figure,’ as those terms are defined in defamation law”.

Making a Murderer first debuted on Netflix in 2015, with a follow-up series being released earlier this year. Avery’s lawyer Kathleen Zellner recently issued an update on the ongoing case, saying that she was filing a 22,000-page document she hopes will exonerate Avery.