History Series / MakingAMurderer

* ClearTheirName: Both season revolve around lawyers trying to prove Avery and Dassey innocent.

* PleaBargain: Brendan's first attorney suggests this solution. Brendan doesn't go for it and pleads "not guilty".

* OrgyOfEvidence: It's being pointed out that the DNA sample of Steven that was lifted from the hood latch of the victim's car contained implausibly high amounts of DNA. Adding to it, Steven's DNA was the only one found on the latch as if it was cleaned beforehand. This makes the defense suspect that the sample was planted rather than left by Steven actually opening the hood.

* OffOnATechnicality: Discussed. People are impressed with Steven's new attorney Kathleen Zellner but fear that she may get him out of prison by finding a loophole while he may still be guilty. Then Kathleen points out that courts on this level are not letting people out on technicalities.

* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The murder and mutilation of Teresa Halbach is assumed to have happened on Hallows Eve.

* FrameUp: The defense attorneys' position is that Manitowoc County police officers planted evidence against Steven Avery on his premise, in a benevolent attempt to help the conviction of whom they though [[FramingTheGuiltyParty was a guilty man]].

* FrameUp: The defense attorneys' position is that Manitowoc County police officers planted evidence against Steven Avery on his premise, in a benevolent attempt to help the conviction of what they though was a guilty man.

* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: A variant. Avery's decision to not testify in court is taken by the brother of the victim as a sign of his guilt. The [[https://www.johntfloyd.com/defendant-testify-defense/ truth]] is, taking the stand in your own murder trial even if you are innocent is the riskiest thing you could possibly do are people rarely do it.

* ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome: If you believe the state's version of Teresa's murder, Steven Avery managed to completely clean a crime scene of forensic traces of her ever being there yet was stupid enough to leave her car, bones and personal items in his property. The defense notes that it would have been stupid for Steven to keep the victim's car intact on his premise when it was cluttered with compromising traces while he had a compactor at his disposal to DestroyTheEvidence.

* FieryCoverup: Steven Avery had lit a bonfire on Halloween eve which made it look like he wanted to get rid of the victim's remains which were indeed found in the ashes during search.

* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: When asked about a possible motive for Steven to kill Teresa Halbach, some interviewees expressed the opinion that the 18 years in prison may have taken its toll on him psychologically.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The murder and mutilation of Teresa Halbach is assumed to have happened on Halloween.

* InstitutionalApparel: The black-and-white striped prison suit Steven has to wear when they jail him for the murder of Teresa Halbach. Lampshaded by his attorney:

* ManipulativeEditing: The show has been called advocacy journalism for the reason that a number of facts were left out by the producers which made the case less riveting and Avery more sympathetic. Some of it was addressed and rebutted in the second seasons though. Examples are:

* MiscarriageOfJustice: Steven Avery got wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder in 1985 and served 18 years behind bars before [[SmokingGun new evidence]] proved him innocent. And it seems to be happening again when on trial for homicide in 2005.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: Teresa Halbach's voicemail and online phone records were easy to access from the outside because she used her birthday in the password.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The first season concludes with a statement about Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey's current situation together with recent photographs of them in prison.

* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: A variant. Avery's decision to not testify in court is taken by the brother of the victim as a sign of his guilt. The [[https://www.johntfloyd.com/defendant-testify-defense/ truth]] is, taking the stand in your own murder trial even if you are innocent is the riskiest thing you could possibly do.

* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: A variant. Steven Avery's decision to not testify in court is taken by the brother of the victim as a sign of his guilt.

* ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome: If you believe the state's version of Teresa's murder, Steven Avery managed to completely clean a crime scene of forensic traces of her ever being there yet was stupid enough to leave her car, bones and personal items in his property. The defense notes that it would have been stupid for Steven to keep the victim's car intact on his premise when it was cluttered with compromising traces while he had a car crusher at his disposal to DestroyTheEvidence.

* ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome: If you believe the state's version of Teresa's murder, Steven Avery was skilled enough to completely clean a crime scene of forensic traces of her ever being there but being stupid enough to leave her car, bones and personal items in his property. The defense notes that it would have been stupid for Steven to keep the victim's car intact on his premise when it was cluttered with compromising traces while he had a car crusher at his disposal to DestroyTheEvidence.

* ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome: The defense notes that it would have been stupid for Steven Avery to keep the victim's car intact on his premise while he had [[DestroyTheEvidence a car crusher at his disposal]].

''Making a Murderer'' is an American true crime {{documentary}} television series written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos.

* DirtyCop: While the entire Manitowoc County police is under suspicion of bias and evidence planting, Kathleen Zellner singles out Sergeant Andrew Colborn as a prime example of this trope as he twice withheld evidence in favor of Steven Avery. Once in 1995 when he did not report on a phone call that mentioned Avery was "not the guy" and in 2005 when not reporting on about a witness who saw Halbach's SUV outside Avery's ranch well after the time she went missing.

* AttentionWhore: Steven's new girlfriend mentions that she knew that if there was another season of the show she would be in it as his girlfriend. It really makes you question her motives.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: Steven Avery gets the full blow of it.

!!Tropes:

* LieDetector: Kathleen Zellner subjects Steven Avery to a 13 hour lie detector test in order to determine if he was innocent or not. He passes.
* MirandaRights: On the confession tapes of Brendan at school, one of the police detective is making Brendan aware of the fact that he read the Miranda rights to him earlier.