Here’s what’s going on with that ‘Making a Murderer’ petition

It’s likely you spent your holiday time off work doing three things: spending time with family, eating delicious food, and binge-watching Netflix’s newest documentary series Making a Murderer. The series took the world by storm, and not just because it’s addicting. But because it also raises a lot of red flags about the United States’ justice system as a whole. In fact, many official organizations got involved shortly after the show’s release, and two petitions were started in an attempt to get Steven Avery, the man accused and subsequently jailed for the murder, pardoned.

In no time at all, both petitions have gained a serious amount of traction. As it sits now, the Change.org petition calling for the release of Steven Avery has just under its goal of 200,000 signatures. It reads:

While this petition has done a great job of raising awareness, the other petition over on Whitehouse.gov would require a public response from the executive branch were it to reach its goal of 100,00 signatures by January 19th. As of now, it has close to 20,000, and calls for a similar course of action, describing the actions of the Manitowoc County sheriff’s department as “a black mark on the justice system as a whole.”

While some believe that Steven Avery deserves an immediate pardon, others are erring on the side of caution, calling for at least another trial, since the documentary revealed some questionable practices when it comes to how it all unfolded. Furthermore, prosecutor Ken Kratz told People the filmmakers of Making a Murderer left out key evidence —it’s unclear whether these claims are true (filmmaker Laura Ricciardi told The Wrap, “Ken Kratz is entitled to his own opinion, but he’s not entitled to his own facts.”)

Even though we’ve finished the show, we still can’t stop watching what’s happening with the Avery case, and hoping, as we did every time we hit “next episode,” that we’ll finally get some answers.

(Image via Netflix)