[Josy]

True he was a bit of a nutter and the thing about the cat sickened me but the thing is he never denies most of those things happening (obviously that doesnt excuse any.of it) but it doesn't prove he is guilty of murder and that was a massive problem with the court case, he was judged on his past rather than the present when to be found guilty of killing Theresa the state should have proven without reasonable doubt that he was guilty of that crime, the most important thing to me is that both him and brendan recieve a fair trial and the real killer is found even if it is him.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Who Is She?

I would never willingly disagree with you Ammi (except for now) but if I'm completely honest he deserved the 18 years he 'wrongfully served' for the burning the family cat to death alone.

Yeah I did find myself unable to have much sympathy... he set a ****ing cat on fire. On fire! And he talks about it so passively like "Oh yeah derp I set the cat on fire dat was silly derp derp what a silly kid...". wut??

Howeverrrr...

Originally Posted by Josy

the most important thing to me is that both him and brendan recieve a fair trial and the real killer is found even if it is him.

This is why it's caught my interest anyway. I'm not really interested in what happens to Avery. Brendan I do have more sympathy for because I think he is clearly significantly disabled and has been treated abysmally. But the main points are:

- Regardless of what Avery does or doesn't "deserve", the actions of the people involved in the investigation and in pressing the charges are fascinating, and terrifying. There is such blatant corruption, lying and tampering. Such power-tripping. That needs to be explored... their involvement needs to be laid bare because whether or not Avery is guilty, that department is a shambles, and it probably reflects on the entire small-town system in the US.

and secondly,

- If Avery isn't guilty, even though I don't feel particularly bad for HIM being locked up... him going down for that crime means that a killer is still out there.

[Ammi]

...sorry Cal, somehow I've completely missed his burning of the family cat, Niamh did mention it but I thought it was something that was going to come later but it was obviously something though that he did before his first sentencing..?..hmmm, yes a horrendous and 'evil' thing to do so I do understand your feelings, I really do..and you might think that this is pretty harsh but even in knowing that I've missed that and it's something that happened before the 18yrs imprisonment, it's not what he was convicted for...so part of my thoughts are that maybe they're right/the justice system etc...in him being in prison for those 18yrs, they've prevented him from doing anything else because he seems like a disturbed and screwed up person...but the thing with that though is that for 18yrs, a brutal rapist has been free and out there...so a mindlessly cruel and awful thing to do but to me, maybe more needing help for mental illness issues, rather than prison..?...with how it was, with his 18yrs imprisonment for something he didn't do..?...it's caused his focus/everyone's focus to be on 'wrongful' and on what he didn't do, rather than the things he did do be addressed, like running his cousin off the road with a gun, exposing himself, and burning the family cat, not someone with a sound and healthy mind, I would say...he came out of prison being 'the wronged, innocent person' who had lost 18yrs of his life and the whole focus on that, but in that, never having to address those disturbing things he did do and his overall mental health and him needing help for that...going in with a mentally ill mind and coming out with a mentally ill mind, because serious things needed looking at there and they weren't...

[Ammi]

..and TS, I agree with you about Brendon, he's so obviously vulnerable and I found it heart-breaking to see how the police manipulated him and used those vulnerabilities ...and also them pushing him one way and his mother pushing him another way and him just wanting to 'give everyone what they wanted'..and his solicitor being fairly useless imo...I am though also interested in Avery because his 'vulnerabilities' as it were, are not so obvious because of the things he's done, which are seriously disturbing...but equally 'mental vulnerabilities' only in a different way and I guess it's like we've all said before on different things, what he needed really was mental health help...what his years of imprisonment have done, are to have prevented that from happening...and also meant that a brutal rapist was free, the same as with Teresa's murder, if they are innocent as you say, then a murderer is still out there...

[Ammi]

the most important thing to me is that both him and brendan recieve a fair trial and the real killer is found even if it is him.


..this really, what Josy has said..with any doubts atm, then there is very disturbed killer still out there...