Production Begins on Netflix's MAKING A MURDERER Follow Up Series CONVICTING A MURDERER

Production began today on 'Convicting A Murderer', a follow-up to Netflix's sensational 2015 documentary series 'Making A Murderer'. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Shawn Rech (A MURDER IN THE PARK) will direct the 8-episode series. 'Convicting' is being produced by Rech and his partner, Chicago Attorney Andrew Hale, as part of his Cleveland-based Transition Studios, which secured independent financing and is currently shopping the series.

'Convicting A Murderer' will investigate the controversial case built by the State of Wisconsin against Steven Avery for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, in which police were accused of tampering with crime scenes and planting evidence to manipulate the investigation and implicate Avery of the murder. Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey are currently serving life sentences.

Shawn Rech, who has creative control over the series, has exclusive, unprecedented access to District Attorney Ken Kratz, Lead Investigator Tom Fassbender, and other major players in State v. Avery.

"When 'Making A Murderer' was produced, many on the law enforcement side of the story could not, or would not, participate in the series, which resulted in a one-sided analysis of the case," Rech explains. "This docu-series will examine the case and the allegations of police wrongdoing from a broader perspective. It will also share with viewers the traumatic effects of being found guilty and vilified in the court of public opinion."

Rech and Hale are no strangers to wrongful conviction cases. Together, the filmmakers have helped free three men facing wrongful or unlawful convictions, one of which was the longest wrongful incarceration in US history.

Their first film, IFC Films/Sundance Selects' A MURDER IN THE PARK (2014), presented evidence that led to the release of Alstory Simon, an innocent man wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for a 1982 double homicide in Chicago. A MURDER IN THE PARK is currently streaming on Netflix.

In their upcoming film WRONG CAT, Rech documents Hale's uphill battle to free alleged cop-killer Cleve Heidelberg, in a story that reaches back to the 1960s killings of Black Panthers by Chicago Police. When Hale earned his freedom last year, Heidelberg was the longest-serving wrongfully convicted prisoner ever released, at 47 years.

During their investigation for their new documentary, WHITE BOY, to be released exclusively on iTunes May 22, Rech and Hale presented evidence that cleared the way for Detroit's infamous Richard Wershe Jr., aka "White Boy Rick", to be paroled after serving 30 years of a life sentence for drug-trafficking as a minor in 1987, while also exposing deep corruption within Detroit city-politics. Sony is expected to release a film chronicling Wershe's life, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Matthew McConaughey, sometime in 2018.

On Rech and Hale's past and current projects, Rech added, "We fight for the truth. We'll present all of the evidence in the Avery case from the perspective of both the prosecution and the defense and see if viewers feel the same way they did two years ago following the first season of 'Making A Murderer'."

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