5 Feet of Fury

David Cole binge-watches ‘Making a Murderer’ (and talks about William F. Buckley’s foray into the same arena)

David Cole writes (about something that I’ve covered as well*):

Because of the Esquire piece, and the book that Smith wrote with Buckley’s help, people began doing exactly what some of you are doing after watching Making a Murderer: writing letters, lobbying congressmen, and generally being a nuisance in any way possible. Edgar Smith went from death-row inmate to free man. Yep, he was released, and he rewarded Buckley and the society of easily swayed busybodies who freed him by kidnapping and stabbing a 33-year-old mother of three. Sadly for exonerated Fonzie, the young woman managed to leap from Smith’s car, the butcher knife still protruding from her diaphragm (it had punctured her lung). As the victim screamed for help, Smith panicked and swerved into a ditch.

* Here’s James Fulford responding to me in 2010.