True crime documentaries might be everyone’s latest obsession, but many have been left wondering whether the fresh look into old cases has ever helped justice be served.
There have been multiple cases where a documentary has unearthed new evidence which led to a conviction – or acquittal – of the suspects.
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst follows the disappearance of Robert Durst’s wife Kathie in 1982, the execution-style killing of writer Susan Berman in 2000 and the death and dismemberment of his neighbour, Morris Black, in Galveston, Texas in 2001.
Robert had been accused of involvement in the first two murders and confessed to the third, but was acquitted at trial.
However, on the night before the final episode aired in 2015 on HBO, Robert was arrested in New Orleans on a first-degree murder charge related to Susan Berman’s death following new evidence presented in the series.
According to the Associated Press, the 1999 letter written by Robert to Susan which had been unearthed by the filmmakers was the ‘key new evidence’ which lead the charges to be filed.
Although the documentary led to Robert’s arrest, his trial has been put back until January 2020 due to various factors including ‘serious surgery’.
Capturing The Friedmans
The Jinx isn’t the only documentary which affected the outcome of a case years down the line – Capturing The Friedmans helped Jesse Friedman to protest his innocence after being accused of child sexual abuse.
The investigation had begun into Jesse’s dad, Arnold Friedman, in 1987 after a child pornography magazine was intercepted by the US Postal Service being sent from the Netherlands to his home.
It was discovered that Arnold taught computer classes to children at his home, and police began to suspect him of abusing his students.
During the wait for the trial, the Friedmans were allowed to remain in their home, where they took several home videos showing their lives at this time, for their own records.
Arnold’s wife, Elaine, convinced him to confess to protect their son, Jesse, who was also under suspicion, but Jesse also later confessed in order to avoid a longer prison sentence.
Arnold died by suicide in prison in 1995, and Jesse was released from prison in 2001 after serving 13 years of his sentence.
Capturing The Friedmans was released in 2003 and raised questions over Jesse’s involvement and guilt, and Jesse still argues his innocence and has attempted to clear his name.
With the help of filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, several of the alleged victims and witnesses recanted their claims and the investigation was reopened by the district attorney.
While the reinvestigation didn’t change the outcome and they upheld Jesse’s guilt, he is still fighting to overturn his conviction, and Andrew has appeared in court on his behalf.
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Another cold case in which new evidence was found was the death of Hae Min Lee in 1999, which is the focus of The Case Against Adnan Syed.
The new documentary looks at Adnan’s arrest for the murder, and the life in prison plus 30 year sentence he is currently serving since 2000, and revealed that he turned down a 2018 plea bargain that would have required him to serve four more years before release.
The case first drew new attention in 2014 after becoming the focus of a crime podcast, and the Innocence Project called for DNA testing of the physical evidence which was collected at the time of the murder.
According to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun earlier this year, prosecutors tested several items linked to the murder in mid-2018, but Adnan’s DNA was not a match on any of them.
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, Capturing The Friedmans and The Case Against Adnan Syed are available on Sky Crime.
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