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Illusion of Justice: Inside Making of a Murderer and America's Broken System by Jerome F. Buting

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Illusion of Justice: Inside Making of a Murderer and America's Broken System by Jerome F. Buting

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Illusion of Justice: Inside Making a Murderer and America's Broken System takes place in 2007 in the state of Wisconsin. The novel investigates the well known Steven Avery trial that was documented in the Netflix show Making a Murderer through the eyes of criminal defense lawyer, and author of the book, Jerome F. Buting. Steven Avery was convicted guilty of rape in 1985 and spent 18 years in prison before he was given the chance to prove his innocence and speak out against the Manitowoc County for their misconduct in the case that not only convicted him of a crime he didn't commit, but also wasted 18 years of his life as well as left ever lasting damage to his reputation relationships that affect him even after being exonerated.

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Jerome F. Buting is the author of the nonfiction book, Illusion of Justice Inside Making a Murderer and America's Broken System, as well as a criminal defense lawyer who founded the law firm Buting, Williams, and Stilling. Buting also was a co-defense attorney in the publicly documented Steven Avery Trial. He was raised in Indianapolis and went to Indiana University and the University of North Carolina. He had battled and survived through cancer and travels the world as an inspirational speaker who speaks not only on social injustice but his experiences as a cancer survivor. He uses his platform to create worldwide awareness on law and social injustice as well as many other challenges that people may go through worldwide.

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Author Information

Author Jerome F. Buting has worked for more than 35 years as a criminal defense lawyer in the state of Wisconsin. He was a founding member of the law firm Buting, Williams & Stilling, S.C. Since 1993, his criminal defense law practice focuses on the defense of serious and complex criminal offenses, both state and federal, trial and appeal. Throughout his career, most of his cases have dealt with criminal law, including homicides and violent crimes, sex and drug offenses and internet sex crimes.

Over the course of his career, Jerry has worked on many high profile cases while also serving as a frequent lecturer on DNA, computer crimes and other forensic evidence. His reputation as a tenacious, talented defense attorney preceded his role as the co-defense attorney in the State v. Steven Avery murder trial in 2007. His performance throughout the trial and his efforts toward exposing both the shaky integrity of law enforcement and inherent flaws in the justice system came to national attention following Netflix's popular documentary Making a Murderer.

Jerry has embraced this new platform to start a worldwide and direct conversation with the general public, to educate, engage, exchange ideas and offer solutions for comprehensive reforms to reinstate the integrity and trust our Justice System should embody. His interactive forums provide additional impetus and material to enrich his personal and professional experience. It is this collective knowledge, which he has written about in his book "Illusion of Justice: Inside Making a Murderer and America's Broken System" (Harper 2017), where he enlightens his readers about the dysfunction found in the criminal justice system and proposes ways in which we can perpetuate change.

" It is my work to demand that my adversaries in court, the many who are honorable and the handful who are not, meet the requirements of the law."

Jerry Buting was raised in Indianapolis, one of seven children to devout Catholic parents during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Era. Growing up in an environment concerned about social justice influenced his career choice to become a criminal defense lawyer to defend the rights and liberties of the individual.

Jerry attended Indiana University and graduated with a BA in forensic studies and a minor in history. He obtained his law degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An internship at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. during law school gave him an appreciation for how good prosecutors approach their work with integrity and honesty - an experience that helped shape his career as a defense attorney.

Over the course of his career, Jerry has worked on many high-profile cases while also serving as a frequent lecturer on DNA, computer crimes, and other forensic evidence. His reputation as a tenacious, talented defense attorney preceded his role as the co-defense attorney in the S tate of Wisconsin v. Steven A. Avery murder trial in 2007. His performance throughout the trial and his efforts toward exposing both the shaky integrity of law enforcement and inherent flaws in the justice system came to national attention following Netflix's popular documentary "Making a Murderer."

However, in 2001, the greatest challenge wasn't happening in the courtroom. It was in a local hospital and then home, where he spent a grueling year as he battled cancer. The aggressive treatments nearly cost him his life, tested his faith, and prompted exhaustive reflection on his vocation and life purpose. His wife and law partner, Kathy Stilling, managed both home and office workloads, as Jerry slowly recovered, determined to continue the fight. As with many cancer survivors, Jerry was provided with a new lens on life. Re-energized in his vocation, his focus would be on making a difference in people's lives, using the tools of mind, personality, and spirit given to him.

In 2017, Jerry published the best-selling book "Illusion of Justice: Inside Making a Murderer and America's Broken System" (Harper 2017).

Jerry has spoken domestically in over 130 cities throughout the USA, and internationally in Canada, Chile, U.K., Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand. He speaks on all aspects of criminal justice, the Netflix docuseries "Making a Murderer" and the Steven Avery/Brendan Dassey cases involved in the series, true crime, forensic evidence in the courtroom (and its flaws and limitations, contrary to Hollywood's portrayal), ethics and other related topics. As a cancer survivor, he also speaks about overcoming challenges in life and using those as inspiration to find purpose.

" Our goal has been to maintain a practice that allows us to give each client a full measure of representation and not take the shortcuts that are inevitable in the high-volume work of public defenders' offices...I've found that successful balance, and as a result more clients follow because we take the time to provide the full representation each client deserves."

Throughout his career as a criminal defense attorney, Jerry Buting has encountered many personal and professional trials, all of which bolstered his resolve to make a difference. He has been a tireless and powerful advocate for needed reform in the United States Criminal Justice System. He has frequently contributed his expertise to The Innocence Project as he supports their efforts to exonerate the wrongly convicted and prevent future injustices. He understands how the system fails the less fortunate; those without education, financial resources and support of family or community. His personal and professional mission is to give them a voice, a fair trial without prejudice, competent representation, and the constitutional right to presumption of innocence. He is waging a war against tainted jury pools, corrupt police interrogation practices, false confessions, incentivized informants, misapplication of forensic science, inadequate defense and the faulty appeals process, all of which contribute to the broken U.S. Justice System.

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1234 North Avenue Luke Lane South Bend, IN 360001 987.654.3216 987.654.3217 info@easyseo.com support@easyseo.com Author Jerome F. Buting has worked for more than 35 years as a criminal defense lawyer in the state of Wisconsin. He was a founding member of the law firm Buting, Williams & Stilling, S.C.

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My modern day connection is to the well known Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard case that many people have been following lately. For some background, Amber Heard had accused Johnny Depp of domestic violence however, Johnny Depp countered this accusation by stating that Amber Heard was in fact the abuser in their relationship. He proceeded to sue her for defamation. After the accusations were made and before anything was proven true or false, Johnny Depp faced a major loss, he lost many friends, fans, supporters, and even jobs. However, when he accused Amber Heard of lying about these accusations, Amber Heard had suffered significantly less consequences and was still actively working on many jobs until much later in the case when evidence was involved. Although nothing has been confirmed and the case is still on going, both actors suffered consequences due to these words despite neither of them yet being proven guilty. This once again shows how people are considered guilty before they are considered innocent.

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This poem by Harold Monro describes how rumors are spread. Monroe writes, "You see: whoever said he heard them, he has lied. And yet word are left dark like heavy dust" implying that anyone who claims they have heard the whispers or rumors was making up a rumor of their own and that their words would leave an imprint that would spread around like dust and would be believed as if it was a hard fact. In the final line, he writes, "Today my name: tomorrow they'll find yours." By this line, I think Monro is claiming that society has built his reputation for him and tomorrow the rumors will build a reputation for someone else, despite them being lies they will be believed and they will leave a dark stain. Steven Avery, despite being exonerated, still had a bad reputation to his name and because he was claimed guilty and then proven innocent after there was damage left on his name and many of his relationships were broken off. This is just one of the many effects of when the justice system is unjust.

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This image that was painted in 1900 portrays a woman pointing and accusing another woman of being a witch. This relates to my anchor text because similar to Steven Avery, the woman being accused is being punished for something that is not true. During the Salem Witch Trials, many women of lower status were accused of being witches by people of higher status and without much evidence or search they were punished despite being innocent. This shows how there was bias in the trials and potentially may still be bias in trials that currently go on today. Many cases may have traces of misconduct that is being led by social status, money, or reputation. This all goes back to the anchor question, "is 'innocent until proven guilty' true or are suspects brought in to investigation and trial leaning towards a certain direction?

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In this Ted Talk by Nancy Franklin, Nancy discusses why someone would confess to a murder they didn't commit. This is reflective of the Steven Avery case as Steven Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, confessed to raping a woman along side Avery, however this confession has been proven false. Nancy talks about how one of the reasons that this happens is because when suspects are brought in for interrogation, rather than being questioned they are talked to in a very accusative tone. Due to the fact that the investigators treat them as they are guilty, suspects may feel inclined to confess to something they didn't do, especially those who may not speak English as their first language, are immigrants, or have previously committed a crime.

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Who would confess to a murder they didn’t commit? Maybe you. | Nancy Franklin | TEDxSBU

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This brief video explains what defamation is and gives examples of when you can and cannot sue for defamation. Defamation is the wrongful accusation or spreading of false rumors about someone in front of a third party to purposefully harm their image or reputation. This term is important to understand because this is the underlying motivation behind those who falsely accuse others of crime or on a smaller scale those who spread rumors about others.