The Reluctant Face of True Crime
The Atlantic, December 5, 2022: The Reluctant Face of True Crime
“If you’ve heard of Michael Peterson, you probably have a strong opinion about whether or not he murdered his wife, Kathleen, who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their Durham, North Carolina, home on December 9, 2001. Nearly 16,000 people were murdered that year, according to the FBI, and few of those cases gained much attention at the time—nor do they attract much discussion two decades on. Peterson’s case, by contrast, has demonstrated a strange staying power, becoming a poster child for a new golden age—or dark age, depending on one’s view—of true-crime content.
“Peterson’s initial trial drew national interest, thanks in part to its unusual details: a well-to-do novelist, former mayoral candidate, and rabble-rousing columnist for the Durham Herald-Sun; a sprawling mansion; revelations about Michael Peterson’s bisexuality; and the death of a family friend under somewhat similar circumstances in Germany in 1985. Peterson maintained—and maintains—his innocence, but in 2003, he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
“For most murder cases, that’s the end of the story, but this one was only getting started. In 2004, the documentary filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade released an acclaimed miniseries called The Staircase, produced while he was embedded with Peterson’s defense team. In prison, Peterson attracted a group of passionate advocates, who insisted he was innocent and had been railroaded. One theory held that Kathleen had not fallen accidentally or been murdered by Michael, but had been attacked by an owl. No side was especially easy to credit: Peterson was, on the one hand, an admitted liar and (it must be said) an odd and difficult person; the Durham district attorney’s office was, on the other, horribly dysfunctional, and the blood-spatter analysis of the sort that helped convict him has been widely debunked. Peterson exhausted appeals, but after a forensic analyst involved in his case was discredited, he was released and granted a new trial. In 2017, he entered an Alford plea—an agreement in which a defendant acknowledges that sufficient evidence exists to convict him, while maintaining his innocence—in exchange for not having to serve more prison time.
“The case has since become more famous than ever. In 2018, Netflix aired The Staircase, along with new episodes Lestrade had filmed, and the case garnered attention once again. This year, HBO released a fictionalized version of The Staircase, using the same title, starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette. Few murder cases have spawned such lengthy afterlives and frequent reexaminations. Perhaps only the trials of Jeffrey MacDonald (another Vietnam veteran tried in North Carolina) for killing his wife and children—which have intrigued talents including Joe McGinniss, Janet Malcolm, Errol Morris, and Gene Weingarten—compare.
“Peterson has not often spoken with the press over the years, but he has emerged recently to blast the HBO miniseries (and Lestrade for selling the rights to it), and for a recent appearance with his defense lawyers, David Rudolf and Sonya Pfeiffer, on a podcast devoted to wrongful convictions. I recently spoke with him as well. I did not imagine that a short interview would be a place to adjudicate his guilt or innocence, though I have my own suspicions. But I was curious to hear his views on the true-crime boom and what it’s like for so many people you’ve never met to have such powerful feelings about you.”
Additional reading:
Wrongful Conviction Podcast, October 10, 2022: #298 Guest Hosts David Rudolf & Sonya Pfeiffer with Michael Peterson
The Atlantic, June 26, 2018: What Is The Staircase Trying to Do?
The Washington Post, December 5, 2012: Since 1979, Brian Murtagh has fought to keep convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in prison
