--- title: Sheriff Calls 'Making a Murderer' a Movie, Not a Documentary description: "They’ve taken things out of context and taken them out of the order in which they occurred" canonical: https://time.com/4167122/making-a-murderer-sheriff-movie/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-04T23:18:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:46:12.201Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Sheriff Calls 'Making a Murderer' a Movie, Not a Documentary og:description: "They’ve taken things out of context" og:url: https://time.com/4167122/making-a-murderer-sheriff-movie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b3325aa44d2ed7d/6988777a196cf4ad86039ae1/makin_pds_009_h.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: makin_pds_009_h og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sheriff Calls 'Making a Murderer' a Movie, Not a Documentary twitter:description: "They’ve taken things out of context" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b3325aa44d2ed7d/6988777a196cf4ad86039ae1/makin_pds_009_h.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sheriff Calls _Making a Murderer_ a 'Movie,' Not a 'Documentary' > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2016 11:18 PM UTC  Steven Avery in the Netflix original documentary series "Making A Murderer" Steven Avery in the Netflix original documentary series "Making A Murderer"Netflix by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2016 11:18 PM UTC The Manitowoc County Sheriff says he would not call the new Netflix series about a crime in his jurisdiction “[a documentary](http://www.htrnews.com/story/news/local/2015/12/21/sheriff-making-murderer-movie-not-documentary/77715576/),” citing his department’s feelings that it depicted events out of order and out of context. “I won’t call it a documentary, because a documentary puts things in chronological order and tells the story as it is,” said Sheriff Robert Hermann in a December interview with the Manitowoc _Herald Times Reporter_, noting that he hadn’t watched the show but had discussed it with his department and “heard things are skewed … They’ve taken things out of context and taken them out of the order in which they occurred, which can lead people to a different opinion or conclusion.” The series depicts the murder trial of Steven Avery, who had previously been exonerated after serving 18 years for a sexual assault he did not commit, but was found guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old freelance photographer who had visited his property to take a picture of a car he was selling in 2005\. The Netflix series takes the view that it’s possible he was framed by the sheriff’s department after bringing a civil suit against them for the previous wrongful conviction. Hermann objects to that depiction, but says, “Not sure what we can do about it other than asking people to keep an open mind about what they see in the movies, because that’s what this is, a movie, (which) doesn’t always present all the facts in the appropriate light.” \[[_HTR_](http://www.htrnews.com/story/news/local/2015/12/21/sheriff-making-murderer-movie-not-documentary/77715576/)\] **Read next:** [The Hidden Danger of _Making a Murderer_ and Other True Crime Entertainment](http://time.com/4166567/making-a-murderer-netflix-petition/) **Read next:** [Petition to Pardon _Making a Murderer_ Subject Gets Over 180,000 Signatures](http://time.com/4165678/making-a-murderer-petition/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4167122/making-a-murderer-sheriff-movie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4167122/making-a-murderer-sheriff-movie/"},"headline":"Sheriff Calls Making a Murderer a 'Movie,' Not a 'Documentary'","datePublished":"2016-01-04T23:18:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:46:12.201Z","description":"\"They’ve taken things out of context and taken them out of the order in which they occurred\"","url":"https://time.com/4167122/making-a-murderer-sheriff-movie/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b3325aa44d2ed7d/6988777a196cf4ad86039ae1/makin_pds_009_h.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b3325aa44d2ed7d/6988777a196cf4ad86039ae1/makin_pds_009_h.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"makin_pds_009_h","caption":"Steven Avery in the Netflix original documentary series \"Making A Murderer\"","creditText":"Netflix","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4167122/making-a-murderer-sheriff-movie/","name":"Sheriff Calls Making a Murderer a 'Movie,' Not a 'Documentary'"}}]}] ```