Didn't see where else to put this, but just binge-watched The Staircase over the past few nights. I lived in the area when this case first went down and was surprised to see Netflix had enough footage for a series. There was an earlier documentary about the incident, but now it's about 12 episodes with footage going all the way back to 2001.
Synopsis: a novelist is convicted of murdering his wife spontaneously after she finds a computer full of gay escorting sites and realizes her husband is closeted. Police arrive and are convinced it was not an accident and the husband is charged. Trial drama ensues.
Spoiler alert (
more info here)
He since filed an
Alford plea to manslaughter, was given credit for time served and is a free man again, after 8 years of prison and a marathon of in and out court appearances.
A few observations:
The first episode had a moment where one of the prosecutors,
Mike Nifong, comments and acts cocky about the case and the likelihood of a conviction. Mike Nifong would later go on to become the disbarred prosecutor who tried to hand a group of innocent guys over to prison for a rape they did not commit and never even happened - the Duke Lacrosse case. His role in withholding exculpatory evidence against the players and putting too much credibility in a witness who changed her story nine times was too much to take, but not for the voters who re-elected him (NC has elected state attorneys). Eventually he got canned. The series never explained significance in a more widely occurring culture of corruption in the state government.
Mike Nifong was only one piece of shit working on the case. The other was pencil neck geek
Duane Deaver who while at the state bureau of investigation (SBI) conducted bullshit experiments to fabricate evidence and perjured his testimony more than once. There were other cases of wrongly convicted men based on SBI evidence which resulted in reversals as well as ammo for the Petersen appeals.
Much later in the series (around the time of the Alford plea), the defense counsel learns of a piece of evidence that the police found during the original investigation but later deliberately misplaced which could have been exculpatory for Peterson.
In spite of all that, I still think Petersen is guilty as sin. The cops and district attorneys let this one slip through their fingers by their own dishonesty and shortcuts. Utterly pathetic that Peterson is walking over a manslaughter charge versus rotting in jail
The show makes him appear a sympathetic character, but the
reality details a more desperate sociopath with serious financial problems and a fucked up personal life. The emails in that link above were shown to the jury - they told the tale of who Petersen really is.
His "bisexuality" is interesting. Supposedly he likes men and women. Well... if this were the case, why were there never any examples of affairs with females or even computer porn with women involved found on his computer, and why was he only going to gay web sites? The reality is he was a closeted homo going through life using women. The "bisexual" bit is brought up now and again as a prejudicial factor that should not have been admitted, but it did speak to motive and I think it was properly allowed.
The jury was mostly black, with a lot of middle aged and older participants. The series didn't connect the dots, but I suspect that Peterson's homosexuality was seen as very distasteful by them. Older black men in particular are not exactly open to alternatives such as a married guy cheating with homosexual prostitutes, nor do i think they ever bought the idea that his wife knew he was an admitted bisexual.
She was the one making the money as a big time executive and Petersen was up to his ass in credit card bills. Though he had a following, his novels (loaded with detailed homoerotic suggestions, supposedly) apparently were not making all that much money. The second she flipped over learning about his extracurricular activities and likelihood of a divorce, he reacted. There was also insurance money involved, but it is not clear if he ever got that.
Not once in the entire series do I remember Petersen shedding a tear over either of his dead wives (there was an earlier, similar death of his first wife while they was stationed in Germany). Both of his dead wives had sisters and friends who got choked up just describing the circumstances of the respective deaths, but Petersen showed no emotion whatsoever over the demise over either woman, aside from the tape from the 911 call, which he hung up after some brief acting. I'm not the only one to notice the victims are given
prop status here. It made more sense when I read that supposedly, Petersen had an affair (this time with a woman - who knew?) with
Sophie Brunet, the
director of the documentary.
Given her age, appearance and likely financial means, if she keeps up this relationship, she'd better not take the stairs....
Petersen
lied about his service in Vietnam. Yes, he went there but his injury occurred in Okinawa, not the battlefield. In a state like North Carolina where many of the jury members probably have personal or next of kin experience in the military, that would not sit well with them.
Finally, watching the progression and decline of his two adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret, was a cultural case study. They go from supportive, well adjusted and educated young white girls to delusional, up talking green-haired and tattooed typical American up-talking SJWs.
Sure, that could have happened anyway and was likely a function of the cultural changes since 2001. But any other man in Petersen's situation would be branded with the misogyny/#metoo stick, but this was their dad, and all they knew.
That said, one other daughter (the murdered woman's) abandoned him when the first trial resulted in a conviction. She knew he was full of it. Curiously, she didn't dye her hair odd colors, turn lesbian or social justice. She went off and got married & had kids. She isn't seen much in the later parts of the series - probably figured, correctly, that it would be too favorable in presentation for the man who murdered her mom.
Overall Peterson is consistent in his narcissism and megalomania - anyone seeing that series will quickly pick that up. If you watch a few episodes and find yourself not liking the guy, you've definitely been red pilled.