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One of my favorite films from Docurama is SOUTHERN COMFORT by filmmaker Kate Davis. The film tells the story of Robert Eads... More >>
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Docurama > Staircase, The
The Chicago Tribune, 04/05/05 >
ABC News, 04/04/05 >
The New York Times, 04/04/05 >
Steve Rhodes
Filmcritic.com




For ISBN and UPC codes see the A-Z Detail Listing
"...thick with shocks and subtle revelations, THE STAIRCASE is a masterpiece."
- The New York Times
Staircase, The
A critical triumph across the board, Sundance Channel presents THE STAIRCASE, an edge-of-your-seat, real-life thriller from Academy Award®-winning documentary filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade ("Murder on a Sunday Morning"). With all the trappings of a classic murder mystery, THE STAIRCASE chronicles the sensational story of North Carolina author Michael Peterson, who stood trial in 2003 for the murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson. Granted unusual access to Peterson's lawyers and his immediate family, de Lestrade presents a gripping, inside look at the high-profile murder trial in this acclaimed 8-part series that will leave you gasping for breath.

Anonymous 11/17/2006
There are a number of significant holes in the prosecutions case. They never recovered any weapon and the alleged missing "blowpoke" which the prosecution claimed at one point was the murder weapon was a little over 3 feet long. in the somewhat tightly enclosed space opf the stairway even the "forensic" expert could not swing it in a full arc when attmpting to recreate the blood spatter patterns. MOre interesting was the fact that he had to swing it from an upstairs position to get the results he wanted while all the time the prosecution and he himself claimed that Mr. Peterson attacked the woman from behind. No mention of an explaination as to how he had managed to swing a 3ft rod through the doorway that led to the staircase overhand into the back of his wifes head who according to investgative reports was likely standing on the 3rd or 4th step. Also interesting was the defenses biomechanics expert and the simulation of how the accident could have occured. That simulation explained in a logical manner just how the lacerations could have happened in that given environment in a much more believable manner than attmpting to explain how Mr. Peterson managed to swing 3ft of club wiht only about 1ft of clearence. The fact that there was neither skull fracture nor a subderal hematoma is also something that the prosecution did not ever answer. The defense showed that in the last 250 + cases of people being bludgeoned to death in the state of North Carolina one or the other or both were present. Neither of these were present in the case of Kathleen Peterson's death. As far as the mixture of wine and valuim you are also forgetting her foot wear. Mr.s Peterson was not barefoot nor was she wearing shoes. She had on flip flops which have a tendency sometimes to fall off your feet at the most inconveinent times. The mixture of the wine and the valuim may not have been enough to cause her to fall but it did not have to be. all it had to be was enough to disrupt her normal equallibriam enough so that she would stumble if she were to have to say catch her balance because her flip flop had fallem off her foot and caused her to mistep. It is not a matter of one specific thing but of all of these things together. Guilty or not the defense shot enough holes in the prosecutions case to give more than a reasonable doubt. There was no evidence of domestic troubles between Mr. & Mrs. Peterson despite his apparent bisexuality. Cases where the husband murders his wife do not just suddenly and randomely happen there is a generally discernable pattern of escalation in this case there was none of that. In fact there was no evidence whatsoever that Mrs. Petrson even knew anything about his bisexuality. No one else seemed to know until it came out in the investigation. The truth of the matter is that this man whether he is guilty or not was not convictied based one the power of the evidence but on the fact that he was a bisexual. Watch it and see for yourself how many times the prosecution waves his bisexuality around as proof that he is a murderer. And as for the death of the woman in Germany the only tie between that womans death and the death of Mrs. Peterson is the fact that they both fell on a staircase and that Mr. Peterson happened to be there. Look up the stats sometime and see how many people die from falling down a flight of stairs it happens a lot. The claim made by the coroner that the blunt force trauma that killed the woman in germany was consistent with a homicidal attack is entirely irresponsible. All that can be medically proven is that blunt force trauma was the cause of death. All that can be said about how the blunt force trauma occured is pure conjecture on her part. After all if the biomechanics simulation can present a likely and entirely probably scenario as to how these wounds could have been caused without an attacker how can she possibly say with any credibility that there was indeed an attacker with the other woman. She can't. Mr. Peterson may be a sexual devient and he may be a very strange person but neither of those things make him guilty of murder and it was precisely those things for which he was convicted. The prosecution established no motive, found no murder weapon, and had numerous very large holes shot in their case by means of forensic evidence yet despite their incompetance they still got a conviction. chalk another one up for "Southern Justice". I guess that is what you get when you pay your cops minimum wage.

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