The Staircase
People have been asking me for my opinion about the Sundance documentary, The Staircase, for several months now. It wasn’t until recently that I realized while I hadn’t seen the documentary, I did know about the case! Dateline covered the story back in 2006 and I saw Michael Peterson speak extensively at that time (the show was titled: Death at the bottom of the stairs), and with that, I can tell you that I did not trust Michael Peterson when I watched him tell his story.
Unfortunately, since it has been so long, I am unable to recollect the details about why I feel the way I do, but after seeing this clip below I do remember thinking Peterson was a brilliant man–a brilliant man who got too confident in his abilities to manipulate the truth.
Peterson’s cockiness comes blaring through on this video. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Peterson was a commenter on some event rather than on his own murder trial. His emotions and behavior are flat out-of-line with a man who is being wrongly accused.
Peterson says he understands the prosecutor wants to win.
What?
Would you understand that the prosecutor wants to win at all costs–disregarding the truth–if that meant you would spend your life behind bars?
No innocent man would ever understand others who disregard the truth at their expense. It’s plain old nonsense, and just an attempt to by Peterson to get people to “think” he is a reasonable guy. It’s pure manipulation by a man who loves to impress others by his intellect. It’s just this time, he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.
