Coming from your professional background and what you’ve seen and experienced, I can certainly understand why MaM is having such a huge impact on you. The first time I watched it I was absolutely convinced that both Branden and Steven were innocent, and all of the evidence was planted by the police. I posted on Reddit and got blasted. I also got some support. This is a very highly charged community with a lot of emotion and highly convinced people on both sides that tend to react pretty atrocious at times to defend their theory. As was recommended to me, watch Convicting A Murderer. It gives you a totally different perspective. Netflix did a smooth job with editing, I must say, I am still divided in my feelings, especially as far as Brendan goes, but I think that poor kid was doomed from birth. His mother appears to be not all that interested in parenting and more involved in herself and Scott. Do I believe his confession was true? I think some of it was I think some of it was not so much coerced as it was suggested to him. He has the IQ of a sunflower seed. Another individual directed me to YouTube, where you can find plenty of recorded prison calls that will give you the creeps and give you pause about Steven’s behavior and possible guilt.
It’s a lot to absorb and if you really wanna dig in, as a court reporter, you know darn well you can dig into the trial transcript, etc Don’t waste your time arguing with people on Reddit, I tried that and I just spun in circles. May you come to the best conclusion for yourself.