Two Shallow Graves: The McStay Family Murders (2022) User Reviews

This will make you frustrated with the entire Legal System!!

[jadegirl-61141 · 6/10 · 28 May 2022]

I am a documentary nerd and true crime buff. So in terms of how this was documentary was, it did a fair job of showing both sides, but did not need to be this many episodes. At times it felt like it was being drawn out.

Now regarding the actual trial, I was super surprised at how messy and unprofessional the state was. From the prosecutors to the detectives to the cops. I kept thinking I must be watching a trial from a small town in the middle of nowhere. California has all the resources at their disposal to run DNA test on EVERYTHING! And I would expect when testing DNA in the car, they would use 1 swab for every different item, not 1 for 3 different parts of the car... smh. It's very scary how tax dollars pays these ppl's salaries to do lazy work and it's even scarier to see a jury make a guilty decision with zero physical evidence. It actually makes me think about this younger generation constantly online leaving a digital trail everywhere bc if Charles Merritt was on Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook he would be able to prove if he was actually innocent. It is Guilty until Proven Innocent and maybe Lady Justice is a representation of how blind prosecuters really can be.

I would love to see familiar DNA testing on the ONLY 3 unidentified DNA profiles that was found on the bodies. Where's Parabon when you need them?

Sidenote: Parabon isn't REAL evidence, but I am curious what the image would look like from the DNA samples. Imagine if It happened to look like Michael McStay? One will never know I guess.

Guilty or not, damn, I hated those prosecutors

[gneevah-2 · 8/10 · 27 May 2022]

Was it the they filmed it? Because Imes and Ambitious Blondie were so nasty and holier than thou in so many ways, that I just hated them. Even if he is a sick sociopath you might think he would be treated better by tax paid professionals.

All of the lawyers are idiots!

[pound68 · 7/10 · 25 June 2022]

Both prosecution and defense attorneys are ridiculous. Botox Raj and Mental Case Jim seem to be working two different cases. Chase Merrit is full of himself, but he is right about one thing: his legal team sucks. Smirky Britt Imes looks like he is going to burst out laughing at different points. And Melissa R is no better. Why are they so confidant? They have stepped on landmines left and right too. If you tried to sell this as a fictional legal drama, no one would buy it. The incompetence is too unbelievable. That being said, it did keep me watching. Like watching a train wreck, I guess.

Good Information

[helenahandbasket-93734 · 6/10 · 24 May 2022]

I had seen this covered fairly thoroughly on Dateline and 20/20, but this goes well beyond what I'd previously known- I'm not sure I needed more information, but decided to give it a go.

One thing I'll say for sure, this defense team is just incompetent; you can absolutely see what they thought they were getting when they signed on for the documentary, but I have a feeling the crew 'noped' out like the lead attorney when they realized what everyone else already knew. I would have hated to see the final product with their strong confirmation bias, so I think things happened this way for a reason.

No good attorney would ever agree to an ounce of footage by a client prior to trial ending, because it's always an incredibly high risk- but it's also pretty blatant how highly they view themselves when we witness one receiving plastic surgery, and the other having to go far too in-depth regarding his presence at a wedding. Excuses are like jokes- if you have to draw me a map to explain yourself, it's not a good one. The more you protest and feign outrage, the more you are perceived as guilty, and incredibly desperate. He should have never gone to the wedding, ESPECIALLY knowing the prosecution team would be there, and you were supposedly so ill you needed to be excused from courtroom duties. You're either sick or you aren't; it doesn't matter if the pope himself performed the ceremony and you'd be suspended from puppet strings so you could dance- you can't have it both ways so pick a side and stop trying to walk a tightrope.

I do agree that there's definitely a considerable amount of questionable associates involved here, but I believe law enforcement did their job (not the original officers, who-boy did they mess up......how was it treated as a voluntary absence) but San Bernardino did a very extensive investigation into who/what/why and the right person went on trial.

Overall a good cleanup of what would likely have been an abomination of a doc series, with good evidence offered and some good peeks into an inept defense team.

Good story but

[drdeirdremiller · 6/10 · 5 June 2022]

This would have been a great documentary. The presentation is awful. It's comes off boring, found myself being distracted and rewinding. It could have flowed better in my opinion.

Sleazy prosecutors

[jaabs · 9/10 · 28 May 2022]

Unprofessional prosecutors at their best, the defense team was embarrassing. The judge looked bored. This guy needs a new trial. Finally meeting the business partner Dan Kavanaugh, he could not sit still, very fidgety. He was a creep. His body language was way off.

A really sad "justice" system.

Wow. Just-- Wow.

[hilaryjrp · 10/10 · 29 May 2022]

Two disclaimers: 1) I'm a yearly subscriber to Discovery+ for True Crime only. This channel's ability to provide gut-wrenching multi-episode documentary coverage of investigations never ceases to amaze or unsettle me. "Unsettled" is what you'll come away from "Two Shallow Graves" feeling. 2) People whose lives have been touched by unsolved cases *may* tend to react more favorably to one side of the story or the other (victim's versus eventual defendant's, and vice versa). The two final episodes of "Two Shallow Graves" were body-blows to anyone familiar with how a defendant's own attorneys can turn a back to small matters, like the fact their client is on trial for his life.

To say more about Chase Merritt's decision in the final episodes would require spoilers. I went slack-jawed at the twenty-fifth-hour production of a particular witness, as well as at the judge's indifference to Merritt's defense throughout.

But IMDB is a place to review film productions, not to discuss merits of cases, so-- Production values and decisions: A+. Text-explanation graphics extremely helpful and time-conserving. Any viewer with a working brain will ask about everything left out (motive for such overkill, motive for the choice of weapon). This is a good thing and to a reasonable juror should have brought about reasonable doubt. The producers don't attempt to whitewash Merritt; viewers will be informed immediately that they "inherited" the series when a first production team got turned down by various protagonists for interviews. These refusals seem based on the perception that the series would be (direct quote) "another Making of The Murderer." That assumes "Making a Murderer" was an obscene interference with the good prosecutors of Wisconsin's precious time... unlike...

"Two Shallow Graves" doesn't drag. I wondered in the middle episodes the point of prolonging the story, but a reason arrives in spades in the series' penultimate and then final episode.

It did not answer why Chase Merritt would have been driven to carnage this bad. Maybe that was its point. I came away not convinced this man was treated any more fairly than Steven Avery or his tragic nephew.

Misleading

[mlp-62236 · 2/10 · 7 June 2022]

As someone who has followed this case from the beginning, watched the trial, read court transcripts, etc., I can say this is a terrible documentary. It IS a circumstantial case. But there so much evidence against Chase and most of it isn't discussed in the show, or is discussed insufficiently. No doubt there are innocent people in prison, but Chase is not one of them. Dude is guilty, guilty, guilty.

Excellently Produced, If Manipulative

[gvhamilton · 8/10 · 23 May 2022]

Really well done doc, though the timelines and pertinent points are out of order, teased for dramatic purposes.

Combining earlier doc footage (never finished), then reediting with new interviews is unique, skillful and captivating.

But I am bothered (though I haven't seen the conclusion) by implications that the brother, McFadden, or Dan K had anything to do with it...Do they have any recourse to sue, because their lives have been undoubtedly adversely affected?

I believe tonight we will learn of Chase's attempt to close McStay's business account (after forging checks), the cell phone pings, etc, etc.

Yes, lack of blood in the house is unusual (maybe it was done outside), but to anyone with half a brain he is obviously guilty.

Sorry this defense team looks like total jerks, and all social media opinions - people who know nothing about it - is pure speculation and means nothing.

I do think this doc calls into question our judicial system. Chase is obviously as guilty as the day is long, but people were given access to produce this? Reminds me of OJ.

Other than a very captivating documentary, what's the point? Other than to ruin people's lives and attempt to make the defense team seem like heroes?

And oh yeah, he was found guilty by a jury of his peers.

Terrible

[nwendella · 5/10 · 26 May 2022]

Prosecutors should not have been allowed to make faces and smirk. Nor should the judge keep going to sleep. Even if they were actors they were awful. If t&<s was indeed the way the trial went then everyone was unprofessional.

Excellent documentary

[eakogan · 10/10 · 25 May 2022]

I am a documentary buff, and hard to impress, but this documentary is one of the best. It kept me on the edge of my seat for all episodes.

It is with great sadness that I conclude for myself that an innocent person is rotting on death row. The prosecutors are a bunch of power hungry liars and cheaters, not interested in the truth but only interested in winning. The defense team was a joke, a vicious one at that. I am not a lawyer, but I think I would have done a better job. They bundled this case from the start, by allowing their client to go on CNN, and kept bungling it every day. The judge was biased, and sided with the prosecution.

There are two people that I strongly suspect did this crime. They may have acted in concert, both had giant financial motives, but we will never know the truth because they were not thoroughly investigated. Looks like the police was protecting one of them.

Very interesting documentary

[dawarr3 · 9/10 · 20 September 2022]

I enjoyed this documentary but I still do not know who murdered the McStay family. One thing is clear to me. There was more than reasonable doubt to the guilt of Merritt. There was very poor police investigation and the prosecutors were more interested in getting a conviction than in finding the truth. The justice system is in sad shape.

Why didn't the authorities do more in depth investigation of the four other suspects. Even the brother Michael is very suspicious. How could the jury find Merritt guilty with no real evidence. The are just so many holes all over this case.

I am happy that there is a stay on executions. Perhaps some new evidence will come to light to save Merritt from a life in jail. His defence team did a fairly good job but they did make some mistakes but they were up against a brick wall.

Woe is the person that is charged with a major crime because the state has endless resources to bring to the case whereas the average person has nothing to fight with really and their life is ruined no matter what the verdict.

GUILTY

[jreeders518 · 8/10 · 24 May 2023]

This is one of the biggest liars to ever stand trial. His attorneys are actually morons. But the recordings everyone on the defense side, cliamed they never said such things. He deserves the death penalty. His daughter is acting for the film makers, it reminds me of the author of Fatal Vision, hiredbythe murderer to prove his innocence and then the author realizes the guy isnthe killer. There is no way these two fools should be allowed to practice law. They are without a clue. The defendant blames everybody under the sun except himself. Phony tears on the part of the defendants family. Thisguy murdered two children because he was a thief.

Beautiful family gone

[jmgimbel · 8/10 · 23 June 2022]

I don't believe justice was found for this beautiful.family. The prosecution was single minded in pursuit of one man who may well not be guilty. It's egregious they literally looked at none of the other characters who look suspect. The brother himself is so off. He waited to report the family missing, 11 days and even then suggested maybe they'd gone to Mexico. Interesting cuz someone planted their car to look that way. The cops bungled EVERYTHING. Interesting case, definitely worth watching.

I wonder if there is justice in this country unless you can afford the best lawyers.

A trial of buffoons

[amyrach-32718 · 8/10 · 8 April 2024]

I'm not at all convinced that Chase killed the Mcstay family. He was literally shaking and crying at the end of his trial when he knew his defense team had screwed up and he would be found guilty. A heartless sociopath that could kill, slaughter with a mallet, 4 people, one who is his best friend and 2 that are tiny children doesn't act like that. And it just didn't look like crodile tears to me. It looked like genuine fear.

His defense team, if we can even call them a team, was atrocious. What would it have hurt to call the cell tower expert to the stand? Why would you as a defense attorney leave anything out that could help exonerate your client? Why did they not test the DNA on everything when Chase asked them to and assured them his DNA wouldn't be there? Why would a professional attorney 'lose his mind' for an entire month, post-poning the trial, pissing everyone off, and making a mockery of this poor mans trial? There was just so much wrong with his defense it was ludicrous that the judge couldn't see that and grant him a new trial. The prosecuting team was just as unprofessional, if not more. This was a witch hunt. They didn't look into any of the other shady characters in Joe's life.

Not only am I not convinced Chase did it, I am wholly convinced it was his brother Micheal. He refuses to check on them after several requests from their father because hes 'too busy' and doesn't turn them in as missing for 11 days, after Chase MAKES him?! Why does he show no concern that NOBODY has heard from them in 11 days? That's not how I would be acting if one of my sibs went missing. I would INSIST that something was wrong! And something he said to the officer during the initial search of their home made me immediately suspect of him. When he says he "hopes they just went off to Mexico and didn't tell anyone", and then THE SAME DAY they conveniently find the family truck at the Mexican border. And voila! They are, for the next 4 years, considered voluntarily missing in Mexico until the remains are found, so there was no investigation. I suspect Micheal was "too busy" because he was driving the truck to border! And why did the mom and him immediately clean the house, which I suspect was his idea, and he takes a computer that could have vital information on it after being warned by the officer that they shouldn't touch anything?? He had super sketchy answers when he went on stand too. The guy just looks and acts like a creep. The Kavanaugh dude was sketch too, but he couldn't have done this. For one he was too much of an idiot and obviously high. Also, It had to be someone Joe trusted and would never expect to be able to overpower him and his wife both at the same time.

This trial was BS. The attorneys on both sides BS. The cops BS. The judge BS. There was no justice here. Even if Chase did do it, he didn't get a fair trial, and isn't that what this country is supposed to provide? This could happen to anyone and we're paying these fools' salaries.

That's my opinion on the case, the documentary itself was good, and didn't seem bias either way. There was some repetition and filler, but it was mostly all pretty riveting information.