The U.S. District Court in Milwaukee ordered Brendan Dassey freed with 90 days unless his case is appealed. The case garnered national attention following the release of the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer”. Dassey and Avery were sentenced to life for the 2005 murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
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One of the show’s most heartbreaking moments was Dassey’s March 2006 confession to killing Halbach during an hours-long interview where investigators repeatedly maintained that he was not telling them the true story. Avery is now serving a life sentence (without the possibility for parole) for Halbach’s murder and illegally possessing a firearm. Avery had been wrongfully convicted years earlier in a rape case and served 18 years in prison.
Dassey was 16 when Halbach was killed after she went to the Avery family auto salvage yard to photograph some vehicles.
A federal court in Wisconsin overturned the verdict, according to the Associated Press.
An attorney for Steven Avery says Avery is thrilled that a judge has overturned his nephew’s conviction in the case that was profiled in the popular Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer”.
Now, clearly the death of Halbach and the fact that it looks as if Dassey spent nine years in prison for something he did not do is no laughing matter.
Viewers were outraged with the outcome of the case, even going as far as drafting a White House petition, which garnered over 130,000 signatures, asking President Obama to issue full pardons to both Avery and Dassey.
Duffin also slammed Dassey’s defense attorney Len Kachinsky, who is seen aggressively trying to get Dassey to confess to the crime in the Netflix series. Dassey didn’t testify at his uncle’s trial and his confession wasn’t presented as evidence there.
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Prosecutors have 90 days to bring Dassey, now 26, to trial again or he will be released. Avery remains a convicted murder but continues to appeal that conviction.
