“We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well”, Zellner said.
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Federal judge William Duffin handed down the shocking reversal August 12 that found investigators repeatedly made false promises to Brendan Dassey, 26, and coerced the involuntary confession out of the then 16-year-old to the rape and murder of 25-ear-old Teresa Halbach.
Brendan Dassey, the Wisconsin teen whose trial played a key role in the Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer”, had his murder conviction thrown out by a federal judge. Dassey was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse.
Dassey’s case burst into the public’s consciousness with the popularity of the “Making a Murderer” documentary.
Dassey confessed to helping his uncle Steven Avery carry out the rape and murder of Halbach, but attorneys argued that the confession was coerced.
In his ruling on Friday, Duffin wrote that misconduct by Dassey’s own lawyer was “indefensible”, including his permitting investigators to interrogate his client without being present.
Duffin says the “repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary” under the U.S. Constitution. He’s now serving a life sentence with parole eligibility in 2048. After serving 18 years in prison he was exonerated based on DNA evidence connecting the attack to another man.
Dassey, who was 16 at the time of the 2005 murder, had argued that his constitutional rights were violated in the way that the case against him was investigated. Avery is now appealing his conviction, too. The attorney who handled the Dassey appeal for the state declined to comment Friday.
A year later, Avery and his nephew were accused of killing Halbach.
Brendan isn’t a free man yet though, as the state of Wisconsin has 90 days to refile the case against him, but without his confession there’s really nothing tying him to the murder.
Kratz has criticized filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos saying they left out crucial evidence that pointed to Avery’s guilt – an accusation the pair has denied.
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A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled Friday that investigators obtained a confession from Dassey by making false promises that the then-16-year-old Dassey “had nothing to worry about”.
