Steven Avery has welcomed news that a judge has overturned his nephew’s conviction in the case that was profiled in the popular Netflix documentary series Making A Murderer.
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Since its launch previous year, Making a Murderer has emerged as one of Netflix’s most popular original series, as it focuses on a notorious 2005 murder case where Wisconsin man Steven Avery allegedly murdered photographer Teresa Halbach.
On Friday, a federal judge ruled investigators made false promises and took advantage of Dassey’s age and intellectual deficiencies to unfairly coerce a confession. According to Judge Duffin, state courts were in error by deciding that investigators never made promises to Dassey.
March 18, 2007: After deliberating for almost 22 hours over three days, jurors convict Avery, now 44, of first-degree intentional homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The teen received a life sentence despite the fact that his confession to the murder, which was later retracted, gave many viewers the impression that it had been coerced by detectives.
The White House explained that because the men were not convicted of federal crimes and “are both state prisoners”, pardoning them was outside the scope of the President’s power.
Earl Avery, the brother of Steven Avery, is hopeful following the ruling in the Brendan Dassey case.
“We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well”, Zellner said. The attorney who handled the Dassey appeal for the state declined to comment Friday.
In an interview with “Chicago Tonight” in January, Drizin said Dassey’s confession was troubling and his representation questionable. Dassey was 16 when Halbach was killed. Her charred remains were discovered in a burn pit on the yard 10 days later, along with her Toyota RAV4, mobile phone and vehicle keys. Avery is now appealing his own case. A petition on the White House website calling for President Obama to grant the pair to full pardon received more than 120,000 signatures.
The shock news that Dassey could be freed after serving nine years in jail has encouraged Steven Avery’s lawyers that his release could follow.
Dassey was initially represented by defense attorney Len Kachinsky, who permitted his client to be interrogated without his presence.
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Why is Brendan Dassey being freed? While a second series of Making a Murderer is now in the making, the new ruling is understood not to have been captured on camera.
