As we reported last night, Brendan Dassey from Netflix’s Making A Murderer docuseries has had his conviction for the murder of Teresa Halbach overturned.
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Producers of Making A Murderer are reportedly looking to recreate the moment Brendan Dassey’s conviction was overturned. His uncle, Steven Avery, was also convicted for Halbach’s murder, and is now incarcerated and appealing his conviction. The Netflix documentary brought global attention to the subsequent murder case by exploring issues and procedures in the Manitowoc County sheriff’s department investigation of Avery and Dassey. In so doing, the judge called into question the conduct of Dassey’s attorney, Len Kachinsky, as well as those of investigators who he said had elicited an “involuntary” confession from the then 16-year-old, who has learning difficulties.
In his ruling on Friday, Duffin ordered that Brendan Dassey freed within 90 days unless prosecutors decide to retry him.
Dassey’s case burst into the public’s consciousness with the popularity of the “Making a Murderer” documentary. Viewers debated whether the men, who were both convicted, were railroaded.
In the last 24 hours, Brendan Dassey’s conviction for the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005 was overturned by a federal judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the original investigation, Dassey originally confessed to having been involved with Halbach’s murder, but there had been concern over the validity of the confession.
Avery served 18 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him of the rape.
Avery’s defense team argued that the evidence was planted and that Avery was framed by the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department in retaliation for a $36 million lawsuit that Avery initiated as the result of an earlier wrongful conviction.
Laura Nirider, one of Dassey’s lawyers, tells The Associated Press that her client “is in shock and wants to go home”.
The error was not harmless because Dassey’s confession was the entirety of the case against him, the judge said. Avery has filed a notice of appeal in his own case.
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Avery’s lawyer, Dean Strang, told the The Huffington Post: “We are thankful and proud that a federal court fulfilled its fundamental role for Brendan Dassey today”.
