Dassey was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault and mutilating a corpse. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin overturned Dassey’s conviction on August 12, ruling that the court found his confession was involuntary. “Like Brendan, we remain grateful to his many supporters for their continued loyalty and strength”. Schimel issued a news release noting that two state courts have upheld Dassey’s confession and Halbach’s family supports the appeal.
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Per the magistrate’s decision, the Court’s order is stayed pending the outcome of the appeal.
The State of Wisconsin just appealed a judge’s decision to overturn the murder conviction of Brendan Dassey, whose case was documented in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer”.
For those unfamiliar with the documentary, Making a Murderer follows the case of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man convicted of a brutal assault and sent to prison for 18 years, only to be exonerated by DNA evidence.
In that ruling, the judge said Dassey’s young age – he was 16 when arrested – and “intellectual deficits” played a role in his conviction. Meanwhile, Steven Avery’s lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, took to Twitter late last night to speak about the appeal, saying that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals were “not friendly to frivolous appeals”.
Drizin said while “Making a Murderer” has put Dassey’s case in the national spotlight, he didn’t believe it would have an impact on the judge’s decision.
“The investigators repeatedly claimed to already know what happened on October 31 and assured Dassey that he had nothing to worry about”. But this afternoon a notice was filed declaring that the state would indeed appeal. The judge said Dassey’s statements were coerced, and he was wrongly imprisoned.
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He admitted to helping Avery rape and murder Halbach during an interview with the two investigators in March 2006, six months after she was killed.
