Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, were convicted in separate trials of killing freelance photographer Teresa Halbach at Avery’s home in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
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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“.
A federal judge on Friday granted Brendan Dassey’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, ordering the state of Wisconsin to release him from custody within 90 days, unless they decide to retry him. The attorney who handled the Dassey appeal for the state declined to comment Friday. Many viewers of the Netflix series have been celebrating Judge Duffin’s ruling on Twitter, but Dassey’s biggest challenge may be yet to come: rehabilitating into a society he has never known as an adult. The killing, which was also perpetrated by his uncle, Steven Avery, ultimately became the basis for a 2015 Netflix documentary series titled, Making a Murderer.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, two of the jurors in Avery’s trial were related to members of the county’s sheriff’s department.
His new lawyer Kathleen Zellner, who took up Avery’s appeal case in January, added: ‘Steven Avery is so happy for Brendan.
Dassey and Avery became world famous after appearing in TV documentary “Making A Murderer“.
“Dassey’s confession was, as a practical matter, the entirety of the case against him”, the judge wrote.
Dassey lived at the Avery family auto salvage yard next door to his uncle, who had been released from prison in 2003 after serving 18 years for a rape he didn’t commit.
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.
Duffin wrote that Kachinsky’s conduct throughout the case was tactically and ethically inexcusable. On this point, Judge Duffin found almost all of the details Dassey provided in his confession could have been obtained from media sources or from the investigators themselves, feeding information to him.
Steven Avery’s conviction is also now the subject of an appeal.
A federal judge has stepped in..
“As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead”, film makers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos said in a joint statement.
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