The Chicago-based Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth legal team took Dassey’s case to federal court in Wisconsin in 2014. In 2007, Dassey was sentenced to life in prison with no parole.
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United States Magistrate Judge William Duffin ruled that Dassey must be released from prison if the state does not file new charges against him within 90 days.
There has been speculation since the ruling was passed down that the case against Steven Avery may be affected by Dassey’s conviction being overturned, with Avery’s lawyer Jerry Buting stating that his case should be reviewed next. The judge also noted Dassey’s learning disabilities and lack of family stability at the time he was questioned. This judge concluded that a number of factors “rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments”. The 10-part series tells the story of Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years for sexual assualt, and Dassey and Avery’s alleged role in the murder of Halbach. Dassey’s attorneys had argued that the confession was coerced. Once considered in this proper light, the conclusion that Dassey’s statement was involuntary under the totality of the circumstances is not one about which “fair minded jurists could disagree”.
Brendan Dassey, 16, is escorted out of a Manitowoc County Circuit courtroom in 2006, in Manitowoc, Wis.
A Bid For Freedom Making a Murderer is returning to Netflix- and Steven Avery is fighting his conviction! Friday afternoon, Drizin tweeted that Dassey’s conviction had been overturned and he must be released or brought to trial in 90 days.
Authorities involved in the case have called the 10-hour series biased, but the film-makers have stood by their work. The whole case against Dassey was built around this statement. According to Judge Duffin, state courts were in error by deciding that investigators never made promises to Dassey.
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Kathleen Zellner says she was visiting Avery on Friday and he was “so happy” for Brendan Dassey. Avery is pursuing his own appeal.
