A United States judge has overturned the murder conviction of Brendan Dassey, whose story was featured in the popular Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, along with his uncle.
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The story of the Wisconsin teen and his uncle, Steven Avery, was catapulted into the public sphere when in December 2015 Netflix released its 10-part documentary series about the 2005 murder of Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
Authorities involved in the case have called the 10-hour series biased, but the film-makers have stood by their work.
Judge Duffin had some pretty strong words about Brendan Dassey’s appointed lawyer and the reliability of Dassey’s confession, coming to the conclusion that Dassey should be released from custody.
The U.S. District Court in Milwaukee ordered Dassey to be freed from Portage, Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institute in the next 90 days, unless the case is appealed. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, which was handling the case, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Unlike Avery, whose conviction was based largely on DNA evidence, no physical evidence linked Dassey to the slaying of Ms. Halbach.
Dassey was accused of helping his uncle, Steve Avery, murder 25-year-old Teresa Halbach after she came to the family’s auto salvage lot in Manitowoc County, Wis.to photograph a vehicle for Auto Trader Magazine.
During Dassey’s time in prison, there was a push to see if some wrestlers would visit him, and former DX member X-Pac even said he would. 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.
Dassey was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse in Halbach’s killing.
Duffin wrote that Kachinsky’s conduct throughout the case was tactically and ethically inexcusable.
The questioning was done by the two lead investigators for the prosecution for both trials.
“No single statement by the investigators, if viewed in isolation, rendered Dassey’s statement involuntary”, the decision reads. Avery, who has continued to appeal the decision, has repeatedly claimed that police planted evidence against him.
The story rose to national prominence when it was chronicled on the Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer”. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
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