08-12-2016, 06:49 PM
Brendan Dassey -- Conviction Overturned
![[Image: chi-AP_917691598037.jpg]](http://media.nbcchicago.com/images/652*367/chi-AP_917691598037.jpg)
A federal judge in Milwaukee has overturned the conviction of Brendan Dassey, the young man whose case was one of two documented in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer."'
Judge Duffin ordered Dassey be set free unless the state initiates a retrial proceeding in 90 days. That, or an appeal of the decision, would put Dassey's release on hold, Drizin said. He and the legal team would then seek to have him released on bond.
Judge Duffin found that investigators repeatedly made false promises to Dassey, who was 16 years old and a slow learner, in extracting a confession, which Dassey's legal team had maintained was coerced. The judge found that confession was involuntary in a 91-page decision handed down Friday.
Dassey’s case was one of two followed in the popular “Making a Murderer” series, which depicts the story of Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery. Dassey and Avery were sentenced to life for the 2005 murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach.
The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth legal team, based in Chicago, first took Dassey’s case to federal court in Wisconsin in 2014 in hopes that he would be granted a writ of Habeas corpus, which would have forced the government to examine his case and rule whether he has been imprisoned illegally.
(cont'd)
Dassey's attorney, Steve Drizin with Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, said the petition focused largely on Dassey’s original public defender, Len Kachinsky, who was ultimately removed from the case.
“A lot of our appeal has to do with the actions that Brendan’s original attorney Len Kachinsky took, which demonstrated his disloyalty to Brendan and his willingness to work with the prosecution to try to get Brendan to plead guilty and testify against Steven Avery.”
He also maintains that Dassey’s confession was coerced “by [investigators] feeding him facts.” “To me, this case is a classic example of how not to interrogate juvenile suspects and the tactics that were used during Brendan’s interrogation are a recipe for false confessions,” he said.
Former Calamut County District Attorney Ken Kratz, who prosecuted Dassey and Avery, recently told People magazine that he has "a great bit of sympathy" for Dassey, who he said "never would have been involved in this except for his uncle."
Full story with link to judge's 91-page ruling: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Jud...giz39001MX
A federal judge in Milwaukee has overturned the conviction of Brendan Dassey, the young man whose case was one of two documented in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer."'
Judge Duffin ordered Dassey be set free unless the state initiates a retrial proceeding in 90 days. That, or an appeal of the decision, would put Dassey's release on hold, Drizin said. He and the legal team would then seek to have him released on bond.
Judge Duffin found that investigators repeatedly made false promises to Dassey, who was 16 years old and a slow learner, in extracting a confession, which Dassey's legal team had maintained was coerced. The judge found that confession was involuntary in a 91-page decision handed down Friday.
Dassey’s case was one of two followed in the popular “Making a Murderer” series, which depicts the story of Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery. Dassey and Avery were sentenced to life for the 2005 murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach.
The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth legal team, based in Chicago, first took Dassey’s case to federal court in Wisconsin in 2014 in hopes that he would be granted a writ of Habeas corpus, which would have forced the government to examine his case and rule whether he has been imprisoned illegally.
(cont'd)
Dassey's attorney, Steve Drizin with Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, said the petition focused largely on Dassey’s original public defender, Len Kachinsky, who was ultimately removed from the case.
“A lot of our appeal has to do with the actions that Brendan’s original attorney Len Kachinsky took, which demonstrated his disloyalty to Brendan and his willingness to work with the prosecution to try to get Brendan to plead guilty and testify against Steven Avery.”
He also maintains that Dassey’s confession was coerced “by [investigators] feeding him facts.” “To me, this case is a classic example of how not to interrogate juvenile suspects and the tactics that were used during Brendan’s interrogation are a recipe for false confessions,” he said.
Former Calamut County District Attorney Ken Kratz, who prosecuted Dassey and Avery, recently told People magazine that he has "a great bit of sympathy" for Dassey, who he said "never would have been involved in this except for his uncle."
Full story with link to judge's 91-page ruling: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Jud...giz39001MX