Brendan Dassey, one of the subjects of the Netflix documentary series Making A Murderer, has had his homicide conviction overturned by a judge, and will be free within 90 days, unless prosecutors appeal the decision.
Dassey and his uncle Steven Avery were sentenced to life in prison in relation to the 2005 killing of photographer Theresa Halbach, who had come to take photos of car bodies on their rural scrapyard property.
The Netflix series, which aired last year, renewed public interest in the pair and their treatment at the hands of law enforcement, and many devoted fans came to the conclusion that they were wrongly convicted for the killing.
In his order overturning the conviction, Judge William Duffin issued a strong rebuke to the police who investigated the crime, as well as public defender Leonard Kachinsky, who represented the then 16-year-old Dassey.
Duffin said that Kachinsky’s conduct while acting as an advocate for Dassey was “indefensible”, and said that police acted improperly when extracting a confession from the boy. His order read, in part:
“The investigators … assured Dassey that he had nothing to worry about. These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary.”
Avery remains in prison, although there is ongoing public pressure to pardon him and launch an investigation into “corrupt officials” at the Manitowoc County and Calumet County Sherriff’s offices.
Source: ABC News.
