Brendan Dassey, ‘Making A Murderer’ Case Subject, Upheld in Appeals Court

On Friday, the Federal Appeals Court in Chicago overturned a ruling that would have freed Brendan Dassey.

Dassey was born October 19, 1989 in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. At 16, he was convicted of first degree murder, mutilation of a corpse and second-degree sexual assault. Dassey was sentenced to life imprisonment with parole as early as 2048. Authorities obtained a videotaped confession which largely aided his conviction. Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, were both convicted of murdering Teresa Halbach on October 31, 2005. The boy underwent interrogations without a parent or counsel present and investigators allegedly made false promise to Dassey during this time. Dassey confessed in detail to being the co-conspirator in the rape and murder of Halbach.

In August 2016, federal magistrate William E. Duffin ruled that Dassey’s confession was coerced and ordered for Dassey to be released. The U.S Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit blocked his release.

In December 2017, the panel of the seven members of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit voted to stand by Dassey’s original conviction. The vote was 4 to 3, although one of the judges, Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner was strongly against the vote. She wrote in her opinion, “His confession was not voluntary and his conviction should not stand, and yet an impaired teenager has been sentenced to life in prison, I view this as a profound miscarriage of justice.”

This trial was also featured on the Netflix original series Making A Murderer. The television series showed parts the 2005-2007 investigation and trials of Dassey as well as his uncle.