Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey released from prison after 10 years

Life


Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey released from prison after 10 years

By Kayleigh Dray

9 years ago

On 14 November, a US judge ordered that Brendan Dassey, whose case featured in Netflix’s Making a Murderer documentary, be immediately released from prison.

The 27 year old, who has learning difficulties, was found guilty, along with his uncle, Steven Avery, of murdering freelance photographer Teresa Halbach a decade ago and sentenced to life in prison. 

He was 16 years old at the time.



But, as Making a Murderer fans know, Dassey’s attorneys later argued that their client was coerced by the Manitowoc County Police Department into a false confession.

Their claims were supported by the fact that Dassey didn’t have a lawyer present when they questioned him.

After a hearing earlier this summer, U.S. Magistrate William Duffin agreed that police used “deceptive tactics” in a bid to force a confession out of the then-teenager.

Dassey will, as a result, be released from prison just as soon as the federal probation office has “completed whatever additional investigation it deems necessary”.



The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Dassey must visit the parole and probation office, in order to submit an address for where he plans to live, by midday on Tuesday.

Dassey would have to meet numerous other conditions, including not owning a gun or other weapon, being available for home visits, and getting approval before moving. Any travel outside of eastern Wisconsin will have to be approved by the courts and Dassey will not be granted a passport.

He has also been ordered to avoid any contact with Halbach’s family, or his imprisoned co-defendant, Avery.

Meanwhile, Avery's new lawyer Kathleen Zellner has sought to push forward a new motion to gain access to DNA evidence that was gathered from the scene of the crime. 

She hopes that an investigation will support her theory that evidence was planted during the original murder investigation, and that Avery was framed for Halbach’s murder.

Earlier this year, shortly after Dassey’s conviction was overturned, Zellner said that she was optimistic the development could spell good news for her own client.

In a statement to Access Hollywood at the time, Zellner, said: "We are thrilled for Brendan Dassey that his conviction has been overturned.

“We fully expected this outcome from an unbiased court that carefully examined his confession.

She continued: "I was just visiting Steven Avery and he is so happy for Brendan… [and] we know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well."

Avery was accused and found guilty of raping, murdering, and mutilating Halbach, a photographer for Auto Trader Magazine, in 2005.

Her charred remains were found at Avery's car salvage yard a week after she went there to photograph a minivan for sale.



Bloodstains in her car matched Avery’s DNA, although his attorneys later accused police officials at the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department of planting false evidence and of having a “conflict of interest” in the investigation.

The 10-part series of Making a Murderer helped to support this claim, revealing that Avery had been wrongfully imprisoned for a similar crime in 1985 – and that police officers had faced a huge financial penalty over the case.

However, since the show’s initial release, a number of articles have appeared online which suggest that filmmakers chose to show Avery in a biased light, leaving out numerous bits of evidence – including extra DNA evidence.

Images: Netflix

undefined

By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy

Thank you!

You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.