A screenshot from an interrogation of Brendan Dassey. YouTube
A federal judge overturned the conviction of Steven’s Avery’s nephew in part because he ruled that Dassey’s confession was involuntary.
The decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin says that “investigators made false promises to Dassey during multiple interrogations,” according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The decision also criticizes Dassey’s lawyer, Len Kachinsky, who allowed Dassey, then a juvenile, to be interrogated by investigators Mark Wiegert and Tom Fassbender without a parent or lawyer present. The judge found, according to WTMJ-TV, that Dassey’s confession was involuntary and that he didn’t receive adequate defense representation.
The convictions of Avery and Dassey in the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach caused an international sensation last winter when they were featured in a Netflix series, Making a Murderer.
Watch one of Dassey’s videotaped confessions here:
Dassey was also interviewed by police in November, shortly after the murder. Listen:
The series also showcased a videotaped meeting between Dassey and a defense private investigator, Michael O’Kelly, which occurred before one of the interrogations. See:
And watch Dassey’s trial testimony: