'Making A Murderer' Case: Brendan Dassey's Conviction Goes Before Chicago Appeals Court

After months of twists and turns, the fate of Brendan Dassey's murder conviction will be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. Attorneys on both sides have 20 minutes on Tuesday to argue whether Dassey's conviction should remain overturned or be reinstated.

Dassey was charged and later convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse and second-degree sexual assault in the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Just 16 at the time of the murder, Dassey was convicted of helping his uncle, Steven Avery, cover up the crime in a case made famous by the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer." Dassey was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 41 years.

His conviction was overturned in August, but prosecutors are looking to have it reinstated.

According to a report Tuesday morning from the Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Deputy Solicitor General Luke Berg will argue that Dassey’s 2006 confession was not involuntary and that his conviction should be reinstated.

Dassey's lawyers will also have 20 minutes to say why a U.S. magistrate judge's ruling overturning Dassey's conviction should be upheld. There is no timetable for the U.S. Court of Appeals decision.

Dassey's release blocked

In November, a U.S. magistrate judge ordered Dassey's release from prison. But Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel moved quickly, filing an emergency motion in Wisconsin's Seventh Circuit court seeking a stay of the judge's ruling.

Ultimately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago blocked Dassey's release while considering the appeal. Dassey remains behind bars at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.

Conviction overturned

In August, a federal judge overturned Dassey's conviction, ruling that investigators used deceptive interrogation tactics to coerce a teenage Dassey to confess to helping Avery rape and kill 25-year-old Halbach.

In that ruling, the judge said Dassey's youth and "intellectual deficits" played a role in his conviction. The judge's decision noted, "It is clear how the investigators’ actions amounted to deceptive interrogation tactics that overbore Dassey’s free will."

Details of the state's appeal

The tactics investigators used were "not constitutionally impermissible acts," Schimel contends in a statement released at the time of his appeal.

“We believe the magistrate judge’s decision that Brendan Dassey’s confession was coerced by investigators, and that no reasonable court could have concluded otherwise, is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law,” Schimel said in a prepared statement.

“Two state courts carefully examined the evidence and properly concluded that Brendan Dassey’s confession to sexually assaulting and murdering Teresa Halbach with his uncle, Steven Avery, was voluntary, and the investigators did not use constitutionally impermissible tactics.”

Battle for Dassey's release continues

The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth under the Northwestern Law School's Bluhm Legal Clinic, which worked on Dassey's case when his conviction was overturned in August, released a statement following the attorney general's appeal.

"We are disappointed in the State's decision to prolong Brendan's case by seeking an appeal. We look forward to continuing to defend his rights in court," the center said. "Like Brendan, we remain grateful to his many supporters for their continued loyalty and strength."

Avery — who previously served 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit — is also hoping to have his conviction overturned.

Last winter, Avery retained Illinois attorney Kathleen Zellner, who has said she believes new evidence will prove his innocence.

"The Zellner Law Firm is looking forward to adding Mr. Avery to its long list of wrongful conviction exonerations," the Downers Grove law firm said in a 2016 statement. Zellner's list of high-profile cases includes Wilmington father Kevin Fox, who was wrongly jailed for the 2004 murder of his daughter, Riley Fox. Kevin Fox was later exonerated through DNA evidence.

By Scott Anderson (Patch Staff)/Shannon Antinori (Patch Staff) contributed to this article.