'Making A Murderer': Brendan Dassey Conviction Overturned by Federal Judge

MILWAUKEE, WI — Brendan Dassey, the man who was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 41 years in Teresa Halbach's 2007 murder, had his conviction overturned Friday by a federal judge.

Dassey’s conviction made headlines nationally after the Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer” was seen by millions of people.

In 2005, Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, were charged in Halbach's killing. She was shot twice in the head, and her bones and belongings were found burned in a barrel near Avery’s trailer. Both Dassey and Avery were sentenced to life terms in 2007, convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse.

The Netflix documentary strongly suggests they were framed with planted evidence.

Dassey's appeal lawyers concluded that his public defender, Len Kachinsky, collaborated with the prosecutor and investigators to coerce Dassey to testify against his uncle. That formed the basis of their appeal.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin also criticized the public defender's "misconduct," calling his actions "indefensible." In his decision, the judge noted:

Although it probably does not need to be stated, it will be: Kachinsky’s conduct was inexcusable both tactically and ethically. It is one thing for an attorney to point out to a client how deep of a hole the client is in. But to assist the prosecution in digging that hole deeper is an affront to the principles of justice that underlie a defense attorney’s vital role in the adversarial system.

The interrogation also came under the judge's scrutiny. The judge said Dassey's young age — he was 16 when arrested — and "intellectual deficits" played a role in his conviction. The judge's decision notes: "it is clear how the investigators’ actions amounted to deceptive interrogation tactics that overbore Dassey’s free will."

Based on its review of the record, the court acknowledges significant doubts as to the reliability of Dassey’s confession. Crucial details evolved through repeated leading and suggestive questioning and generally stopped changing only after the investigators, in some manner, indicated to Dassey that he finally gave the answer they were looking for.

Investigators compelled Dassey to tell them Avery raped Halbach and then confess that he raped Halbach at his uncle's insistence, then helped burn her body.

Dassey is being held at Columbia Correctional Institution. He could be free within 90 days if the state decides not to appeal the judge's decision.

Halbach, 25, was an aspiring photographer who was hired to take photographs for Auto Trader magazine when she disappeared.

The Midwest Innocence Project at Northwestern University and Wisconsin counsel Robert Dvorak worked on Dassey's defense.

It's been suggested that Manitowoc County officials targeted Avery and his nephew because of a lawsuit Avery filed following his release from prison. In 2003, Avery was freed after nearly two decades behind bars for a wrongful rape conviction. Avery was exonerated by DNA evidence for that crime.

Avery remains in prison on the Halbach murder, but his defense attorney, Kathleen Zellner, was encouraged by Friday's decision regarding Dassey's incarceration. Zellner is a renowned attorney who specializes in wrongful conviction appeals. She took up Avery's case in January.

"We fully expected this outcome from an unbiased court that carefully examined his confession. I was just visiting Steven Avery, and he is so happy for Brendan. We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well," Zellner told WISN on Friday afternoon.

The prosecutor, Kenneth Kratz, is writing a book about the Halbach case. Kratz has said a lot of evidence was left out of the "Making a Murderer” series, and he wants his side of the story told. Kratz even went so far as to contact Avery in prison by letter this year.

Photo: Manitowoc County booking photo