Brendan Dassey won’t be leaving prison after all.
Dassey, who was was 16 when he convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach with his uncle Steven Avery, will remain incarcerated after 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that police properly obtained Brendan Dassey’s confession.
Netflix’s documentary series Making a Murderer explored the circumstances surrounding the case against Avery and Dassey, and many came away from the series believing that the two had been set up by the Manitowoc County Police Department.
Recently, a federal judge overturned Dassey’s life conviction, persuaded by the argument that police officers coerced his confession. Dassey’s IQ is in the “borderline deficiency” range, and at the time of his arrest he was enrolled in special education classes at high school. Dassey was interrogated without any legal representative, parent, or other adult present.
It had seemed as though the judge’s decision meant that Dassey would be released or retried, but the state has successfully appealed against that decision — meaning that Dassey’s original conviction has been upheld.
Carla Chase, Brendan’s cousin, shared the below message on Twitter.
The 7th Circuit has filed their opinion in Brendan's case. He lost. Not much more to say right now. 😢https://t.co/nDJcnAhNgD
— Carla Chase (@averydassey) December 8, 2017
