Appeals Court Blocks Dassey Release Print
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Written by GBP Staff   
Friday, 18 November 2016 11:31

brendan-dassey-interviewDassey will stay in prison pending the outcome of the appeal. The court is expected to take up the appeal in January.


GREEN BAY - A federal appeals court in Chicago Thursday blocked the release of Brendan Dassey, the Manitowoc teen whose confession became a subplot in Netflix's "Making a Murderer."

Now 27, Dassey was set to be freed under the supervision of the US Probation Office, but Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel filed a motion Tuesday seeking a stay of US Magistrate Judge William Duffin's decision to release Dassey pending the appeal of his 2007 murder conviction.

Dassey was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault and mutilating a corpse. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2007. Court documents stated that Dassey IQ's was "assessed as being in the low average to borderline range." Dassey, now incarcerated in the state's Columbia Correctional Institution, later recanted. A video of the confession suggested that investigators took advantage of Dassey's youth and limited intellect to coax him into confessing to a crime he didn't commit.

"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 statement.

Dassey's attorneys disagreed, saying "The court's decision rests on a fundamental principle that is too often forgotten by courts and law enforcement officers: Interrogation tactics which may not be coercive when used on adults are coercive when used on juveniles, particularly young people like Brendan with disabilities".

Dassey will stay in prison pending the outcome of the appeal. The court is expected to take up the appeal in January.

Last Updated on Friday, 18 November 2016 11:58