Making A Murderer: Crucial Day For Brendan Dassey's Appeal
This could be a big step in his bid to be released.
A federal appeals court will today consider arguments over whether detectives tricked Brendan Dassey, featured in the "Making a Murderer" documentary series, into confessing and whether he should go free in a case that has put police practices in the spotlight.
In August of last year, a federal judge in Milwaukee overturned a conviction against Dassey, who was one of the subjects in the wildly popular Netlflix documentary, of murder in relation to the death of Teresa Halbach in 2005, arguing that Dassey was coerced into a confession by the police.
Shortly before he was due to be released from prison, a federal appeals court in the United States blocked his release despite the fact that the conviction had been overturned. State attorneys subsequently called for a full review of the case and the interrogation techniques used by police officials and Dassey has remained in prison since.
According to Time, oral arguments in Brendan Dassey's case are set to be heard before all 12 judges of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. Dassey's lawyers and state attorneys are each expected to speak for half an hour and answer the judges' questions. There is no set timescale for the final ruling which may take weeks or even months.
Dassey, now 27, was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 for the death of photographer Teresa Halbach two years earlier. He was 16 when he told detectives that he helped his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and kill Halbach in the Avery family's junkyard in Manitowoc County.
It will be very interesting to see how the case plays out over the next few months. Netflix has not yet announced the release date of the new episodes of 'Making A Murderer' but it has confirmed that they are due to arrive some time in 2017.