Brendan Dassey's life has been in limbo since he received a life sentence, along with “Making a Murderer” Season 2’s Steven Avery in 2007, for the murder of Teresa Halbach. The 27-year-old convict was supposed to be freed, but the court of appeals refused his release from prison.
When the victim died in 2005, the suspect was just 16 years old and too young to stand trial in any criminal justice system. Take a look at the life of the man from Manitowoc County who allegedly helped his uncle to rape and kill the female photographer.
Dassey’s arrest and charge
Ever since the case of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey was documented on Netflix’s “Making a Murderer,” it quickly became a global phenomenon.
In fact, a lot believed that they were just wrongfully accused as some even doubted the legal processes they had been through, The Sun reported. Teresa Halbach went missing in 2005, following her visit to Avery's Auto Salvage located at Steven Avery’s home in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Thus, he became the prime suspect.
Brendan Dassey was then invited for an interrogation as a witness to the case against his uncle.But, when his cousin Kayla revealed that he told her how they killed the photographer, he was once again invited for an interview that led to his arrest in March 2006.
He was later charged with “being party to first-degree murder, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse.” After nine days of trial, he and Steven Avery received the verdict of life-long sentences in April 2007.
Taking his statements back
Moreover, the police revealed that Brendan Dassey allegedly confessed how he helped Steven Avery to rape, kill, and butcher Teresa Halbach.
His statement was used against them, even though they had no physical evidence linking him to the murder. But, in June 2006, he took back all of his confessions in a formal letter to the judge.The younger convicted revealed that he had been forced to say everything he had told in the interrogation. He never testified against his uncle.
He even revealed that most of what he uttered were from a book.
His fight for freedom
With that, after the released of “Making a Murderer” in 2015, Brendan Dassey’s lawyers filed a lawsuit saying he had been detained and arrested illegally.
In August 2016, a judge ordered his conviction to be overturned so he could be released. But, in September of the same year, prosecutors made an appeal to the ruling that made the order overthrown.
