Title : "MAKING A MURDERER" STILL MAKING NEWS
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"MAKING A MURDERER" STILL MAKING NEWS
Court Rules Against Brendan Dassey, Subject of ‘Making a Murderer’
NOTE: I did a series of posts about Netflix's excellent documentary "Making A Murderer." Here's the link: NETFLIX "MAKING A MURDERER" The documentary presents some profoundly disturbing anomalies including over the confession of Brendan Dassey.
By: Daniel Victor
New York Times
09 December 2017
The seesaw legal battle of Brendan Dassey, whose conviction was questioned in the Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer,” took another turn on Friday as a federal court in Chicago ruled against him, dealing a major blow to his hopes of being freed from prison.
By a 4-to-3 vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that Mr. Dassey’s confession had not been coerced by police investigators, reversing an earlier decision. Mr. Dassey admitted to assisting his uncle, Steven Avery, in the 2005 sexual assault and killing in Manitowoc, Wis., of Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. Mr. Dassey later recanted his confession.
Mr. Dassey and Mr. Avery were sentenced to life in prison after separate trials in 2007. Mr. Dassey was convicted of intentional homicide, sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse.
In the decision on Friday, Judge David Hamilton wrote for the majority: “Dassey spoke with the interrogators freely, after receiving and understanding Miranda warnings, and with his mother’s consent. The interrogation took place in a comfortable setting, without any physical coercion or intimidation, without even raised voices, and over a relatively brief time. Dassey provided many of the most damning details himself in response to open‐ended questions. On a number of occasions he resisted the interrogators’ strong suggestions on particular details. Also, the investigators made no specific promises of leniency.”
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| BRENDAN DASSEY |
Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin, Mr. Dassey’s lawyers, said in a statement that they were “profoundly disappointed” and intended to petition to the United States Supreme Court.
“Today’s ruling contravenes a fundamental and time-honored position of the United States Supreme Court: Interrogation tactics that may not be coercive when applied to adults are coercive when applied to children and the mentally impaired,” they said. “Indeed, when such tactics are applied to vulnerable populations, the risk of false confession grows intolerably.”
Friday’s decision was the latest sharp turn in a legal battle that has attracted national attention after the 2015 release of the Netflix series.
Mr. Dassey, now 28, was 16 when Ms. Halbach was killed. His lawyers have argued that he was mentally unfit, that his confession was involuntary and that he had inadequate legal representation.
In August 2016, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin overturned Mr. Dassey’s convictions and ordered that he be released within 90 days. But prosecutors appealed the decision, and the United States Court of Appeals, which blocked his release one day before he was set to be free, ordered him to remain in Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wis., until his case was settled.
In June, Mr. Dassey then won a major victory when a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court ruled 2 to 1 that his confession was coerced. But the state appealed that decision to the full seven-judge court, which reversed the panel’s decision on Friday.
Mr. Dassey, now 28, was 16 when Ms. Halbach was killed. His lawyers have argued that he was mentally unfit, that his confession was involuntary and that he had inadequate legal representation.
In August 2016, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin overturned Mr. Dassey’s convictions and ordered that he be released within 90 days. But prosecutors appealed the decision, and the United States Court of Appeals, which blocked his release one day before he was set to be free, ordered him to remain in Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wis., until his case was settled.
In June, Mr. Dassey then won a major victory when a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court ruled 2 to 1 that his confession was coerced. But the state appealed that decision to the full seven-judge court, which reversed the panel’s decision on Friday.
Brad Schimel, Wisconsin’s attorney general, said in a statement that he was gratified by the decision.
“Today’s decision is a testament to the talent of the attorneys at the Wisconsin Department of Justice who have worked tirelessly to deliver justice for the family and friends of Teresa Halbach over the last decade,” he said.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Ilana Rovner said that Mr. Dassey was “subjected to myriad psychologically coercive techniques but the state court did not review his interrogation with the special care required by Supreme Court precedent.”
“His confession was not voluntary and his conviction should not stand, and yet an impaired teenager has been sentenced to life in prison,” she wrote. “I view this as a profound miscarriage of justice.”
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| STEVEN AVERY |
NOTE: What this article glosses over is Brendan Dassey's diminished mental capacity, a permanent situation for him. As Judge Hamilton notes in his decision, there was nothing unusual about the physical conditions surrounding Dassey's interrogations by prosecutors. He was not beaten nor were his interrogators threatening. But if you watch "Making A Murderer" and see the actual video of his confession, it's clear that the young man was not aware of the seriousness of what was going on, was confused and only wanted to tell the prosecutors whatever they wanted to hear so that they would end the interrogation, release him and he could go home to his mother. Dassey was indicted for assisting Steven Avery who was charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach. But even the circumstances surrounding the State's case against Avery, as depicted in "Making A Murderer," are full of questions that remain unanswered. If you haven't seen "Making A Murderer" I highly recommend it. It raises all sorts of questions about our criminal justice system.
Have A Good Day Everyone!
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