CHICAGO (AP) - State attorneys are trying to persuade a panel of federal appellate judges that a Wisconsin inmate featured in the Netflix series "Making a Murderer" was properly convicted.Brendan Dassey was sentenced to life in 2007 in photographer Teresa Halbach's death two years earlier. Dassey told detectives he helped his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and kill Halbach in Manitowoc County.A federal magistrate judge overturned Dassey's conviction in August, ruling investigators coerced him into confessing. The state Department of Justice has appealed. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments in the case Tuesday.The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports DOJ's Luke Berg argued detectives never made Dassey any specific promises. Dassey attorney Laura Nirder countered detectives made a "drumbeat" of promises.
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CHICAGO (WKOW) -- One of the men featured in the Netflix series "Making a Murderer" will have his case heard in front of a federal appellate court Tuesday.
Brendan Dassey was sentenced to life in prison for killing Teresa Halbach in 2005. But in August, his murder conviction was overturned. A federal magistrate ruled investigators took advantage of Dassey's youth and cognitive problems to coerce his confession. Dassey was 16 at the time of the investigation.
The State of Wisconsin appealed the August ruling. Dassey, now 27, was ordered to stay in prison as he waited for his case to be heard by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
WBAY reports at Tuesday's hearing, attorneys for Dassey and the State of Wisconsin will be given 20 minutes to argue their cases. The state may get an extra five minutes for rebuttal. WBAY reports the court will not issue a decision on Dassey's case until sometime after June.
Dassey's uncle, Steven Avery, was also convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Halbach's death. The case was the subject of the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer," which gained international attention. Avery is pursuing his own appeal.