Sep 10, 2020 · March 2006: Kachinsky appointed to defend Dassey, who had recently been accused in the 2005 death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. May 2006: Dassey requested a new attorney, though ...
Jul 10, 2019 · Len Kachinsky. Photo from the Winnebago County Jail. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Brendan Dassey’s former lawyer from acting as a reserve municipal judge because of his unusual ...
Jul 29, 2020 · Kachinsky previously served as an attorney for Brendan Dassey, who was convicted along with his uncle of killing Teresa Halbach in 2005. The case was featured in the “Making a Murderer” series.
Dec 23, 2015 · Kachinsky addressed the accusations on his law firm's Facebook page on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. In the post, he cited his testimony from the 2013 Court of Appeals decision to dismiss Dassey's ...
Kachinsky was appointed as Brendan Dassey’s lawyer just days after the then 16-year-old confessed to being an accessory to the murder of Teresa Halbach. At the time, says The Guardian, Kachinsky believed Brendan’s confession– whether or not it was true– was “so damning” that it would be nearly impossible to convince a jury of his innocence.
Magistrate Judge Duffin reversed Dassey’s conviction on the suppression issue I litigated before leaving the case. I preserved that issue for appeal so that his future attorneys might raise it like they did. Even though Dassey and I parted ways on how he should proceed, I did my job and enabled Dassey’s future attorneys to do theirs. The next step will probably be up to the 7th Circuit as the State will likely appeal.
Duffin concluded that lawyer Len Kachinsky’s “misconduct” in defending Dassey was “indefensible”, says WISN. The federal ruling says that Dassey must be released from prison in 90 days unless prosecutors appeal the decision .
According to On Milwaukee, Kachinsky is a survivor of myeloma cancer. The cancer affects the bone marrow, and in 2007, Kachinsky underwent a bone marrow transplant. On December 26, 2016, he took to Facebook with a post that read, “2015 ended with a bang followed by 7 weeks of hospitalization as a result of a picc line infection. The outpouring of prayers, cards, flowers. confections and bracelets was unbelievable. God bless you all.” His Facebook friends have responded with comments like, “You inspire us!” and “Go team Lenny! Prayers and hugs for a better year!”
In an email to the human resources manager, Kachinsky said the court manager should be advised to “give a little bit on the work-only thing,” and if she didn’t change her behavior, he had no alternative but to fire her. The village attorney responded with a letter telling Kachinsky his behavior constituted retaliatory conduct.
Kachinsky’s former client Dassey was profiled in the Making a Murderer Netflix docuseries. Dassey was convicted of helping his uncle kill photographer Teresa Halbach in a case that raised concerns about his confession. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Dassey ’s appeal last year.
Their relationship became strained partly because of an incident in which Kachinsky popped up from his hiding place behind a counter and shouted, “Roar!”. Kachinsky also referred to the manager as one of his best friends in an email and asked her to pose in selfie pictures with him and in the courtroom.
After his suspension from the bench, he will have to establish his fitness if he applies to serve as a reserve judge. Kachinsky told Law360 that the ethics case stemmed from a “personality conflict” that got out of hand, leading to a false accusation that he had engaged in some form of sexual harassment.
He did not seek reelection this spring and has been suspended since last July, when he was arrested on a felony stalking charge based on his treatment of the staff member at the municipal court in Fox Crossing, Wisconsin. Kachinsky’s former client Dassey was profiled in the Making a Murderer Netflix docuseries.
Kachinsky says he told the manager about his knowledge because he wanted her mother to know that her cellphone was broadcasting location information to others on Facebook.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Brendan Dassey’s former lawyer from acting as a reserve municipal judge because of his unusual interactions with a court manager who accused him of harassment.
Details on why Kachinsky was arrested are murky, but attorney James Macy, who represents Fox Crossing, told Post-Crescent that electronic communication and “materials left in the office” led to Kachinsky’s arrest. The Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating and declined to elaborate on the specifics.
Len Kachinsky, one of the lawyers shown in the popular 2015 Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer, was arrested Monday afternoon in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, on preliminary charges of stalking and violating a restraining order, according to the Post-Crescent.
After the court clerk’s restraining order was granted, Kachinsky denied the harassment allegations to Law & Crime. Instead, he said , “It is a workplace personality conflict that has spun out of control.”
In response to that ominous email, Kachinsky told Police Chief Tim Seaver that his remarks alluded to the civil lawsuit that he was preparing to file against Fox Crossing for forcing him to always have a third-party in the room when he spoke to the court clerk.
Sheboygan Country re-heard the case after the initial ruling and granted a restraining order against Kachinsky on June 19 that will expire on May 1, 2019.
According to court documents being reviewed by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, Kachinsky’s harassment has been frequent and he retaliated when she complained.
According to the Post-Crescent, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission was already looking into Kachinsky’s interactions with the court clerk at the time the restraining order was granted.
In contrast to the "dream team" of Dean Strang and Jerry Buting (who are gaining quite a devoted, almost fawning following among "Making a Murderer" addicts), Brendan Dassey's first defense attorney, Len Kachinsky, comes across like one of the slimiest villains of the show. But is he?
The state court website says Kachinsky entered the case on March 7, 2006. Altogether, he’s had 8 lawyers (some of them appellate). Another lawyer represented him from March 2-6, according to CCAP.
But Kachinsky may not be the simplistic villain of this narrative. He is, minimally, a more complex human character. According to his Facebook page, Kachinsky studied law at UW-Madison, and is also a municipal judge at the Town of Menasha. For years, he was an active duty U.S. Army JAG Corps officer.
Of course, some of the evidence presented at trial against Dassey also came from the very weird private investigator for Kachinsky who appears on videotape at one point to be manipulating Dassey into turning an "I didn’t do it" statement into "I did, and here’s some diagrams besides." I do think it was incumbent of the defense team to not manipulate what came out of Dassey’s mouth and that videotaped scene, was to me, one of the most troubling scenes in the entire documentary. The defense PI came across as very weird.
The public defender’s officer even decertified Kachinsky’s status to handle cases at that time as a result. In his appeal of his public defender decertification, Kachinsky argued in part that this meeting between law enforcement interrogators and Dassey was not admissible in court anyway. In other words, the cops already had all those other confessions taken before Kachinsky was even involved.
That means that Dassey had already talked to law enforcement – had already confessed – because his mother let him talk to the cops without being present and without a lawyer being present; this was the hand that Kachinsky was dealt as a defense attorney when he took the case.
Dassey deserved counsel in the room. And the actions of the defense private investigator are beyond troubling. In the interest of justice, I think Dassey deserves a do-over. He came across like an easily manipulated low IQ youth who kept telling different people what he thought they wanted to hear.
A criminal complaint against Kachinsky says the clerk told Kachinsky to behave professionally, but he continued to set up purported work meetings where he would instead talk about personal matters. At one point, he asked the clerk to organize a party for him, the complaint says.
Kachinsky also allegedly tried to fire the clerk right before a vacation. She remains employed, however.
As Brendan Dassey's court appointed Public Defender Len Kachinsky willfully and maliciously violated his duty of loyalty to Brendan Dassey. This should be viewed as a criminal offense.
As Brendan Dassey's court appointed Public Defender Len Kachinsky willfully and maliciously violated his duty of loyalty to Brendan Dassey. This should be viewed as a criminal offense. Acting as a defense attorney this corrupt defense attorney acting as an instrument of the state should be investigated by the State Bar of Wisconsin. Brendan Dassey was robbed of fair and unbiased representation. The State Bar of Wisconsin though documented evidence has more than enough proof documented in the court records of the misrepresentation of this young man. The documentary " Making A Murderer" only substantiated the fact that Brendan Dassey was provided insufficient and biased council. As supporters of Brendan Dassey we ask that a full investigation be launched into Len Kachinsky. Insuring that other clients be afforded Legal Public Defense Council in the State of Wisconsin with the integrity of the Justice System. This kind of abuse needs to be stopped!