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 interactions with a court manager who accused him of harassment.
The confession of sixteen-year-old Brendan Dassey has deeply troubled the world – and it should. Explore why Brendan confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, learn why he was denied his freedom by a single vote even after winning two resounding court victories, and get educated about the disturbingly common problem of false confessions.
If people want to help Dassey, Nirider told the crowd at CrimeCon, there are some things they can do: get educated on the legal system; write him a letter of support to keep his spirits high; and make sure his story keeps getting told. "We are still fighting for Brendan Dassey every day.
Despite these steps forward for juvenile justice, Dassey remains in prison. The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear Dassey's case, so he has exhausted his judicial paths of appeal. A sentence commutation from Evers is his only remaining chance.
August 2006: Kachinsky was removed from Dassey's case by Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Jerome Fox after he allowed Dassey to be interviewed by police without an attorney present. April 2007: A jury found Dassey guilty in Halbach's death. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The stalking charge was dismissed, but Kachinsky was found guilty by a Winnebago County jury of violating the restraining order. He was sentenced to a year of probation, along with a six-month jail sentence that was stayed.
The police questioned Brendan Dassey about the murder of Teresa Halbach on three documented occasions: February 27, 2006; March 1, 2006; and May 13, 2006.
It took 18 years for his conviction to be overturned and he was given a $36million (ÂŁ28.2million) payout in compensation. Days later he was re-arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach.
The court on Wednesday denied Avery's petition for review without commenting. Avery, 59, is serving life in prison for killing Theresa Halbach, 25, on his family's property on Halloween 2005.
According to the State Bar of Wisconsin, Kratz has since voluntarily resigned his law license in the state.
In August 2016, United States magistrate judge William E. Duffin ruled that Dassey's confession had been coerced, and was therefore involuntary and unconstitutional, and ordered him released.
Len KachinskyLen 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 interactions with a court manager who accused him of harassment.
Dassey also has below average intelligence, with a tested IQ of 73, making him even more vulnerable. In the film, he described himself as stupid.
July 8, 2021Dolores Avery / Died
Dassey is serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach.
Supreme Court review his case. Avery was found guilty of first-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm in March 2007, and was sentence d to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He is eligible for parole in 2048. Some fans of “Making A Murderer,” which became an instant hit following its release in December 2015, believe police coerced Dassey into giving a false confession.
They subsequently requested a pardon from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, which was denied in December 2019.
At the time, Evers' office said that Dassey didn't meet the criteria for a pardon because he hadn't completed his prison sentence and has to register as a sex offender, The Associated Press reported at the time.
It's possible they can file for post-conviction relief based on new ly discovered evidence and have a team working to investigate the case and uncover new findings.
In May 2021, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill that bars police from lying to children during questioning in an effort to prevent false confessions, The New York Times reported. Illinois is the first state to put forth such a law. The bill, which had bipartisan support, was partially inspired by Dassey's conviction, Nirider said.
His uncle Steven Avery had recently been arrested for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. Detectives from the Manitowoc Sheriff's Department interrogated Dassey four times over the next 48 hours with no lawyer or parents present until Dassey finally confessed to helping his uncle rape and murder Halbach.
And even though Dassey has yet to be freed, his story has already had ramifications on the legal system. In May 2021, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill that bars police from lying to children during questioning in an effort to prevent false confessions, The New York Times reported. Illinois is the first state to put forth such a law. The bill, which had bipartisan support, was partially inspired by Dassey's conviction, Nirider said.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to take the case, leaving the language above as the crux of Dassey’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
From there, Dassey’s attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
After conviction, Dassey’s original appeals attorneys took his case to an intermediate state appellate court, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. That court affirmed Dassey’s conviction in an officially “unpublished” opinion. The Court of Appeals gave deference to the trial judge and ruled that Dassey’s confession was voluntary because the police didn’t coerce him:
The federal district court judge said that while the interrogators, Mark Wiegert and Tom Fassbender, did not mount “an intentional and concerted effort to trick Dassey into confessing,” their words and actions constituted a slowly wore Dassey down in a way that is not Constitutionally permissible.
The defense called an expert to describe false confessions to the jurors and put Dassey himself on the stand. There, Dassey said he made up his confession. A defense expert testified about Dassey’s level of suggestibility (in other words, that the interrogators could have fed him answers).
He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery vehemently deny the charges and insist they had nothing to do with Halbach's assault or death. Their story gained international attention with the release of the documentary series " Making a Murderer ." The series explores a number of irregularities surrounding the investigation into Halbach's death and the conviction of Dassey and his uncle.
On March 2, 2006, Brendan Dassey , who was 16 years old at the time, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse, and first-degree sexual assault in the death of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach. As reported by AP News, authorities believe Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, raped and killed Halbach before burning her body on the grounds of Avery's Auto Salvage.
As a result, a judge determined Brendan Dassey's confession was coerced and subsequently overturned his conviction.