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Appeals Court to Decide Whether Detectives Cajoled Brendan Dassey's Confession

Tracy Symonds-Keogh
Brendan Dassey during his trial in 2007.

Update: Heated Exchanges as Attorneys Present Arguments in Dassey Appeal

The Brendan Dassey case is back in the public eye. A federal appeals court Tuesday will re-hear an appeal of a judge’s ruling, which overturned Dassey’s conviction.

Dassey was convicted in 2007 of helping his uncle Steven Avery rape and murder Teresa Halbach at the family’s salvage yard in Manitowoc County.

Last summer, a federal judge threw out Brendan Dassey’s 2007 conviction in the death of Teresa Halbach. The judge ruled that authorities coerced Dassey – who had cognitive problems – into confessing to the crime. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel appealed, but a three-judge panel from another federal court concurred with the ruling.

Schimel then petitioned the full court. It is scheduled to re-hear the case with Schimel expected to present new oral arguments. The centerpiece of the proceedings earlier this year was Dassey’s statement to authorities in 2005.

Attorney Laura Nirider argued that detectives investigating Halbach’s murder illegally cajoled a confession out of her client: “16-year-old mentally limited Brendan Dassey confessed in reliance on a false promise of leniency that was unreasonably overlooked by the state courts. That promise was quote – you’re scared that you might get arrested but quote – I’m thinking you’re alright okay, you don’t have to worry about things.”

The detectives were looking for information on Dassey’s uncle Steven Avery, because Halbach’s remains were found on his property. Nirider argued they repeatedly told Dassey that he wouldn’t be in trouble if he confessed to the murder.

The state had a different take on what happened during the interrogation.

Wisconsin Deputy Solicitor General Luke Berg told the judges that Dassey’s confession was entirely voluntary: “He was Mirandized even though he didn’t have to be, he was interviewed for only three hours in the middle of the day. He was offered food and breaks, both his mother and he consented to the interview, he resisted the officers multiple times so there’s no evidence that his will was overborne.”

Just like the case before the three-judge panel in February, Tuesday’s arguments will focus on whether Dassey’s constitutional right to due process was violated, according to Michael Griesbach. He’s an assistant district attorney in Manitowoc County, where Dassey’s state trial took place.

Griesbach says the proceedings will look different from the trial in 2007, which lasted nine days. “It’s an appellate case, so it’s just attorneys basically arguing the law before the court. There’s no jury, there’s no question of guilt or innocence at this point. It’s strictly about a narrow, legal issue about whether his confession was voluntary under the Constitution.”

Keith Findley is with the Wisconsin Innocence Project. It helped free Steven Avery from prison in 2003, after proving he was not the perpetrator in a rape case. Findley is following Dassey’s legal battles, and says after oral arguments, the judges will deliberate.

“They will conference it, they’ll vote, they’ll assign it to someone to write the lead opinion, if there are dissents they’ll be written and then when the court is done with that process they will issue their ruling in a written opinion that will either affirm the district court’s grant of habeas relief or reverse it,” he says.

That might not happen any time soon, according to former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske. She says it could take months for the court to decide whether to re-instate Dassey’s conviction. Geske says whatever the ruling, it's likely that one party won’t be satisfied. So the case could then be appealed to the highest court in the land.

“That kind of issue could certainly go to the U.S. Supreme Court on interviewing juveniles,” Geske says.

But, she says whether the high court would take the Dassey case remains to be seen. Each year, the court is inundated with requests to hear cases, and usually turns down more than it takes.

Marti was a reporter with WUWM from 1999 to 2021.
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