‘Making a Murderer’s’ Brendan Dassey Conviction Overturned

In just the last couple hours, a court has overturned the conviction of “Making a Murderer” subject Brendan Dassey. As millions of people learned in the popular series, Dassey was convicted and sentenced to 41 years in prison for first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse.

Dassey has the viewers of the series to thank, in part for his release. The show brought a tremendous amount of attention to his case and even resulted in a petition with 130,000 signatures, asking President Obama to pardon him.

One big revelation in the documentary is that the police “coerced confessions out of Dassey and planted evidence to bring in Avery.” It was this fact that gave the Wisconsin judge what she needed to overturn the conviction based on the fact that his confession in the investigation into Halbach’s murder was involuntary.

Viewers were outraged with the outcome of the case, even going as far as drafting a White House petition, which garnered over 130,000 signatures, asking President Obama to issue full pardons to both Avery and Dassey. Since both of them were state prisoners, the President could not pardon them.

Unless the state changes their mind, and refiles charges, Dassey will be free within the next 90 days.

Source: Variety