'Making a Murderer' Case Goes before Chicago Appeals Court; Brendan Dassey Conviction at Stake

WISCONSIN — After months of twists and turns, the fate of Brendan Dassey's murder will be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, as attorneys on both sides have 20 minutes Tuesday to argue whether Dassey's conviction remains overturned, or reinstated.

Dassey was charged in 2006 and later convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and second-degree sexual assault, as a party to a crime in a case made famous by the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer.

According to a report Tuesday morning from the Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s deputy solicitor general, Luke Berg will argue that Dassey’s confession was not involuntary and that his conviction should be reinstated. On the other side, Dassey's lawyers will also have 20 minutes to say why a U.S. Magistrate judge's ruling overturning Dassey's conviction be upheld. There is no timetable for the U.S. Court of Appeals decision.

Appeals Judge Blocks Dassey Release from Prison

In November, a U.S. Magistrate judge ordered Dassey be released from prison after overturning his conviction. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel moved quickly, filing an emergency motion in Wisconsin's Seventh Circuit court on seeking the stay of the U.S. Magistrate judge's ruling that he be released from prison with conditions.

Ultimately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago blocked Dassey getting out of prison while the court considered the appeal in his case. Dassey remains behind bars at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wis.

Conviction overturned in August

In August, a federal judge overturned Dassey's conviction, ruling that investigators used deceptive interrogation tactics to coerce Dassey to confess to helping Steven Avery rape and kill Halbach, a photographer, in 2005.

In that ruling, the judge said Dassey's young age — he was 16 when arrested — and "intellectual deficits" played a role in his conviction. The judge's decision notes: "It is clear how the investigators’ actions amounted to deceptive interrogation tactics that overbore Dassey’s free will."

Schimel is appealing that court's ruling, which overturned the conviction of Dassey, who had been sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 41 years in Halbach's 2007 murder.

The murder is the subject of the popular Netflix documentary series, "Making a Murderer."

Schimel Files Appeal

The tactics investigators used were "not constitutionally impermissible acts," Schimel contends in a statement released at the time of his appeal.

“We believe the magistrate judge’s decision that Brendan Dassey’s confession was coerced by investigators, and that no reasonable court could have concluded otherwise, is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law,” Schimel said in a prepared statement.

“Two state courts carefully examined the evidence and properly concluded that Brendan Dassey’s confession to sexually assaulting and murdering Teresa Halbach with his uncle, Steven Avery, was voluntary, and the investigators did not use constitutionally impermissible tactics.”

Opposition Disappointed with Appeal

The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth under the Northwestern Law School's Bluhm Legal Clinic, which worked on Dassey's case when his conviction was overturned in August, released a statement following the attorney general's appeal:

"We are disappointed in the State's decision to prolong Brendan's case by seeking an appeal. We look forward to continuing to defend his rights in court. Like Brendan, we remain grateful to his many supporters for their continued loyalty and strength."