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Brendan Dassey, is escorted out of a Manitowoc County Circuit courtroom. (March 2006) Morry Gash/PA Images
sentenced to life
Making a Murderer's Brendan Dassey is about to be freed
His conviction was overturned over the summer.
BRENDAN DASSEY IS SET to be released from prison pending an appeal, according to his lawyer.
Solicitor Kathleen Zellner says, however, that the Wisconsin Attorney General is preparing a motion to prevent his release, despite his conviction being overturned in August.
After the conviction was overturned, prosecutors had 90 days with which to submit an appeal. Dassey will now be released pending that appeal.
Dassey was featured along with his uncle in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer. He and his uncle Steven Avery were sentenced to life terms for the murder of a woman in 2005.
Their story was featured in the Netflix documentary series, prompting many to believe that they were improperly convicted.
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In August, the judge strongly worded rebukes of the investigating police and of Leonard Kachinsky, the public defender appointed in 2006 to represent Dassey — a 16-year-old minor at the time.
US Magistrate Judge William Duffin referred to Kachinsky’s representation as misconduct that was “indefensible.” He also said police investigators acted inappropriately toward Dassey.
Following release of the Netflix series, fans called for the two men to be freed and almost 130,000 people signed a White House petition asking for a presidential pardon.
The documentary was prompted by the unusual story of Avery, who remains in prison serving a life sentence.
He was exonerated of a rape case through DNA evidence and freed from prison in 2003 after serving 18 years behind bars.
Two years later, while he was suing Manitowoc County in Wisconsin over wrongful imprisonment, he was arrested over the death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach.
Dassey was also charged with Halbach’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
© – AFP 2016 with reporting by Rónán Duffy
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