Making A Murderer's Brendan Dassey To Be Freed Following Appeals Court Decision

Making A Murderer's Brendan Dassey is finally getting some leeway in his case. On Thursday June 22, a federal appeals court upheld the 27-year-old's overturned conviction. In other words, instead of serving a life sentence in prison, Dassey will be freed. However, there is still room for the state of Wisconsin to try Dassey again in the next 90 days, and the state could also still appeal to the Supreme Court. But if neither of those situations happen, then Dassey will be released from prison after serving for 10 years.

William Duffin, one of the three judges in the federal appeals court, cited "Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult," as evidence that his 2005 confession (as seen in the Netflix documentary) was "involuntary" and coerced in an attempt to find the killer of Teresa Halbach. This is a big win for Dassey, who was only 16 at the time of his incarceration.

The nephew of Steven Avery (still imprisoned on a life sentence) became headline news along with his uncle following the premiere of Making A Murderer in 2016. To audiences, and legal professionals, the plausibility of whether he killed Halbach was brought into question.

Dassey's lawyer, Laura Nirider, confirmed the ruling to ABC News and tweeted out (in her first tweet) about the "very good news." She wrote: "What better way to join Twitter than to announce some very good news: Victory in Brendan #Dassey appeal. Thank God. #MakingaMurderer." Another attorney of his, Steven Drizin, shared in on the excitement, tweeting: "THIS JUST IN. 7th Circuit AFFIRMS Judge Duffin in 2-1 decision. This round goes to Brendan Dassey 2-1." It's very likely that these events will play a part in the second season of the show.

ABC News also points out that this court is the same one that denied Dassey's same request last summer.