MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Brendan Dassey’s attorney Laura Nirider is petitioning Governor Tony Evers to grant executive clemency to her client.
That can be done through a pardon or commutation.
“You will see the time is right to bring Brendan home.”
Nirider and others claim the then 16-year-old Dassey was coerced into confessing that he helped his uncle murder photographer Teresa Halbach in 2006.
“He gave a confession that has become universally regarded as false.”
Steve Drizin, is a Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
“While coercion is more subtle today then beating the suspect with a rubber hose, there was not anything subtle about the way investigators broke Brenden’s will.”
Dassey is now 29-years-old and has been in prison since he and his uncle Steven Avery were convicted in 2007.
“Governor Evers has said that freeing people that don’t need incarceration is a moral issue,” said Nirider.
Nirider says clemency is one of the last remaining legal options for 29-year-old Dassey.
The men’s cases were the subject of the Netflix series “Making A Murderer,” which cast doubt on the process used to convict them.
Dassey, who was 16 at the time of the Halbach murder, confessed to the killing in a videotaped interview with investigators. The interview has been criticized for the tactics used. Dassey’s attorneys have said he was a special needs student in school.
Avery is appealing his conviction in state court. His latest appeals are due Oct. 4. His attorney recently announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Halbach’s “real killer.”
