making a murderer

Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Freeing Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey

Dassey. Photo: Eric Young/AP

Last August, a Wisconsin federal judge overturned Making a Murderer star Brendan Dassey’s 2007 murder conviction, but his freedom has been delayed due to the appeals process. It now appears that the wait is nearly over: On Thursday, a federal appeals court affirmed the lower court’s decision that Dassey’s confession to the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach was coerced, and that he should be freed. At the time, Dassey was 16; he is now 27 and serving a life sentence. Unless the state of Wisconsin decides to retry Dassey within 90 days, he is expected to be released from prison. Netflix has already committed to future episodes of Making a Murderer, and the show’s directors said at the time of Dassey’s overturned conviction that they “will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead,†so consider these some early spoilers for season two.

Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey Wins Appeal to Be Freed