Supremes nix appeal in ‘Netflix slay’
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear Brendan Dassey's appeal of his 2007 murder conviction.
In order for an appeal request to be approved, at least four of the nine judges have to agree to it. No explanation for the denial was provided.
Dassey was sentenced to life in prison along with his uncle Steven Avery for murdering photographer Teresa Halbach before burning her body in 2005. Their case was the subject of the Netflix minidocuseries “Making a Murderer.” Avery is also fighting his conviction.
When the series was released in 2015, Dassey's filmed interrogation was included and sparked a national debate over his innocence and the tactics used by police. Dassey was a 16year-old at the time of the murder and was questioned without a parent or attorney present. His lawyers have argued that the officers allegedly coerced the “learning disabled” child into his confession.
“When you use these tactics on someone like Brendan, who is young, inexperienced with the police, naive, compliant and suggestible, then you run the risk of getting coerced and false confessions," his attorney Steve Drizin argued to the Court in February.
But repeated attempts at having the declaration of Dassey's guilt thrown out and him being granted a new trial have all failed.