Duke Behnke

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

The techniques used to interrogate 16-year-old Brendan Dassey about the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach “were a recipe for a false confession,” one of his attorneys said Friday.

Steven Drizin, co-founder of Northwestern University's Center for Wrongful Convictions of Youth, which is appealing Dassey's case in federal court, said the techniques also run counter to the book “Criminal Interrogation and Confessions,” a leading resource on interrogation techniques used by police.

“Brendan’s confession is one of the most contaminated confessions I’ve ever seen,” Drizin told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “He keeps getting wrong answers, and the interrogators keep correcting him and feeding him the answers they want to hear.”

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The manner in which Dassey’s 2007 confession was elicited has raised concerns following the release of the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” which recaps the convictions of Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, in the murder of Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer who disappeared after she visited Avery Auto Salvage near Mishicot.

The concerns aren't limited to Dassey’s defense team, nor to Wisconsin.

Ralph DeMarco of San Diego said he believes Dassey “is as innocent as the driven snow.” He came to the conclusion after watching the documentary and then reading the transcripts of Dassey’s interrogations.

“I haven't been able to sleep since I waded through the progression of multiple coercive interrogations this helpless teenager endured with no adult support for his many claims of innocence,” DeMarco said.

Reid technique

The book "Criminal Interrogations and Confessions" presents a nine-step process of interrogation known as the Reid technique. Drizin said it is the most widely used interrogation training technique in the United States.

Drizin said the Reid technique tries to limit a suspect’s alternatives to the lesser of two evils: one explanation suggested is the suspect is a cold, calculating murderer; the other explanation suggested is some kind of face-saving excuse.

“Those kinds of techniques are highly coercive when used with teenagers and children because their assessment of risk, their understanding of long-term consequences, is developmentally different than with regard to adults," Drizin said. "They’re looking at short-term rewards. ‘What do I have to say to stop this interrogation and to get out of this room and go home.’ That’s their primary interest.”

Toward the end of "Making a Murderer," Mark Fremgen, Dassey's trial attorney, says the Reid technique is designed "to elicit confessions, not get to the truth."

The statement drew a rebuke from Joseph P. Buckley, president of John E. Reid and Associates of Chicago and one of the authors of the 2013 edition of "Criminal Interrogations and Confessions."

Buckley said in a email to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that Reid's training materials describe "what to look for as a possible indication of innocence during the interrogation process."

Reid and Associates' literature also says interrogators must exercise extreme caution when dealing with juveniles or people with mental or psychological impairments. Dassey had a low IQ and was interrogated without the presence of a parent or attorney when he confessed.

"Certainly these individuals can and do commit very serious crimes," Reid and Associates says, "but since many false confession cases involve juveniles and/or individuals with some significant mental or psychological disabilities, extreme care must be exercised when questioning these individuals and the investigator has to modify their approach with these individuals."

Book vs. reality

Drizin acknowledges the cautions in the Reid book, but he said there is a disconnect between what's in the book and what Reid covers in its training sessions. He said most police officers don't read the book.

The distinction between interrogation techniques applicable to adults and those applicable to juveniles or individuals with low social maturity or cognitive disabilities isn't discussed in the training, Drizin said.

"I can’t account for every single training that Reid does, but my colleagues have been to their trainings, and I have viewed all of their video trainings," he said. "The notion that there is distinction between how you interrogate kids and how you interrogate adults doesn’t come through in their trainings.”

During the interrogation of Dassey, detectives Mark Wiegert and Tom Fassbender:

Suggest to Dassey that they will help him and that leniency will follow if he confesses.

Fictitiously claim they have evidence that links Dassey to the crime.

Feed him facts that only the killer would know.

Such persuasive techniques should be avoided when interrogating juveniles with low social maturity or diminished mental capacity, according to Reid.

"These suspects may not have the fortitude or confidence to challenge such evidence and, depending on the nature of the crime, may become confused as to their own possible involvement if the police tell them evidence clearly indicates they committed the crime," the book says.

Drizin said the help theme was used repeatedly in the interrogation of Dassey. "They said, ‘We’re here to help you, Brendan.’ ‘We’re in your corner.’ ‘We’re thinking that even if you involve yourself more in the crime, you will be OK,'" Drizin said. "Those kinds of statements certainly should never be used with juveniles and suggestible suspects like Brendan.”

Buckley and others at Reid and Associates did not return telephone calls and emails seeking comment for this story.

Drizin said a publication by the International Association of Chiefs of Police titled "Reducing Risks: An Executive’s Guide to Effective Juvenile Interview and Interrogation" instructs police how to interrogate suspects in a way to reduce the risk of false or coerced confessions.

Dassey's case

"Making a Murderer" has produced an outpouring of support for Dassey, not necessarily that he is innocent, but that his confession was coerced and that he deserves a new trial.

An emphasis of the Reid technique is that interrogators must not disclose facts about the investigation to a suspect because the best way to determine whether the suspect is giving a true confession is for the suspect to provide those facts without any prompting or persuasion by officers.

In the Dassey interrogation, Wiegert introduces the notion that Halbach was shot in the head.

Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Jerome Fox ruled that although police misled the teen in a March 1, 2006, interrogation, the confession was given voluntarily and was admissible as evidence. Dassey denied involvement in the crime during his trial.

Drizin said Dassey didn't realized the seriousness of the situation during the interrogation — he asked whether he would be released in time to make his sixth-hour class because he had a project due — and was manipulated by promises that the truth will set him free.

“Brendan is a concrete thinker,” Drizin said. “He’s not really capable of abstract thought. When you tell him, ‘The truth will set you free,’ he thinks he’s going to go home if he tells you what you want to hear.”

TIMELINE: History of the Steven Avery case

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Duke Behnke: 920-993-7176, or dbehnke@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @DukeBehnke