Dassey appeal: Videotaped confession emerges as key issue in U.S. Supreme Court petition

Andy Thompson | Appleton Post-Crescent

Show Caption Hide Caption Brendan Dassey case update summer 2017 Brendan Dassey's case continues through the justice system.

APPLETON - There’s no middle ground when it comes to assessing the impact of Brendan Dassey’s videotaped confession to the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.

Dassey’s lawyers and supporters insist it shows the appalling behavior of investigators who clearly took advantage of a then-16-year-old boy with limited intellectual abilities. But prosecutors and those who strongly believe in Dassey’s guilt say the video proves that he wasn’t intimidated or coerced when he gave incriminating details about Halbach’s gruesome death.

Both Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, are serving life sentences in Halbach's death and were featured in the Netflix docu-series “Making a Murderer.”

The videotaped interrogations could play a vital role in Dassey’s quest for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case.

In a brief filed on May 25, Dassey's attorneys stated: “Written arguments alone … cannot adequately convey what transpired here; for that the Court should review the video of Dassey’s interrogations. It can then draw its own conclusions about whether the interrogators improperly coerced a juvenile with significant intellectual and social limitations. And having drawn its conclusions, the Court can in turn decide whether the Wisconsin courts unreasonably applied this court’s precedent, thus condemning Dassey to a life sentence.”

The Supreme Court will consider Dassey’s petition for review on June 14. Four justices must vote to grant the petition, or it will be denied.

Marsha Levick, deputy director and chief counsel of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, is hopeful that the high court will hear Dassey’s case. Her legal organization was one of six to file friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Dassey’s request.

“Anyone who watched the interrogation unfold, it was stomach-turning,” said Levick, who believes detectives coerced Dassey into saying what they wanted him to say.

“I think the documentary shows that in bright lights,” she said. “It was all because of the availability of the videotape.”

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Wisconsin is among the states that require juvenile interrogations to be recorded. In 2005, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued that mandate to law enforcement agencies.

“It’s a perfect example of why they need to record interrogations,” said Daniel Medwed, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston. “The video shows it was a flawed interrogation.”

Medwed said the video carries much more impact that a written transcript.

“There’s really no replacement for the video. Black and white on a transcript wouldn’t deal with the body language that jumps out at you when you look at the video,” he said.

In August 2016, U.S. Magistrate William Duffin of Milwaukee overturned Dassey's conviction after finding his constitutional rights were violated because investigators for the prosecution made false promises during multiple interrogations.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which reinstated Dassey’s conviction last December, took a different view of the video.

The majority opinion of the Chicago-based court stated that the interview took place in a “soft” room that was equipped for videotaping. During the three-hour interview, Dassey was repeatedly offered food, drinks, restroom breaks and opportunities to rest, it stated.

In addition, Dassey was never threatened or intimidated by detectives, and he had no difficulties understanding questions, the opinion said. The court reinstated the conviction on a 4-3 vote.

But to Levick and others who say Dassey’s confession was involuntary, the message from the videotape is obvious.

“I think the Dassey case doesn’t really leave much doubt about the tactics utilized by law enforcement,” Levick said. “There is universal outrage in the way this statement was obtained from Brendan.”