Dassey seeks release in Halbach murder

Brendan Dassey, who was convicted of participating in the gruesome 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, has taken his quest for freedom to the federal court system.

Lawyers for Dassey, 25, recently filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The legal move is designed to prompt a federal judge to determine whether Dassey's arrest and conviction were legal.

Dassey was 16 when Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer, was murdered in Manitowoc County. Dassey's uncle, Steven Avery, was tried and convicted separately. A jury found Dassey guilty of murdering Halbach when she visited Avery Auto Salvage near Mishicot to take pictures for a car magazine. Both men were sentenced to life in prison for being a party to first-degree intentional homicide, sexually assaulting Halbach and mutilating her corpse.

Dassey's attorneys claim in the memorandum accompanying the petition — as in previous state court appeals — that his constitutional rights were violated due to ineffective assistance of counsel and an involuntary confession.

"We're asking that Brendan be released or — at a minimum — get a new trial," Laura Nirider, an attorney at Bluhm Legal Clinic at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, told Post-Crescent Media.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is handling the federal appeal. Department spokesperson Dana Brueck declined comment on the merits of the case. A series of legal briefs were ordered by a federal magistrate judge in mid-November.

In January 2013, a state Court of Appeals rejected Dassey's request for a new trial. On Aug. 1, 2013, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Dassey's request to review the case.

Mike Halbach, spokesman for the Halbach family, did not return phone calls to Post-Crescent Media, but said in previous interviews that he was confident that the convictions of his sister's killers would never be overturned.

A writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a convicted criminal into federal court, where a judge reviews the legality of that person's arrest or imprisonment. There are several possible outcomes. The judge could reject it, grant it and order a new trial or set the defendant free — among other options.

The evidence must be extremely compelling for a judge to grant the writ, said Michael O'Hear, a law professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

"They are pretty much a long shot," he said. "It's very unlikely that any habeas filing will be granted."

One writ that was granted was filed by lawyers for Michael Piaskowski — who was convicted with five other men in the 1992 murder of Green Bay paper mill worker Tom Monfils. A federal judge ruled in 2001 that there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction. Piaskowski was freed from prison, and the ruling was later upheld by a U.S. Court of Appeals.

Dassey contended throughout the state appeals process that law enforcement used psychological interrogating tactics that "overbore his will and exceeded his personal ability to resist due to his age, intellectual limitations and high suggestibility."

Last year, the state appeals court rejected Dassey's claim of alleged ineffective assistance of counsel. The court also concluded that Dassey's confession was voluntary and admissible.

Nirider said there is "zero physical evidence" connecting Dassey to Halbach's murder.

"We're just looking for an opportunity to be heard in court," she said.

— Andy Thompson: 920-993-1000, ext. 257, or athompson@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @Thompson_AW

Habeas corpus defined

A writ of habeas corpus — Latin for "you have the body" — is used to bring a prisoner before a court to determine if the person's imprisonment or detention is lawful. In the U.S. system, federal courts can use the writ of habeas corpus to determine if a state's detention of a prisoner is valid. A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the state agent, usually a warden, who holds the defendant in custody. The federal court's review of a habeas corpus petition is considered to be collateral relief of a state court decision rather than direct review.

Source: Cornell University Law School

The Teresa Halbach murder

Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey were convicted in the death of Teresa Halbach, 25, a freelance photographer from the Calumet County community of St. John. The murder occurred in Manitowoc County.

Halbach was last seen photographing a van Avery was selling for Dassey's mother at the Avery auto salvage yard west of Mishicot on Oct. 31, 2005. Bone fragments, teeth and camera and cellphone pieces found in a burn pit near Avery's trailer were later confirmed through lab testing to be those of Halbach.

Avery, now 52, formerly of Mishicot, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after a six-week trial. He was sentenced June 1, 2007 to life in prison without parole, plus five years.

Dassey, now 25, Avery's nephew who lived on the Avery property, was convicted as an adult with being a party to sexual assault, first-degree intentional homicide, and mutilation of a corpse. A Manitowoc County judge set a parole eligibility date of Oct. 31, 2048, when he sentenced Dassey to life in prison in 2007.

Source: Post-Crescent Media archives