Andy Thompson/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

APPLETON - Jarrett Adams has a keen understanding of Brendan Dassey’s plight in the criminal justice system.

Adams was incarcerated for nearly a decade before his sexual assault conviction was reversed and he was set free in 2007. It was an agonizing uphill battle before justice finally prevailed.

That experience puts Adams in a position to understand what Dassey is going through in the wake of twice being denied conditional release from prison after his conviction in the Teresa Halbach case was overturned.

“It’s traumatic,” said Adams, who has made considerable strides since his exoneration. The Illinois man obtained his law degree after leaving prison and now works at The Innocence Project in New York.

“You’re being told ‘no’ for so long. You’re living each day, and you don’t know about the next."

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It appeared to be a foregone conclusion last November that Dassey — who has been in custody since 2006 — was on the verge of being conditionally released from prison. That optimism by his supporters followed a decision a few months earlier in which a federal magistrate judge overturned his conviction.

But those hopes were crushed when the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit blocked his release.

Dassey’s hopes were lifted again in June, after the Seventh Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the ruling that overturned his conviction. It was widely assumed that Dassey was about to taste freedom for the first time since he was arrested at age 16.

That fell through as well, when the Seventh Circuit ruled Dassey would remain in prison until appeals in the case are exhausted.

The ruling was good news for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which has argued all along that Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, killed the 25-year-old Halbach in 2005. The case was featured on the hit Netflix docuseries "Making a Murderer."

The DOJ has requested the full Seventh Circuit hear the appeal of the decision overturning the conviction. It also is known as an “en banc” review. If that fails, the state will then seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In arguing in June that Dassey should remain in prison while the appeals process runs its course, the state cited prior rulings and “the conclusion by a Wisconsin jury that Dassey committed heinous crimes.”

“Dassey’s release pending full resolution of this appeal would harm the public interest, as he has been convicted of rape, murder, and mutilation of a corpse, thereby establishing his dangerousness to the public,” the state’s motion said.

Attorneys for Dassey countered that he prevailed in two rulings regarding his conviction, is not a danger to the public and deserves to be released conditionally from prison because he is not dangerous or a flight risk.

“Mr. Dassey, now 27 years old, has been held in custody since March 31, 2006 — since he was 16 years old — for a conviction, based almost entirely on an involuntary confession, that has been overturned.”

Filing appeals would result in litigation that would last “well over a year” and “will result in profound injury to Mr. Dassey.”

“… Any remaining interest the State has in keeping him in prison pales in comparison to Brendan’s real and daily harm from continued incarceration.”

Adams said Dassey faces a long road back — even if he is eventually released from prison. And getting denied conditional release is making things even more difficult.

“It places his entire life on hold. You just hope someone hits the play button,” he said. "Even if he gets out, who knows what the prosecution will do? He is still not getting back to his normalcy of life.”

Adams, now 36, was 17 when he and two friends from Chicago drove to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sept. 6, 1998, to sample college partying. A woman living in a dormitory accused Adams and his friends with sexual assault. He was convicted by a Juneau County jury and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Adams fought his conviction and, with the assistance of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, prevailed in his federal appeal and walked free in March 2007.

Enduring the ups and downs of a federal appeal took a toll on Adams. "When I went through it, I didn't know who I was," he recalled. "I can remember how scary it was."

Even when he got the phone call in prison that he won in court and was going to be released, Adams was skeptical.

"It was not real to me until I looked through the rear view mirror as I got away from there,” he said.

Adams said of Dassey's case: ”You hope for the best and you want the best, but you don’t know.

“Faith is one those things that is unseen, you can't grab it. You just have to believe in it.”

Andy Thompson:920-996-7270 or awthompson@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @Thompson_AW