Brendan Dassey

Early life

Brendan Ray Dassey was born in 1989 to Barbara and Peter Dassey in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. He lived with his three older brothers (Blaine, Bryan and Bobby), and an older half-brother (Brad) on his father's side. After his parents divorced when he was two, his father married Lori Mathieson, and they lived nearby. His mother married Tom Janda, who moved in until they separated in 2005 pending divorce.

His mother started dating Scott Tadych. Dassey lived in a trailer by Avery Auto Salvage in the town of Gibson, within the mailing area of Two Rivers. His grandparents, Allan and Dolores Avery, also lived in a trailer there, as well as uncles. The family often spent weekends at their cabins near Crivitz, Marinette County.

Dassey attended Mishicot High School, traveling on the school bus with his brother Blaine. He was quiet and respectful to teachers, but was enrolled in special education classes. He was in some regular classes due to federal regulations. He was failing three courses.

On school tests, his overall IQ classification would be either 'borderline deficiency' or 'low average'. On subtests, he was sometimes average in math and thinking, but his verbal IQ was in the very lowest category. Dassey could read and speak intelligibly in sentences, a developmental milestone achieved between the ages of four and six. However, when Dassey was nearly sixteen, he was tested for range of language fundamentals, which included receptive and expressive language, verbal memory and social context - the results indicated that he performed at level of an average six to twelve year old.

The school psychologist observed that he willingly engaged in speech and language therapy, and generally had minimal eye contact, gestures and vocal range. His school records show that he had a profound language-based learning disability. His uncle Steven Avery, who had been in prison since before Brendan was born, was exonerated of a violent rape and released in September 2003, eventually moving into a trailer next door. After receiving minimal financial compensation, Avery was engaged in a multimillion dollar civil lawsuit against the Sheriffs and District Attorney, as well as a political process for an 'Avery Bill' to regulate police handling of eyewitnesses and custodial interrogations.

Interrogations

Brendan Dassey was in school in Mishicot when Halbach arrived at the Avery property. He arrived home around 3:40pm as usual, with his brother Blaine, and according to them he played on their PlayStation. Dassey was interviewed on Sunday, November 6, by Marinette County Sheriffs Deputies O'Neill and (Todd) Baldwin, in their squad car. Dassey mentioned in passing that the family had talked about having a bonfire for schoolkids on Thursday, November 3, but it was cancelled.

After 20 minutes the officers became confrontational and suggested, based on information they believed at the time, that he should have seen Halbach when he arrived on the school bus on Monday, October 31. Dassey then talked about seeing her. Apart from that, when asked about the evening, he said Avery came by to get help to push a broken vehicle (Suzuki Samurai) into his detached garage. Avery, in a recorded jail call from his fiance around 9pm that day while outside, said he had brought Brendan over to help.

Dassey was interrogated again on November 10, about a bonfire alleged by Bobby Dassey to have occurred at Avery's on November 2 or 1, which Dassey then talked about attending on November 1 or 2. On February 27, DoJ DCI special agent Fassbender and Calumet Sheriff Deputy Wiegert went to Dassey's school and told him he was at a bonfire on October 31 (reportedly based on an unnamed witness), and they believed Halbach was burned there, so he would have seen body parts.

February–March 2006

After going through several stages of the adult Reid method of interrogation, including legalistic threats and promises, Dassey talked about seeing body parts in a fire on October 31. Bloody clothes were also suggested and talked about, explained as the result of an unwitnessed stabbing by Avery. Dassey was taken with his mother to the police station, where he repeated such answers on video. They were then taken to a motel and, that night, interrogated about old bleach stains on Dassey's jeans, which was not recorded.

The next day Dassey returned to school and home. The following morning, March 1, he was taken from his school to the police station.

A central issue was interrogators asking what Avery did to Halbach's head, because they knew a report had concluded that a skull fragment showed bullet marks. But after Dassey gave different answers, such as cut her hair, they told Dassey she was shot by asking who shot her in the head. Dassey replied that Avery shot her outside, then changed the location.

Trial

Public defender Mark Fremgen took over for Kachinsky, but only after securing funding for expert fees to bring in lawyer Ray Edelstein, who handled the interrogation recordings. Fremgen himself managed the forensic evidence, the client, and psychologist Robert H. Gordon, but he did not retain a specialist in police interrogation tactics like Richard Leo or Lawrence T. White. Edelstein pointed out Dassey’s language difficulties but never linked them directly to the interrogations.

In March 2007, Steven Avery was found guilty of killing Halbach; he chose not to testify, and the state did not claim anyone else was involved. Forensic anthropologist Leslie Eisenberg testified that she visually identified some bone fragments from a Janda barrel as human, though the prosecution argued Avery had placed them there. Dassey was hardly mentioned during Avery’s trial, though jury selection revealed that potential jurors knew about his case from press conferences.

Continued imprisonment

The crime lab confirmed they had a DNA sample from Dassey, but no physical trace of him was ever discovered. School bus driver Lisa Buchner stated she picked up Brendan and his brother Blaine in the morning and returned them to Avery Road between 3:30 and 3:40 p.m. as usual; she also recalled seeing a woman photographing a junk vehicle nearby, but admitted she could not pinpoint the exact day or week. Dassey’s own trial started on April 16, 2007, with a jury brought in from Dane County and kept sequestered.

The key piece of evidence was the March 1 interrogation, which was played in court. The defense tried to introduce the February 27 and May 13 interrogations, but Judge Fox blocked them as hearsay; however, he allowed the May 13 phone call with Dassey’s mother, which the prosecution used. The press speculated that jurors would remember that call most vividly because, during it, his mother reacted as though his statements about events before she got home around 5 p.m. were true.

Public response and appeals

In 2008, Professor Steven Drizin, a specialist in false confessions at Northwestern University’s law school, decided Dassey’s case could benefit his wrongful convictions clinic and provide valuable experience for his students. He handed it to third-year law student Laura Nirider, who eventually became the main attorney. Trial lawyer Thomas Geraghty also stepped in to represent Dassey at points. A local Milwaukee lawyer, Robert Dvorak, who collaborated with them, discovered the details of O’Kelly’s interrogation of Dassey.

By August 2009, the team filed a motion asking for a new trial. That October, Drizin helped start the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth within the law school’s Bluhm legal clinic, which then took over Dassey’s case. A televised hearing on the motion stretched over several days in January 2010, but Judge Fox denied it that December. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld that denial in January 2013, and the state’s Supreme Court chose not to hear the case.

Making a Murderer

When Making a Murderer came out in December 2015, it reached a huge global audience and sparked intense media coverage. The Halbach family criticized the series, saying it tried to make money off the Averys’ side while they grieved for Teresa. Former juror Robert Covington admitted he had doubts about Dassey’s mental fitness during testimony and believed a retrial was warranted. The Netflix show fueled worldwide conversations about wrongful convictions, forced confessions, police questioning of minors, and fixing the criminal justice system.

People started petitions calling for Dassey’s release, for a Wisconsin law banning police from interrogating minors without a lawyer, and for an investigation into the officers who questioned Dassey. Support rallies for both Dassey and Avery took place in the US, UK, and Australia. Director Peter Jackson and others drew comparisons between Dassey’s interrogation and that of Jessie Miskelly. By July 2016, a second season of Making a Murderer was in the works, centered on Dassey’s post-conviction fight and his family’s experience; it aired in October 2018 to mixed reactions.