MILWAUKEE _ Brendan Dassey, who was convicted along with his uncle, Steven Avery, in the murder of Teresa Halbach, has won a court order that could result in his getting a new trial or being freed from prison.
The decision by federal U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin in Milwaukee gives prosecutors 90 days to decide whether to retry Dassey.
Concluding the 91-page decision, Duffin found that investigators made false promises to Dassey during multiple interrogations.
"These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey's confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals' decision to the contrary was an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law," Duffin wrote.
Dassey, who was 16 at the time of the 2005 murder, had argued that his constitutional rights were violated in the way that the case against him was investigated.
The cases of Dassey and Avery, who were convicted in separate trials, gained worldwide attention after the December 2015 release of the Netflix series "Making a Murderer." Both are serving life sentences.
Legal observers have said they expected that Duffin's ruling, if it was in Dassey's favor, would be appealed.
A spokesman with the Wisconsin Department of Justice did not immediately return calls for comment. The attorney who handled the Dassey appeal for the state declined to comment Friday.
