'Making a Murderer': Brendan Dassey to Be Released by End of Week
The "Making a Murderer" subject was convicted of murder in 2007.
— -- Brendan Dassey will be released from prison by the end of the week, ABC News has confirmed.
The "Making a Murderer" subject will leave Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, by Friday at 8 p.m., according to legal paperwork obtained by ABC News. Today, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin denied Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel's request to stay the release.
"In the motion to stay the respondent largely reargues the same points already considered and rejected by the court in deciding Dassey’s motion for release. The court finds that reconsideration of these arguments yields the same conclusion," the judge wrote in his denial.
Dassey's attorney, Lauren Nirider, told ABC News earlier this week that she hoped her client would spend Thanksgiving with his family after almost a decade behind bars.
“We’re over the moon," she said. "Brendan and his mother have spent 10 Thanksgivings apart and the prospect of spending the next one together … it’s incredible. We’re just so grateful."
In 2007, Dassey, now 26, was convicted along with his uncle, Steven Avery, of murdering photographer Teresa Halbach two years prior. Dassey was sentenced to life in prison, but this past August, a judge overturned his conviction, stating that the then-teenager's confession was obtained using questionable tactics.
Court documents obtained by ABC News indicated that investigators made leading statements including, "Tell us, and what else did you do? Come on. Something with the head, Brendan?" and, throughout a four-hour interrogation, assured Dassey that he had "nothing to worry about."
The documents also noted "Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult."
About a month later, Schimel appealed the overturned conviction on behalf of Warden Michael Dittmann and the State of Wisconsin. Schimel's office also released a press release stating that Halbach's family "fully supports the state's decision to seek justice on behalf of their daughter."
The appeal is ongoing, but in the meantime, Duffin ordered Dassey's release, though he is subject to a number of restrictions, including a ban on travel. Dassey is also ordered to have no contact with Avery, who remains in prison.