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‘Making a Murderer’ Convict Ordered Released From Prison

On judge’s command; but retrial may await.

Brendan Dassey, the Wisconsin man featured prominently in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, will be released from prison, a judge ruled Monday. He will remain out of prison pending future court developments. Dassey's conviction was overturned in August 2016, reversing a 2007 life sentence on rape and murder charges. He was 17 at the time of his conviction.

Dassey, who has a learning disorder confessed to his alleged involvement in the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach, but later recanted his confession. Making a Murderer highlighted the controversial techniques used during Dassey's interrogation, during which investigators repeatedly suggested he had committed rape and murder, and pressured him to confess. Dassey later testified that most of the details he offered in his confession came from a book he had read. In August 2016, a judge ruled that his confession had been involuntary, and violated his constitutional rights.