'Convicting a Murderer' Episode 9 claims Steven Avery manipulated Brendan Dassey
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The penultimate episode of "Convicting a Murderer," released Thursday, paints an image of Steven Avery as an abusive and manipulating killer who roped his 16-year-old nephew, Brendan Dassey, into a horrific sexual assault and homicide.
"Convicting a Murderer" is a 10-part docuseries rebuttal to Netflix's "Making a Murderer," which since its premiere in 2015, has brought international attention to the 2005 Manitowoc-area homicide of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach and convictions of Avery and Dassey, and led people around the globe to advocate for the two men's innocence.
However, "Convicting a Murderer" aims to prove that the Netflix series left out key pieces of evidence and facts that point to the two men as guilty. Episode 9, titled "Manipulating Brendan," focuses on Dassey's involvement in the crime and the investigation and court proceedings related to his case.
While the series has been relentless in its criticisms of Avery's moral character and the Netflix series' exclusion of certain pieces of evidence, "Convicting a Murderer" extends some sympathy to Dassey.
"I think 'Making a Murderer' is an accurate title. It is. But it was Steven Avery making Brendan Dassey into a murderer," Dan O'Donnell, a legal reporter and conservative Milwaukee talk show, says in the episode.
"Convicting a Murderer" is streaming on conservative media platform DailyWire+. Its first three episodes premiered Sept. 8, while each subsequent episode has been made available every Thursday. Next week, Oct. 26, will be the final episode's premiere.
In April, The Daily Wire announced it had obtained "Convicting a Murderer" and was making conservative political commentator Candace Owens the docuseries' host — but the series has been in the works for over six years. Director Shawn Rech did not previously say it would have any particular political affiliation.
Both "Convicting a Murderer" and "Making a Murderer" tell the story of the investigation and trial surrounding Halbach's murder. On Oct 31, 2005, Halbach went missing. A photographer for Auto Trader Magazine, Halbach's last assignment before her disappearance was to take photos of a vehicle at Avery's Auto Salvage, a family business near Two Rivers.
Days later, searchers located Halbach's vehicle on Avery's property, and Avery was arrested. He had been out of prison for just over two years, after serving 18 years for a 1985 sexual assault he did not commit. Avery was exonerated of that crime in 2003, after advances in DNA technology pointed to a different man as the assailant.
Immediately after Halbach's disappearance, even before his arrest, Avery claimed he was being framed by law enforcement. At the time, he had a pending lawsuit against Manitowoc County and the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office for his false conviction, in which he was seeking $36 million.
Dassey was arrested and charged in connection with Halbach's murder after he told investigators in March 2006 that he assisted Avery in sexually assaulting and killing Halbach, then burning her body.
Both Avery and Dassey were convicted after separate trials in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.
Here are some takeaways from Episode 9: Manipulating Brendan.
A frame job would have taken more than just a couple conspiring law enforcement officers
Episode 9 begins with footage from interviews with various investigators, law experts and case enthusiasts discussing the unlikeliness that Steven Avery was framed. The sources review various pieces of evidence pointing to Avery's guilt that were discussed previously in the series, and theorize how law enforcement might have carried out the setup, if it was a frame job.
Tom Fassbender, retired special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and co-lead investigator on the case, points out that if law enforcement had framed Avery, they would have made some of the evidence in the case, like Halbach's car key found by Avery's desk and the bullet fragment that contained Halbach's DNA found underneath an air compressor in Avery's garage, easier to find.
A "case enthusiast," named in the docuseries only by his first name, Rich, argues that law enforcement framing Avery would have required the efforts of more than just one or two officers, as Avery's attorneys claimed at trial.
“It would have taken many people, with no connection to this man whatsoever, to come together and say, ‘All right, let’s get this guy,'" he says in the episode.
Avery's brother, Earl Avery, agrees it's improbable that police framed his brother when they flocked to the Avery property following news of Halbach's disappearance.
"You got 50, 75, 100 squad cars or whatever up and down both sides of that road … and they all lied? They’re all fabricators? I just, I can’t see it," Earl Avery says.
Dassey's confession was not coerced, law enforcement says
Lead investigators Fassbender and Calumet County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Wiegert's interrogation of Dassey was put under heavy scrutiny by "Making a Murderer."
Investigators first brought Dassey to the Manitowoc Police Department on March 1, 2006, after Dassey's cousin told investigators she believed Dassey had lost weight and seemed more emotional in the months since the investigation started. During this interrogation, which lasted around four hours, Dassey confessed to going over to Avery's trailer the night of Oct. 31, 2005, and sexually assaulting Halbach at his uncle's invitation, then helping Avery kill Halbach and burn her body.
At one point during the interrogation, Dassey asked Fassbender and Wiegert if he would be able to make it back to class before the end of school day, because he had an assignment due. At the end, when the two investigators informed Dassey he was under arrest and would be taken to jail, Dassey asked if it would be for more than a day. Footage of the interrogation seems to make it clear Dassey did not fully grasp the consequences of his confession.
While Dassey made more statements about his involvement in Halbach's sexual assault and murder to law enforcement over the next couple months, he repeatedly changed facts and eventually claimed the entire confession was made-up, with details based on a book he read.
“I don’t feel like I know what Brendan did. I’m not even sure if I think Brendan knows anymore. He’s truly a sphynx to me," says an attorney and "case enthusiast" the docuseries names as John "Puzzledbyitall."
Dassey's attorney argued at trial that his confession was coerced, and footage from "Making a Murderer" seems to offer support for this claim. Dassey sought post-conviction relief. In August 2016, a federal judge overturned Dassey's conviction in a ruling that granted Dassey's petition for either release or a new trial. But prosecutors appealed this decision, and in December 2017, a further review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld Dassey's conviction, quashing hopes of release.
The Seventh Circuit court made the decision in a 4-3 vote. While the majority opinion said they did not find that Dassey's confession to police was coerced, the dissenting opinion called the decision "a travesty of justice."
In Episode 9 of "Convicting a Murderer," Fassbender says Dassey was specific in his confessions about what details did and did not happen, even despite interrogation pressure from Fassbender and Wiegert. And the episode includes a clip from Dassey's trial of a forensic psychologist testifying that while he believed Dassey is highly suggestible when responding to leading questions.
"The officers were gathering information about a really serious crime from somebody who was a witness, and during the course of the interview became a suspect. What were they supposed to do?" former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz says. "Were the cops supposed to stand up and say, ‘Wait a second Brendan, you’re making admissions now, you’re implicating yourself in these crimes'? That’s nonsense."
RELATED: Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey remain imprisoned. Here's where their court proceedings stand.
Dassey's first attorney has some regrets
Len Kachinsky took on the role of Dassey's public defender less than a week after Dassey's confession, after the first lawyer assigned to represent Dassey withdrew from the case.
Kachinsky, in an interview in Episode 9, says the first thing he did was file a motion to suppress Dassey's confession.
"I told Dassey on numerous times that if his motion is denied, and that’s been submitted into evidence, we’re pretty much dead in the water in court," Kachinsky says.
At a hearing in May 2006, a judge denied this motion, ruling that Dassey's confession would be upheld as evidence. That same day, an investigator hired by Kachinsky named Michael O'Kelly met with Dassey to try to get another confession out of him. Kachinsky was not present for this interrogation.
This interrogation footage was subjected to harsh criticism after it was featured on "Making a Murderer." O'Kelly pressured Dassey to provide more information, and threatened to leave and not help him — which he claimed would doom Dassey to a life sentence — if Dassey did not admit guilt.
"I have a number of regrets," Kachinsky shares in Episode 9. "The first regret was ever hiring Mike O’Kelly."
However, "Convicting a Murderer" points out, this confession evidence was not a part of the trial, but was merely intended for use by the defense team. The public first became aware of the O'Kelly confession in 2010 when Dassey's appeals attorney subpoenaed that footage.
But following Dassey's admission of guilt to O'Kelly, Kachinsky allowed Dassey to speak to the state's investigators, Fassbender and Wiegert, again without Kachinsky present.
Kachinsky says the interview was "just to confirm that Dassey was willing to testify against Avery." But on the day the state investigators wanted to meet with Dassey, Kachinsky had Army Reserve duty.
"With 20/20 hindsight, I would have said 'we're not going to do this interview when I had military duty, we're going to have to put it off for the next week, and if that causes some problems, you know, so be it.'" Kachinsky says in Episode 9. "Who knows, his family might have gotten to him in the meantime, that was what I was thinking as far as the need for speed goes.”
In August 2006, Dassey was granted a request for a new attorney, and Kachinsky was replaced by Mark Fremgen, who represented Dassey at his April 2007 trial.
RELATED: Steven Avery, Brendan Dassey and ‘Making a Murderer’: Complete coverage
Dassey had opportunities for a plea deal, but declined due to family advice
Although "Convicting a Murderer" comes to the conclusion that Dassey is guilty of assisting Avery in Halbach's sexual assault and murder, nearly every voice in the docuseries acknowledges that Dassey's life sentence is a tragic outcome.
The latest episode of "Convicting a Murderer" includes audio of recorded jail phone calls in which Avery tells family members to instruct Dassey to deny everything and take his case to trial, and family members in turn tell Dassey the same thing.
Kratz, who led the prosecution against Avery and Dassey, says he made multiple plea offers to Dassey that would have given him a sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison.
In March 2007, after Kratz made his final offer of a plea agreement with a 15-year sentence for Dassey, Kratz said Fremgen informed Kratz that Dassey's family's interference was the reason Dassey refused to accept any plea deals that would carry a sentence of over 10 years.
After a jury found him guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and second-degree sexual assault with use of force, all as party to a crime, Dassey was sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole in 2048.
"My position now and then was that he was oversentenced. When they said he wasn’t going to be eligible for release until 2048, I remember my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe it," Angenette Levy, a former reporter for WFRV in Green Bay, says in Episode 9. "I just thought, how do you throw away a 16 year old for that long? But I also think the truth matters.”
There is evidence Dassey was a victim of abuse from Avery
Episode 9 also includes audio recordings of two jail calls in which Dassey mentioned Avery being abusive toward him in the past. In one call, Dassey tells his cousin about a time when Avery beat him after he wouldn't get into a vehicle. In another, between Dassey and his mother, Dassey says Avery inappropriately touched him and his siblings on repeated occasions.
Dassey also told investigators on multiple occasions that he was afraid of Avery retaliating against him.
Read about the other episodes released so far:
Episode 4: 'Convicting a Murderer' Episode 4 discusses inconsistent statements made by Steven Avery
Episodes 1-3: Takeaways from first 3 episodes of 'Convicting a Murderer,' the response to 'Making a Murderer'
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: 'Convicting a Murderer' Episode 9 claims Steven Avery manipulated Brendan Dassey
