Brendan Dassey, Subject of ‘Making a Murderer,’ Denied Clemency
Written by SOURCE on December 23, 2019
For any fans of the Making a Murderer docuseries on Netflix, you’ll likely remember the name Brendan Dassey. He was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly helping his uncle murder 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach and his story was the focus of the series. Though it’s been about three years since the series was released on the streaming platform, viewers are still captivated by his case.
Even though Dassey’s legal team campaigned for the now 30-year-old to receive clemency, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers recently denied it to him, the New York Times reports. Dassey is serving a life sentence, and does not have the possibility of an early release until 2048.
The governor’s pardon advisory board, responding to his request for clemency, said that Dassey is not eligible for a pardon because at least five years need to have gone by since he completed his sentence. He also has not registered as a sex offender, something he would need to do to be considered.
“Had the Board reviewed Brendan’s petition on the merits, it would have seen what more than 250 national experts and millions of ordinary people around the globe see: a terrible miscarriage of justice,” Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin, Dassey’s lawyers, said in a statement on Friday. “Wisconsin has a history of issuing commutations — a bipartisan tradition,” Nirider told the New York Times. “We will continue to work with experts to educate this governor and his staff about how to design an appropriate commutation process to right serious injustices.”
Back in April, Dassey sent a handwritten letter to the governor and Kim Kardashian, who has been outspoken about criminal justice reform, shared the letter and urged the governor to read it.
