If you followed Making A Murderer, the Netflix documentary about the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2006 you'll know that Steven Avery was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2007 without the possibility of parole.
Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey, who was 16 at the time, was also charged with being a party to first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse and first-degree sexual assault after he confesssed to the crime and implicated Avery.
Once the documentary aired, the ethics and reliability of Dassey’s confession were called into question. In the footage of the four hour interview Dassey had with police officers, many have argued that he seems to be coerced into confessing. Massey is said to have an IQ of 70 and ‘reads at a 4th grade (year 5) level’ and many feel that he was not given an adequate explanation of the implications of what he was saying.
Last weekend, in what is pretty much a landmark decision, Dassey’s conviction was overturned and unless the state moves for a retrial, he could be free within 90 days.
The court ruled that his confession had been a ‘violation of his rights’ and the ruling Judge, William E. Duffin, said that investigators had made ‘false promises’ and this, added to his ‘age, intellectual deficits and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary under the Fifth and 14th Amendments’.
Now a former teacher of Teresa Hallbach has spoken out saying that Dassey shouldn’t be released. Jean Wollerman, who taught her in first grade, said in an interview with People, ‘It is sad that a TV show can overturn things and can make changes in our justice system, and a TV show just shouldn't do that. It stirred up everything. They were tried and they were convicted, and end of story.’
She went on to say that, ‘If a jury convicted both of them then the court did their job, but now you put it to a movie and obviously people are going to elaborate on a movie to make it interesting. And then you get it so it is twisted, so everybody in the world thinks that these two guys are innocent.’
Wollerman also doesn’t feel that Dassey was coerced saying that, ‘They are just asking him questions and he was sitting there calmly answering.’
Of course, Wollerman’s sympathies lie with Teresa Halbach’s family – as they should. ‘It is just a sad thing. And you have the person who had to suffer through it all not here, and that is what is really sad about it. Brendan is going to be let go and free and be able to get on with his life while she can't – she can't live her life. She is not here to live her life.’
You might also be interested in:
Steven Avery: What Happened To The Man In Making A Murderer?
Who Was Teresa Halbach, The Real Victim Of Making A Murderer?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.