In 
The 
News: 
Brendan 
Dassey 
Brendan Dassey, featured in the Netflix documentary The Making of a Murderer in 2015, was charged 
with murder as a juvenile. Dassey’s 2007 conviction was questionable because his videotaped confession 
with police was problematic. Dassey was 16 without a lawyer or parent present during his confession. He 
appeared scared and unaware of the gravity of his situation on camera, and his lawyers say he had a low 
IQ in the seventh percentile of children his age, making him susceptible to suggestion. Dassey was found 
guilty as an accessory to murder with his uncle Steven Avery in the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, a 
25-year-old photographer in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear 
his case and did not provide a statement as to why. 
8 
Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
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