Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey’s release blocked by last minute appeal

A federal appeals court has blocked the release of Brendan Dassey, the nephew of Making a Murderer subject, Steven Avery.

Mr Dassey, 27, was convicted of the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005 and sentenced to life in prison.

Judge William Duffin had previously overturned Mr Dassey’s conviction earlier this year, and on Monday ordered that he be released from prison pending further court developments, however this was blocked by the Seventh Circuit and Wisconsin Attorney General  Brad Schimel, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Then 16, Mr Dassey, who suffers from intellectual difficulties, confessed to authorities that he assisted his uncle to rape and kill Ms Halbach in 2005. He later recanted his statement.

The victim’s burnt-out body was found on the family’s car yard business in Mantiowoc County, Wisconsin.

The interrogation practices used on him sparked controversy after being highlighted in the popular Netflix documentary about the case.

“Dassey admitted to his crimes in extensive detail, in an entirely voluntary confession, during which investigators used techniques that courts around the country have approved time and again,” Mr Schimel wrote in an emergency motion.

The accused’s uncle Steven Avery was convicted of Halbach’s murder after earlier serving 18 years of a 32-year sentence for a rape he didn’t commit, and of which he was eventually exonerated.

The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth said it was “disappointed more than words can say”.

“The fight goes on,” a statement from the centre read.