The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the appeal of Brendan Dassey, whose murder conviction gained widespread attention due to the 2015 Netflix documentary series, Making a Murderer, Wisconsin's Post-Crescent reports. Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, were sentenced to life over the 2005 rape and murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in eastern Wisconsin; Dassey's lawyers argue that the then-16-year-old was led into a false confession by police who "exploited his youth and borderline intellectual disability," NBC News writes.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice believes Dassey's confession was voluntary and valid, with the state solicitor general saying: "The only plausible source for his admissions was his guilty conscience." The Supreme Court did not give a reason for declining Dassey's appeal, although four of the nine justices would have had to agree to accept the case for it to be heard.
"Juveniles and those with intellectual deficits are at particular risk of confessing involuntarily — and often falsely — under the strain of coercive police tactics," argued former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman, who had pushed for Dassey's case to be heard by the country's highest court.