“I did my job”
The controversial lawyer who represented Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey at trial has spoken out, after his former client’s conviction for murder was finally overturned last week.
Dassey — alongside his uncle Steven Avery — was convicted of murdering young photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005.
The story gained global interest after Netflix’s popular Making a Murderer series examined the evidence in the case and the tactics adopted by Manitowoc County police investigators.
Here is a recent pic of Barbara & Brendan.. pic.twitter.com/kHDXYEC6ey
— Carla Chase (@averydassey) January 11, 2016
Having successfully had his conviction reversed by a US federal judge on Friday, Dassey’s former lawyer Len Kachinsky (pictured top) has issued a statement. Speaking to Bustle, he said:
Magistrate Judge Duffin reversed Dassey’s conviction on the suppression issue I litigated before leaving the case. I preserved that issue for appeal so that his future attorneys might raise it like they did. Even though Dassey and I parted ways on how he should proceed, I did my job and enabled Dassey’s future attorneys to do theirs. The next step will probably be up to the 7th Circuit as the state will likely appeal.
But Kachinsky’s brief appearance on the hit show wasn’t without controversy.
Many fans of the series were left furious after the public defender allowed Dassey, a teenager at the time, to attend a four-and-a-half hour police interview without legal representation or his mother present. During the interview Dassey — who has learning difficulties — confessed to the murder of Halbach.
Kachinsky was eventually removed from the case, and Judge William Duffin — who overturned Dassey’s conviction — was very critical of the lawyer’s performance. In his 91-page decision, Duffin described Kachinsky’s “misconduct” as “indefensible”.
Dassey — who was jailed at 16 and is now 26 — has served ten years behind bars. Unless the state decides to retry him, or there is an appeal, Dassey will be released within 90 days.