Fourth Estate Newspaper

Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Opinion

The courts giving Dassey a possible appeal is backward logic.

Life is so often unfair, but perhaps it is most unfair when people who commit horrible crimes against the innocent are given a second chance. Both Brendan Dassey, 20, and his uncle Steven Avery, 47, have filed for appeals after being sentenced to life terms in prison for raping and killing 25-year-old photographer and UW-Green Bay alumna Teresa Halbach.
Both men were found guilty, yet continue to claw their way around the system as their defense attorneys create ridiculous defenses to set the two men free.
Avery's attempts to obtain a new hearing were recently denied, but Dassey's defense is awaiting word from Manitowoc County Judge Jerome Fox on whether he will be permitted a re-trial.
Judge Fox has until the summer to make a decision based on Dassey's hearing, which took place Jan. 19-22, but this is a hearing that never should have happened in the first place.
There were so many signs pointing to Avery and Dassey during the original investigation, which took place in November 2005. Neither deserves an appeal. Justice had been served when both were sentenced to life in prison. For any judge to allow a new trial for either Dassey or Avery, they would be giving them the second chance Halbach will never have.
Dassey was convicted in 2007 after confessing to police he aided Avery in the crime. He later retracted his statement, and claimed his confession was the result of police coercion. According to Manitowoc journalist John Lee, this was Dassey's defense for his latest hearing, with 13 defense witnesses testifying on Dassey's behalf.
Despite attempts to prove Dassey innocent, the defense's attorney, Len Kachinsky, took the stand only to end up giving an account of Dassey that exemplified the lack of remorse shown by the defendant in relation to his confession to murder and rape.
"At any time did you ever get a passionate expression of innocence from Mr. Dassey?" Assistant Attorney General Tom Fallon asked Kachinsky.
"Not that I personally considered passionate, no," Kachinsky said.
As Dassey's defense, it probably matters little whether or not the 20-year-old seems genuine about his innocence. The defense fought hard at the hearing to convince Judge Fox that Dassey was a mentally disabled teenager unable to comprehend the seriousness of lying about his role in Halbach's murder. Apparently the inability to understand the weight of his lie excuses him from needing to express an emotional concern for proving his innocence.

Continued...

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