The Dassey Unconfession
Judge Jerome Fox, the circuit judge handling the Brendan Dassey portion of the Halbach murder case, received a letter from Dassey on 30 July, 2006. The letter was sealed until the source was verified.
The letter stated that prior statements given to investigators were untrue. Dassey then gave an account of his time on the afternoon and evening of 31 October, 2006. This is the date prosecutors claim the Halbach was murdered. The letter contained misspellings as expected with a low performing student.
Dassey’s court appointed attorney, Len Kachinsky, stated he was unaware of the letter until notified by the court. He believes Dassey was influenced by his mother or other member of the Avery family. It appears that Kachinsky has lost communication with his client.
Kachinsky has accused the Avery family of influencing his client for the good of Steven Avery. But, they are Dassey’s family as well. To deny Dassey access to family members would remove Dassey’s support system.
Brendan’s mother, Barb Janda, in an interview with WGBA (NBC26), stated she urged her son to send the letter. So there was family influence. This influence can be perceived as very natural and honest. I’m not sure if I would advise for or against such a letter; I’m sure others will line up on either side.
When Janda asked her son if he committed the murder he said no. She then told him to write a letter to the judge and explain the situation.
This letter raises some issues. Why did Janda allow investigators unfettered access to Brendan during the interrogations that lead to his arrest? It was her statement about bleached areas on Dassey’s pants that lead to the interrogations. On the one hand, she allowed investigators to extract confessions from her son. On the other hand, she wants to undermine those confessions.
Dassey’s letter did not address the bleached pants. Those pants are now in state custody, so will testing reveal Halbach’s blood and other evidence?
According to the Special Prosecutor, there have been changes in Dassey’s confession. But, from the prosecutor’s point of view, the changes increasingly implicate Dassey and Avery. There are problems with the various confessions that undermine their validity though.
Now comes the recantation. It is interesting the Dassey wanted to fire his attorney because he believed his attorney thought he was guilty. This was after the series of confessions. So even with all that detail, he still denied being part of the murder.
Now with the letter, Dassey makes it official.
by Brian McCorkle
in category Brendan Dassey
