Ken Kratz is writing a book about Steven Avery, and Brendan Dassey, who has been transferred to the Columbia Correctional Institution. Mr. Dassey is the nephew of Steven Avery, who served 18 years in prison for sexual assault and was exonerated, and later returned to prison for the murder of Teresa Halbach. He has become an overnight after being featured in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.
Brendan Dassey was transferred from the Green Bay Correctional Institution, and Wisconsin officials are not saying much. This week, in a brief statement issued by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, it was revealed that Dassey, one of the stars of Netflix’s hit documentary Making a Murderer, has been moved to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage.
Dassey, who is serving life behind bars for the murder of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach, was transferred from the Green Bay Correctional Institution on Wednesday. When quizzed about the transfer, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections simply said their 1000+ inmates are often transferred for various reasons.
While the authorities are mum, a close source to Dassey stated that he is now in a new maximum-security facility because of the celebrity status he gained by “being in the national spotlight thanks to the documentary” and for safety reasons. Dassey spent 26 months of his sentence at Columbia.
Making a Murderer, which was a ten-part documentary, written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, focused on the life, arrests, trials, and exoneration of Steven Avery. After going in and out of jail for assault, animal cruelty, and burglary, in 1985, Avery was arrested and convicted of the sexual assault of Penny Beerntsen.
He always claimed that he was innocent and had several people, who confirmed that he was nowhere near the area the crime occurred. After serving 18 years in prison, Avery was exonerated with the aid of the Innocence Project when the DNA in the case was matched to another man guilty of crimes in the area.
Avery was released from prison in 2003, and he immediately filed a $36 million civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County officials associated with his arrest. Two years after filing the lawsuit, he and his 16-year-old nephew Dassey were accused of the murder of Halbach, a photographer, who scheduled to visit the Avery family property to photograph a minivan for sale. Avery was charged with the killing of Halbach after her car and charred bone fragments were found at the salvage yard.
Dassey was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide as party to a crime, second-degree sexual assault as a party to a crime, and mutilating a corpse as a party to a crime. Dassey appealed the conviction in 2013, but a higher court declined to take the case.
Avery claimed that once more he is innocent and that authorities framed him for Halbach’s disappearance to make it harder for him to win his multi-million dollar civil case. After the documentary was aired, Avery received support from Alec Baldwin, Ricky Gervais, and Mandy Moore, and over 128,000 people started a petition asking the White House to pardon him.
The White House stated the president had “no authority to pardon either defendant.” Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he would not consider a pardon. Dassey will be eligible for parole in 2048.
As news broke about the transfer of Brendan Dassey, it is also being reported that Ken Kratz, the district attorney who prosecuted Steven Avery and Dassey in Making a Murderer, is writing a book the pair. Kratz claimed that he is penning the book “because the one voice forgotten to this point is Teresa Halbach” and is hoping that the nephew/uncle duo will confess. Kratz sent a letter to Avery saying:
“Since I’m the only person who probably knows more about your case than anyone else, I hoped that you would choose me to tell your story to. Unfortunately, you only want to continue your nonsense about being set up. That’s too bad, because you had one opportunity to finally tell all the details, but now that will never happen.”
What are your thoughts on Brendan Dassey’s case?
Kratz letter to SA:Confess so I can write book & profit.This bloodsucking gives vampires a bad name #MakingAMurderer pic.twitter.com/yBsXOE6dhl
— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) January 24, 2016
