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Ephrat Livni
Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” may push SCOTUS to address a fundamental injustice
The US Supreme Court has long warned judges to be circumspect about accepting confessions from kids as evidence in criminal cases. They haven’t always listened and convictions based on involuntary admissions abound. The case of Brendan Dassey—featured in the 2015 Netflix documentary Making a Murderer—is an opportunity to change that, or so he argues in a petition for review (pdf) at the high court. Dassey is serving a life sentence for murder, rape, and corpse mutilation, cri

Kevin Daley
NETFLIX’S ‘MAKING A MURDERER’ SHOWS GRIM REALITY OF FALSE CONFESSIONS, DASSEY LAWYERS TELL SUPREME C
Brendan Dassey of “Making a Murderer” notoriety has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case, arguing his conviction and life sentence for murder betrays the cavalier manner with which most trial courts treat coerced confessions from juveniles and the intellectually challenged. Although the case comes in a procedural posture about which the justices are usually dubious, the pervasive problem Dassey’s petition reflects, the intense public interest attending his convicti