Jerome “Jerry” Buting, who defended the uncle of ‘Making a Murderer’ subject Brendan Dassey, on Monday stuck up for Dassey on the Law&Crime Network. Buting made the appearance shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition by Dassey’s lawyers to review his conviction.
Watch the interview in the player above.
During the interview, Buting said Dassey “got screwed” by interrogators who promised leniency in return for Dassey’s confession to murder.
Dassey and his uncle Steven Avery were convicted by Wisconsin juries in 2007 of murdering freelance photographer Teresa Halbach. Since defending Avery, but not Dassey, Buting has written a book about the case and his life as a criminal defense attorney.
“It’s hard not to despair when you see what happened in this case . . . any ordinary person who watches these interrogations can’t help but feel bad for Brendan and think, ‘this guy got screwed.’ How is it that our justice system can allow this to happen . . . unfortunately, it happens a lot,” Buting said.
“Despair leads to failure; hope leads to the truth,” he added during a call to action for greater involvement in the justice system and for legislative changes which could offer greater protection for those accused of crimes. “There are thousands of other juveniles out there who need help. People shouldn’t give up. We just need to be motivated, even more so now, to fight for justice in this country . . . it’s time to get rid of the bad prosecutors and sheriffs and judges that people have a right to elect and un-elect. It’s time to change some of our laws to limit the sort of coercive police techniques which were used against vulnerable juveniles.”
The Supreme Court’s decision Monday morning not to accept Dassey’s case ultimately will result in Dassey remaining incarcerated unless one of four things occur in the future. First, his attorneys could uncover new evidence. Second, his attorneys could find something the prosecution didn’t properly disclose to the defense at trial. Third, Congress could change the law which allows federal courts to review state convictions. Fourth, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals could allow Dassey to re-file his appeal.
For further analysis of the Avery and Dassey cases, click here.
[Image via screen grab from the Law&Crime Network.]
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