Prosecutors: ‘Making a Murderer’ convict’s confession legal

State attorneys are arguing a Wisconsin prison inmate featured in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer” voluntarily confessed to helping rape and kill a photographer and should remain behind bars.

Brendan Dassey was sentenced to life in 2007 in the death of photographer Teresa Halbach. He told detectives he helped his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and kill Halbach in the Avery family’s Manitowoc County salvage yard.

A federal magistrate judge ruled in August that detectives falsely promised leniency in exchange for his confession and ordered Dassey released. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the release pending a state appeal.

Deputy Solicitor General Luke Berg filed a brief Wednesday arguing Dassey’s coercion claims have no legal or factual basis and the 7th Circuit has upheld techniques the detectives used.