Brendan Dassey (Photo: Wisconsin DOC)
A federal judge says a man whose murder conviction was overturned earlier this summer must be released from prison by the end of the week.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin on Wednesday denied the state’s request to stay an earlier decision that would release Brendan Dassey from prison. Duffin overturned Dassey’s conviction for his role in the 2005 rape and murder of Teresa Halbach earlier this year, although the state is appealing the decision.
The judge ordered Dassey’s release from prison by 8 p.m. on Friday.
The state Department of Justice says Attorney General Brad Schimel will ask the U.S. Appeals Court for the Seventh Circuit to stay the decision before Friday’s deadline to release Dassey.
Dassey and his uncle Steven Avery were both convicted for the death of Halbach – a photographer who went missing after visiting the family’s auto salvage yard in Manitowoc County. The case has been the focus of renewed attention during the past year, following the release of the Netflix series “Making a Murderer” last December.