"We had a pretty good idea going into this prosecution the kind of individual that Mr. Avery was." "I think that what Mr. Avery did to Teresa Halbach should, uh, speak volumes as to the kind of person that Mr. Avery is." "That's why I'm very happy that the citizens of Manitowoc County won't need to worry about Mr. Avery being on their streets anymore." "In the Penny Beerntsen case," "Steven Avery went to prison for something he didn't do, and everybody was convinced that he did it." "And lo and behold, hey, here's, uh, evidence beyond doubt that he did not do it." "But in the Halbach case, investigative techniques and interrogation techniques are much better today than they were then." "Around here, the feeling is Steven Avery got what he deserved and he is where he belongs." "Back behind bars for the rest of his life." "They ruined us." "They ruined our business." "I always thought Avery was a good name." "They knocked the name right down to nothing." "This one's worse than the first one." "There's no family here no more." "I don't talk to hardly nobody anymore." "I don't think we're going to, really." "To get over this." "Unless he can get out." "I didn't think I was ever gonna get arrested again in my life." "And just, boom." "It took a lot... to keep my sanity." "I gotta prove my innocence again, just like my first case." "Once I prove my innocence, that clears me and Brendan and my whole family." "Any metal?" "When you appeal it, when you ain't got no money, then they give you appellate attorneys." "The appellate attorneys, they gotta find a loophole that what they did, it's not legal." "We are here on the defendant's post-conviction motion." "I will note for the record the defendant is..." "What I'd like..." "He always got..." "He's got the same judge, yeah?" "That scares me." "All we can do is hope for the best, but I got a hunch, anything, it'll have to go to appeals court." "That's my..." "I hope I'm wrong." "Ma's got a lot of hope for a new trial." "The courtroom today was full of family and friends from both the Halbachs and the Averys." "Today's hearing is essentially to ask the judge who presided over the trial to change his mind." "Judge Willis expects to issue a written decision by December 1st." "And Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, has also filed some post-trial motions." "He'll have hearings similar to his uncle's beginning January 15th." "They always have everything ready for me when I come." "It's such a small prison, you know, the parking lot's really small." "They see my car drive up and they got everything out for me." "Everything all set up." "My badge out there." "Everything all ready." "Have to laugh." "It's..." "It's not good to be known that well in a prison." "I started writing to Steven after watching the trial, thinking that they couldn't possibly convict this man." "And then when the verdict came back," "I just wanted to let him know that I supported him, and I truly did not believe that he did it." "I talked to her a few times over the phone... and then she wanted to come to Boscobel to see me, so I put her on the visiting list." "I went down there with the thought that I could be a blessing to him and it turned out that he was a blessing to me." "He helped me through a lot with my husband's illness." "My husband had dementia along with Parkinson's." "And Steven helped me through it." "And he always tells me it worked both ways." "We encouraged each other." "It was just a friendship at that time." "But Sandy, she was there for me and she believed in me." "So I fell in love with all of that, and I fell in love with her." "Several months after my husband passed away, my friends told me that there was more going on between Steven and me than what I wanted to admit." "And I remember when I went to see Steven," "I said, "I've been told that there's more to our relationship."" "And he says to me, "You mean, you haven't felt it all this time?"" "Those were his exact words, and I said, "No."" "She likes everything I like." "Sandy's mostly the important person in my life and you might figure, my future." "In '85, they only took my brother away... for something he didn't do." "And they knew it." "And now... they took my brother away and my son." "If Steven would've did it, I think he would've confessed by now." "If he did it." "And he hasn't confessed." "And that's what he did with the first one when they sent him away for 18 years." "I believe he's still innocent." "And I know my son is innocent." "Brendan Dassey is now 19 years old and spending the last part of his teenage years at Columbia Correctional Facility in Portage." "Dassey's new attorneys say he should have a new trial." "The jury did not hear a lot of evidence which would've explained to them why Brendan confessed to a crime that he did not commit." "I had heard about this case from the get-go." "When Steven Avery was arrested and charged with Teresa Halbach's murder, that was big news in the innocence world." "When Brendan was arrested, that was immediately on my radar screen because it was one of the first video-recorded interrogations in the State of Wisconsin, and I had been involved in the litigation that led the Supreme Court to require videotaping." "Steve Drizin has made his life work studying false confessions... so I was very pleased that somebody with the resources, the experience and the credibility, especially on confession issues, took over the case." "That was huge." "It was at that point I was willing to step in, um, just to watch them work." "See them do what they do and to be a part of that." "What we argue in our post-conviction motion is that Brendan's pre-trial attorney, Len Kachinsky, violated his duty of loyalty to Brendan." "Every attorney in this country owes a duty of loyalty to their clients." "That's part of the constitutional right to counsel." "And what happened in this case is that Attorney Kachinsky took steps to essentially coerce Brendan into pleading guilty." "And we argued that Attorney Kachinsky's behavior is absolutely intolerable, that no court in Wisconsin should sanction that kind of conduct and that Brendan should get a new trial." "You were appointed, was it on March 7th or March 8th?" " March 7th." " March 7th." "OK." "Did you talk to Brendan on that day, on March 7th?" " I don't believe I did." " OK." "However, you did talk to the press, is that right?" "Yes, shortly after the appointment, the calls started rolling into the office." "Sure." "I want to draw your attention to a news report from Channel 26 that says, "We have a 16-year-old who, while morally and legally responsible, was heavily influenced by someone that can only be described as something close to evil incarnate." Right?" "That's what it says I said, but that wasn't me." "OK." "Um..." "Is there anything about this statement that bothers you?" "To say that we have a 16-year-old who's morally and legally responsible, that would in effect admit guilt and that is something you should definitely not say." "Just for the record, Your Honor, Mr. Kachinsky testified that he did not make those comments and this exhibit is being introduced as impeachment evidence to demonstrate that in fact Mr. Kachinsky made those comments." "The court will receive it." "Attorney Len Kachinsky immediately lashed out at Steven Avery." "We have a 16-year-old who, while morally and legally responsible, was heavily influenced by someone that can only be described as something close to evil incarnate." "And, uh, the next day, you make the statement that "if the confession is valid and admissible as evidence, it would almost certainly result in a conviction."" " Right?" " Correct." "OK." "You still hadn't reviewed Brendan's statement, right?" " No." "That's correct." " That first statement?" " Correct." " All right." "March 10th appears to be the first time you went to see him, is that...?" " That sounds correct." " OK." "And when you got out from that meeting, the press was there waiting for you, right?" " They were there waiting when I got there." " OK." " Yes, they were." " All right." "I want you to refer to an interview with you from NBC 26." "It says that, "Kachinsky says at this point he hasn't ruled out negotiating a plea deal in the case." Right?" " That's correct." " OK." "And how did that advance Brendan's case?" "Because I knew that Brendan's family was watching these newscasts and so in effect it was a message to try to get them accustomed to the idea that Brendan might take a legal option that they don't like," "so part of the intended audience was Brendan Dassey's family." " Yeah..." " And Brendan himself." "About his only contact with the outside world was, uh, visits with his parents" " and, uh, television." " Yeah." "Now..." "Brendan's best interest was to demonstrate that he had his own moral compass." "And he wasn't necessarily the pawn of the Avery family, that he could make his own moral decisions as to what was right or wrong under all the circumstances, and part of that would be to admit being involved, you know," "in the death of Teresa Halbach." "During that meeting with Brendan on that day, uh, he told you he didn't do this." "Correct?" "I believe he did." "And he told you that what he said and what was in the complaint about what he said was not true." "Correct?" " I believe he said that." " OK." "And he also told you at that time that he wanted to take a polygraph test" " to prove that, correct?" " Oh, correct." "Yes." "OK." "So Brendan is asserting his innocence." " Yes." " When he talks to you." "Imagine if you were in Brendan's position, a 16-year-old charged with one of the most serious crimes you could possibly be charged with." "You're intellectually limited, you may not understand what's happening to you." "You may not even understand the difference between your attorney and the police." "And imagine that the one person who is supposed to defend you against the entire State of Wisconsin believes that you're guilty despite the fact that you're telling him that you're innocent." "Are you set to proceed, Mr. Dvorak?" " We are, Judge." " Go ahead." "I would call Michael O'Kelly, please." "Mr. O'Kelly, come on up here, take the oath, and then be seated." "Yes, Your Honor." "Michael O'Kelly was an investigator that was hired by Len Kachinsky to give Brendan a polygraph exam." "But Mr. O'Kelly's role grew and grew in ways that, to me, highlight how Mr. Kachinsky was not interested in what Brendan had to say." "He was only interested in getting Brendan to plead guilty so Brendan could be an asset for the prosecution against his uncle." "At some point, you went out and started to gather evidence, right?" " Yes." " OK." "Let's go to exhibit number 64." "And is that an email that you sent to Len Kachinsky?" " Yes, it is." " April 27th?" " That's correct." " All right." "Go to the paragraph where it says, "I am not concerned."" ""I am not concerned with finding connecting evidence placing Brendan inside the crime scene, as Brendan will be State's primary witness." "This will only serve to bolster the prosecution." "Brendan's truthful testimony may be the breakthrough that will put their case more firmly on all fours."" "So your goal is not only to get Brendan to confess, but to also go out and gather evidence to help the State in its prosecution." " Correct?" " That is correct." "Even if that evidence tends to inculpate Brendan." " I..." "Yes, that's correct." " OK." "Now you're working for Mr. Kachinsky at this time, right?" "Yes, I am." "And you're also working for Brendan Dassey at this time, correct?" " Brendan is my client." "Yes." " OK." "And what you're talking about here is securing evidence that would be useful to the prosecution in prosecuting Steven Avery, and you make reference to Brendan's testimony." "That's correct." "This kind of cooperation between a defense investigator and the prosecution is unheard of." " You all set?" " Yep." "Thanks very much." "So in a sense, they were working for the prosecution." "They were working for the police and working for Mr. Kratz to build their case against Steven Avery while at the same time damaging Brendan's chances." "And it all came to a head on Friday night, May 12th." "Len and O'Kelly decide that they want to visit Brendan as soon as the court rules on his motion to suppress." "If Brendan loses his motion to suppress, the confession is coming into evidence and the case against Brendan is gonna be much harder to beat." "In the scope of the case, that's one of the most important decisions and they knew that Brendan would be at his lowest point when he learned that that confession was coming in." "All right." "Stop there." "This is a picture of a ribbon hanging on a tree." "Oh, sure, yes." "Um..." "I believe it's Teresa's church in the background." " OK." "And that has..." " God, I apologize." "OK." "All right." "Now you laid those things out prior to Brendan coming into the room, right?" " Oh, yes." " All right." "And this is part of your plan to get a statement from Brendan, correct?" " To get an admission?" "Yes." " All right." "I want to refer you to your email to Mr. Kachinsky on May 9th." "Would you read from the third paragraph?" ""Brendan needs to be alone." "When he sees me this Friday, I will be a source of relief." "He needs to trust me in the direction that I steer him into." "We need to separate him from fantasy and bring him to see reality from our perspective."" "Was all of this done pursuant to instructions from Mr. Kachinsky?" "Oh, sure, yes." "From the first shot where you see this table where he had this picture of Teresa Halbach... and the church and the ribbon, what a production." "My God." "The extent and the level to which he went to... coerce this confession." "It was just amazing." "You know, it's everything that you talk about." "All the methods to get an unreliable confession." "It's clearly where his heart was." "Tell me how you start that email to Mr. Kachinsky on May 9th." ""I am learning the Avery family history and about each member of the Avery family." "These are criminals." "There are members engaged in sexual activities with nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws." "Customers or their relatives unwittingly become victims of their sexual fantasies." "This is truly where the devil resides in comfort."" "I just keep thinking about that blue ribbon." "I'm sorry." ""I can find no good in any member." "These people are pure evil." "A friend of mine suggested, 'This is a one-branch family tree." "Cut this tree down." "We need to end the gene pool here.'"" "We saw things that I think have never been seen before in a court of law." "I can't think of another case where a defense attorney and his investigator, um, plotted to pressure their client to plead guilty to a case that he was... in which he was expressing his innocence." "That tape was somewhat disturbing, I think." "It was extraordinarily disturbing and Michael O'Kelly is a seasoned investigator and I believe what he did to Brendan Dassey traumatized him." "So the first question you have to ask yourself is do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison?" "So is that a yes or a no?" " I can't hear you." " No." "All right." "Do you want to get out and have a family someday?" "Well, that means you have to cooperate with me and help me work with you." "O'Kelly is using these tools to break Brendan down, to get him to confess again." "And he finally succeeds." "Draw a picture of the bed and how she was tied down." "But draw it big-sized so we can see it." "And the first thing he does is he picks up the phone and he calls Len Kachinsky." "Hi, Len?" "Hi, Len, this is Mike O'Kelly." "I'm with Brendan right now." "Oh, quite well." "Quite well." "Very well." "He's given a detailed statement." "And then they arrange for Brendan to be interrogated again the next day on tape by the very same police officers who manipulated him before, um... without Len Kachinsky being present." "I was told by your attorney that you wanted to talk to us..." "So on May 13th, these investigators, they think they're gonna get gold." "They think they're gonna get a confession from Brendan that is gonna be a game changer." "It's gonna have even more details, it's gonna lead them to new information and that Brendan is now gonna be their star witness." "But what do they get instead?" "They get crap." "At what point did you put her cell phone and camera and purse and stuff in the burn barrel?" " I didn't." " OK, who did?" " Probably Steven." " No, not "probably." Who did?" "If you know, you need to tell me." "You were over there." " Steven did." " Did you see him do it?" " Yeah." " No, honestly, yes or no, did you see him do it?" "Don't lie about it." "If you did, good." "If you didn't, good." "Did you see him do that?" "No." "This is somebody who obviously doesn't know what to say." "And is obviously saying whatever he thinks the officers and his defense attorneys want him to say." "And the resulting story is widely different than what he said on March 1st." "What's happening is he's just generating more and more conflicting statements and essentially muddying up the State's case." "So they come up with a plan and the plan is to persuade Brendan to call his mother later that evening and to talk to her about his role in the offense." "When are you gonna tell your mom about this?" "Probably the next time I see her." "'Cause you've lied to her so far, right?" "Don't you think you should call her and tell her?" " Yeah." " When you gonna do that?" "Probably tonight." "Don't you think she'd like to hear it coming from you rather than from me?" " So you gonna do that?" " Yeah." " When you gonna do that?" " Tonight." "Probably be a good idea, before we tell her." "At the time that you had suggested to Brendan that he call his mother, you knew that calls from the jail were recorded, didn't you?" " Yes." " OK." "And you wanted Brendan to call his mother and to repeat what he had told you." " Is that right?" " Yes, for several different reasons." "One of those reasons was that you knew that if he did that, that conversation could be introduced against him in court." "Is that right?" "No, it was not our thought at that time." "Our thought was we were dealing with Barb constantly." "She would be on our side, she'd be with us to help us and then she would be mad at us, things like that." "Um, we wanted Barb's cooperation." "That was the purpose of that." "Did you suggest to Brendan that perhaps, if that was your objective, that he might ask his mother to come to the jail to speak to her about that?" " Did I ask Brendan to do that?" " Yeah." " No." " Basically, what you said here was that unless he called her that night that you would tell her." " Isn't that right?" " That's true." "Yes." "And so Brendan complied." "He went back to his cell and he called his mother on the recorded prison telephones." "And he said to her, "Mom, Michael O'Kelly and Mark Wiegert think I'm lying." "They told me if I say I did this, I won't be doing life in prison." "And I might even get out to have a family."" "Those are things that didn't come from the police, those are things that Michael O'Kelly told him." "So Brendan is explaining to his mother," ""My defense team is telling me I need to say I did this."" "And that's what he tells his mother." "He says, "Mom, I did some of it."" "And she says, "Brendan, how could you possibly have done some of this?" "I saw you at home at 5:00 p.m. on October 31st." "You weren't over at Steven's." "You were at home."" "And he says, "Oh, well, I went back to Steven's after I saw you."" "That's important because the State used that May 13th recorded telephone call against Brendan at trial." "And it would've never come about, never come about, absent the actions of attorney Kachinsky." "They weren't supposed to use those statements." "There was a gentleman's agreement that this was a lost weekend because Len Kachinsky allowed Brendan to be interrogated without counsel." "But they used them." "They got greedy." "And they used them in a way that was very powerful and persuasive to the jury and almost ensured that Brendan would be convicted." "And when he got back at 5:00..." "he could've told his mother." "As we know in the call, and as she rightly noted, "I would've put you in the car and we would've left."" "But he goes back." "We know he goes back because he tells his mother in those phone conversations ten weeks later on May 13th and May 15th that he went back, that he was there." "They set Brendan up." "Who's there for Brendan?" "He's all alone." "And that's the main reason why he deserves a new trial is because the actions that his own attorney and his investigator took so damaged his chances of ever winning this case, that he needs a do-over." "Judge Willis, he wasn't on my side at all." "I knew I wasn't gonna get no play from him." "He thought I was guilty anyway." "I'm just waiting for the next step, you know?" "The governor of Wisconsin has called for the resignation of a state prosecutor after the prosecutor admitted to sending more than 30 sexually suggestive text messages to a domestic abuse victim whose case he was handling." "The scandal remained quiet until last week when the Associated Press revealed the text messages." ""I'm the attorney," he wrote." ""I have the $350,000 house." "I have the six-figure career." "You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize." "Are you the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA, the riskier the better?"" "When I heard about Ken Kratz and his sexting, I thought," ""Well, Ken Kratz, that's his ethics."" "I intend to continue to serve as the Calumet County District Attorney..." "Stephanie Van Groll reported the harassment to the police, who turned the case over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice." "They chose to take very little action against him." "New details tonight about a text messaging scandal." "Now we are learning that Kratz took steps to try to keep that case from going public." "I guess the Justice Department knew about a year before they put it out." "They stick up for their own people." "Governor, why did it take a year for this to be made public?" "At least five women have come forward." "The office of lawyer responsibility closed it out without doing anything." "What is going on in the Wisconsin Department of Justice?" "I had gone from being one of the most respected das in the state to vilified and hated and altogether forgotten." "There's a huge disconnect there." "I mean, the judge did remove Kachinsky because he had allowed Brendan to talk to the police without him being there." "But if he did that, he should also have suppressed the statement that was used to impeach Brendan." "To recognize on the one hand that a lawyer is ineffective and then allow the fruits of that ineffectiveness to be used to the admission of another confession, I mean, it's a problem." "It's a serious problem." "Brendan tells me they treat him OK." "I mean, he plays games with the other inmates." "And he does his schooling." "He's trying for his high school diploma." "I seen him yesterday." "It was nice." "We played 61 games of Uno." "I think he misses everybody." "Talks about babysitting." "That he misses doing that." "Talks about playing his Nintendo." "They should be outta there." "They don't belong in the prison." "Put the ones in there that done something, not the innocent ones." "Them cops should sit there for a while." "Like about 50 years." "And see how they feel and how their family feels." "We still love 'em." "Yep." "Always." "I always feel like they kicked me in the gut again." "You only got maybe a second there to realize you lost again, then you got another step and the Supreme Court, and you get your high hopes up." "They should've did something." "They should hear it because the case don't make no sense." "You always get let down by the court system." "Of all the years that I've known him, this is the roughest I've seen him." "He just seems hopeless and depressed, I say." "I don't think he can cope anymore." "Boscobel is a prison for violent criminals and Steven has never been violent in prison." "So the least they could do is move him." "Getting out of where he is," "I think that's what he wants right now." "And of course eventually out the door." "Is there anybody sitting at this table that thinks that regardless of what procedural chances he still has..." " he has any substantive chances?" " Certainly, if we could do a test today that was scientifically acceptable and valid, that actually proved there was EDTA in those blood stains," " that would be newly-discovered evidence." " Right." "That might be the ticket to a new trial." "It's interesting, the parallels with Steve's first case." " Right." " What ultimately freed him was newly-discovered evidence where the technology advanced to the stage where you could test the DNA." "And in this case, we're looking for technology to do the same kind of thing." "To show that, uh, the evidence at the original trial really did not mean what the State was arguing it meant and what the jury believed that it meant." "Or some other newly-discovered evidence." "Other people who know something." "I'm still hopeful that someone with that kind of knowledge is gonna come forward." "I've still got my suspicions about..." "whether something improper occurred during the deliberations." "I gotta tell you." "I mean, if I'm gonna be perfectly candid, there's a big part of me that really hopes Steven Avery is guilty of this crime." "Because the thought of him being innocent of this crime, um, and sitting in prison again... for something he didn't do, and now for the rest of his life without a prayer of parole, um..." "I can't take that." "And Brendan Dassey, um... they had a demonstrably untrue confession from a seriously compromised kid." "Um..." "Scares the hell outta me." "I don't know what the other jurors are feeling, but... you know..." "I know what I'm feeling is hard." "It is difficult for me." "Even though I didn't make the final decision on the verdict because I wasn't there, it's still difficult for me." "I constantly think about the trial." "You know, I feel bad that..." "I mean, I feel terrible that, you know..." "Teresa is gone, you know, a life was taken." "But I also on the other hand feel bad because..." "Steve and Brendan's life was taken from them, basically." "People tell me to just forget about it." "It's over with." "But in my mind it's not over with because..." "I don't know, I think that... deep in my heart, with all the evidence and all the things I know, that, um... whoever did this to Teresa is still out there." "I always think about Steven's feelings, how he's hurt." "But I'm out in the open." "It's a little easier to go through that than when you're in a cage." "That's all he's got to think about." "I'm sticking by Steven." "And I'm sticking by Brendan." "I picked this house out for Steven when he gets out." "So he's got somewhere to live." "Looks like a pretty nice house." "It's got fruit trees in there." "Half of his life is gone when he spent half of it in the... in the prisons for something he don't even do." "I asked for all the files." "I'm trying to fight for a new trial." "But this time, I'm doing it because this is my life, my freedom." "Now I'm trying to look up cases and the law in the law library." "He has to go in without a real good education, go into a law library and try to go through all the books he can to find any examples of what he might use in his case." "These are all of the transcripts and case files of Steven's." "Twenty-four boxes-full." "Steve's mom brought them from the prison and he got copies of everything to go through his case bit by bit." "I had, you know, a couple of boxes in my cell, then the other ones were stored in a... in a room." "So when I got done with some boxes, then I could put 'em back and get some more boxes." "That's why it's so hard to work on a big case like this." "You can't have it all when you need it." "Sometimes in the middle of the night I'd think of something and I had to go search." "Sometimes you go... you want to say, nuts." "But something just bugs you and you gotta do it." "You gotta get up and do it." "I wrote the Innocence Project... if the Innocence Project would help me again." "I wrote 'em a few times... but they won't take my case." "Then there's that blood, if I could prove that it came from the courthouse." "I wrote to get a good lab to do it." "I filed my 974.06." "Now I'm trying to get the judge to give me a lawyer... so I don't screw up." "I'm still learning, so I don't know everything." "I gotta give him a lot of credit for what he's doing and hope and pray that it works out." "You might as well figure I'm doing it all." "Kohlrabi." "Huh?" "Them are good raw." "Slice 'em thin, put a little salt on." "Radishes." "Onions." "Lettuce." "There's lettuce over here." "I know you like lettuce." "Bugs and all." "Tomatoes." "Peppers." "Carrots." "Asparagus." "Cucumber." "Cabbage." "My dream right now is get out... buy me a lot of land and live up in the woods." "Make me a big pond so I can fish." "Do my garden, and have my animals." "So I don't have to go into town and buy food." "I'll have it all right there." "I guess Sandy wants to get married so I'll get married." "And I'll have my wife, and then my ma and my dad." "I'm gonna take care of them." "I really don't need nothing else." "Today a decision from the State Supreme Court on one of Wisconsin's notorious murders." "Yeah, it won't hear a Manitowoc man's arguments for a new trial." "Brendan Dassey was sentenced to life in prison for the 2005 slaying of Teresa Halbach." "The killing drew extraordinary attention because Dassey's uncle, Steven Avery, also was convicted in the crime." "The Supreme Court won't hear the case after the appeals court upheld the verdict." "It's the function of post-conviction courts and appellate courts to make sure that the system works the way it's supposed to." "That where failures start to happen... that they do something about it." "I've always believed it would be very difficult for Brendan to get relief in the Wisconsin State Court system." "This case was just too much of a heater." "So we recently filed a federal habeas petition to try to get his conviction vacated." "Everybody has the right under the US Constitution to a loyal attorney." "Everybody has a right under the US Constitution to not have a coerced confession used against you." "Because these are rights under the federal constitution, we're asking for federal review of these claims." "We are hopeful that we'll have a better shot in a federal court." "The fight goes on." ""Dear people in the world, my name is Brendan Dassey." "I am writing to let you know that I am innocent of the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach." "I was interrogated by the police when I was 16 years old." "The investigators kept telling me over and over they knew I was involved." "They also told me if I just said I was involved, they would help me and that I wouldn't get in trouble." "I trusted them." "I told them a lot of things that weren't true that day." "I thought I would go back to school afterwards." "But they arrested me." "I haven't been free since that day." "I've missed out on high school, graduation and a chance to get a girlfriend or a job." "My brothers have gotten married and had children." "I wish I could have a family someday, too." "I am innocent of the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach." "Please help me if you can." "Sincerely, Brendan Dassey."" "Steven didn't call on Wednesday night when he was supposed to." "And then on Thursday I heard the operator say," ""A call from Waupun Correctional Institution."" "And my thought was, "I don't know anyone in Waupun." "Who's calling me from Waupun Prison?"" "And then it clicked just like that, that they moved him." "He wanted us to wait, his mother and father and myself, wait a couple weeks before we came and visited because he wanted to get acclimated a little bit to the institution and know what the schedule was and stuff like that." "And so we have waited and now it's time." "This will be the first contact visit that I have ever had with him." "Ever since I've known him, seven years," "I have never been able to touch him... hug him, hold his hand." "It's just exciting to know that his parents will be able to hug their son." "The fact that he's actually at the table and can talk with us instead of behind glass..." "Dry mouth." "I think I'm nervous." "Little bit anxious." "This... ahh... feelings." "OK." "In..." "Oh, no, I see it already." "That didn't take even 45 minutes." "So where do we park?" " What a goddamn place." " Yeah." " This is terrible." " OK, turn this way and turn around." "I can't turn down here, can I?" "No." "We did it before!" " Well, I ain't gonna do it again." " Why not?" "OK, now you can park there." "That's close enough." "What have you got in here, the kitchen sink?" "Something like that." "Take your driver's license." "Wait a minute." "I got the wrong card." "I had my Sears card." "That wouldn't have worked too good, would it?" "No, that wouldn't work." "I don't think that would work." "When we left now, I just hung onto him." "And I just..." "It was so good." "Just to be able to do that." "We asked him about a job here." "You know, this is a working prison." "His response was, "I've got too many things to do."" "He's gotta spend all his time in the law library and working on his case." "He just can't let it go until something big happens, something is done." "I hope the day comes where he's freed, his name is finally cleared and his parents are still there." "You know, it's so important to his mom and dad that he gets out before they go." "Until it happens to you or to your son or daughter or someone else that you love, it's easy to ignore all of the..." "the problems in the system." "But I can guarantee you that once it happens to somebody you love or to yourself, uh, it'll be very clear." "Everybody seems still... to be playing this the normal, conventional, conservative way, uh, which is that if the system has the right lawyers and if the lawyers do the right job, then justice will be obtained for Steven Avery." "And..." "I mean, at what point do people start questioning that whole framework?" "I would hope that the people who watched the trial and saw really what kind of evidence the State did and didn't have," "I would hope that those people don't give up on Steven Avery." "Um..." "Because this may take a while to right this wrong." "It took 18 years the last time." "I certainly hope it doesn't take another 18 years." "They think I'll stop working on it and it'll be forgotten." "That's what they think." "But I want the truth." "I want my life." "But they keep on taking it." "So I'm gonna keep on working." "Even if it's wrong." "I ain't gonna give up." "When you know you're innocent, you will keep on going." "The truth always comes out..." "sooner or later."