The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take the case of Brendan Dassey, the teen convicted of rape and murder whose story was documented in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” the Associated Press reports. Dassey was 16 when he confessed to Wisconsin authorities that he had joined his uncle in raping and murdering photographer Teresa Halbach before burning her body. Dassey’s attorneys say he’s borderline intellectually disabled and was pressured into a false confession. They wanted his confession thrown out, and a new trial. Wisconsin officials, urging the high court not to take the case, said it shouldn’t second-guess Wisconsin courts’ determination that the confession was voluntary.
Dassey’s attorneys can still try to get him a new trial but they’d have to convince a judge that newly discovered evidence warrants one. The Monday decision comes as there are plans for a second season of “Making a Murderer,” which premiered on Netflix in 2015. First-season viewers were introduced to Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery, who spent 18 years in prison for a rape before DNA testing exonerated him. After his release, he filed a civil suit over his conviction, but in 2005, he was arrested for and later convicted of Halbach’s murder. Avery maintains he was framed. At Dassey’s trial, video of him confessing to participating in Halbach’s rape and murder played a central role. Authorities had no physical evidence tying Dassey to the crimes, and he testified that his confession was “made up” but a jury convicted him. Two federal courts ruled in Dassey’s favor on the confession issue, but last year, a full federal appeals court upheld state rulings and let Dassey’s conviction stand.