A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked the release of Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey.
A lower court had ordered the release of Dassey from prison pending his appeal of his conviction in the homicide of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005. But a federal court granted an emergency motion filed by Attorney General Brad Schimel to stay that order, his office announced.
Dassey was 16 when he was accused of helping his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and kill Halbach and then dispose of her body in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
He was eventually convicted of first-degree homicide, second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse, and sentenced to life in prison.
Dassey’s attorneys argue that he should be released based on a judge’s finding that the court had “significant doubts” about the reliability of the confession he gave to investigators in 2006.
The case gained widespread interest earlier this year when it was featured in the Netflix series Making a Murderer.