Anatomy of a False Confession: The Interrogation and Conviction of Brendan Dassey

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

When Teresa Halbach went missing and was presumed dead, the police targeted Steven Avery for the crime. But Averys 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey told the police that he saw Halbach driving away from Averys property the day she supposedly was murdered. This version of events would be devastating to the states case if it ever reached Averys jury. The police decided to interrogate young Dassey again. For their next go-around they questioned him four times in 48 hourseach time without an adult present and often without reading him his Miranda rights. During this process, the interrogators not only coerced the learning-disabled child into changing his story, but they also got him to confess to participating in the murder! Even though Dasseys so-called confession was contradicted by all of the physical evidence, the jury believed it and found him guilty. Now, more than a decade after the trial, the saga lives on. Although a federal district court reversed Dasseys conviction, a flip-flopping federal appeals court eventually reversed the reversal. Dassey remains convicted and incarcerated; the Supreme Court of the United States is his last hope. Anatomy of a False Confession: The Interrogation and Conviction of Brendan Dassey answers several questions, including: Why did Dassey agree to talk to his interrogators in the first place Why werent they required to read him his Miranda rights Most significantly, how did the interrogators get Dassey to confess to a crime he did not commit If Dassey was innocent, where did he get the details for his so-called confession Why did the jury ignore the physical evidence and convict Dassey of murder And why did the federal courts reverse Dasseys conviction, only to reverse their own reversal Anatomy of a False Confession takes the reader inside the interrogation room and inside the courtroom to expose the interrogators tricks, the prosecutors ploys, and the judicial sleight of hand that conspired to put Dassey behind barsprobably for the rest of his life. The book also discusses several ways that the law should be reformed to avoid future injustices.

Reviews

Michael Cicchini has written a wonderfully descriptive and insightful book, the definitive account of the interrogations of Brendan Dassey and his coerced, contaminated and (almost certainly) false confessions. Cicchini masterfully describes the tricks of the interrogation trade, how police investigators have adapted to the theoretical Miranda protections and turned them to their advantage, and, more importantly, how and why police interrogation strategies including some of those advocated by the Chicago firm Reid and Associates can and sometimes do lead to false confessions from the innocent. Anyone who watched the Netflix series Making a Murderer with rapt fascination will want to read this book. -- Richard A. Leo, author, Police Interrogation and American Justice; Hamill Family Professor of Law and Psychology, University of San Francisco
In easy-to-read chapters, Cicchini spells out common methods interrogators use, including lying to a suspect, distorting the meaning of the Miranda warnings, and threats. * Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Michael D. Cicchini is a criminal defense lawyer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, about two hours south of Manitowoc where Making a Murderer was filmed. In addition to practicing criminal defense, Cicchini has written four books, twenty law review articles, and a monthly column on criminal and constitutional law. His books include Convicting Avery: The Bizarre Laws and Broken System behind Making a Murderer (2017) and Tried and Convicted: How Police, Prosecutors, and Judges Destroy Our Constitutional Rights (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).