Much of the uproar surrounding Netflix's popular true-crime documentary series Making a Murderer has focused on Steven Avery, the man who was convicted of murdering a woman just two years after being released from prison for a rape he didn't commit.
Avery has been maintaining his innocence once again and his supporters have fervently been spreading that message online through social media and petitions.
Often lost in the furor, though, is Brendan Dassey, Avery's nephew who was also convicted of murdering Teresa Halbach, a photographer who was last seen taking pictures of Avery's car for Auto Trader magazine at his mobile home in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Now Dassey's half-brother, a self-proclaimed indie Christian rapper, released a track this week extolling Dassey's innocence. "They didn't do it," is, let's say, a passionate, if not super skillful rap, with catchy lyrics like "Not a fair trial, not a fair game" and "Got to their brains, twisted their claims." Brad Dassey's rap touches on themes portrayed in the Netflix docu-series, including a focus on police misconduct and their exploitation of Dassey's naiveté. It's been played more than 100,000 times on SoundCloud.
Dassey, who was 16 at the time of the murder and enrolled in special education classes, confessed to helping Avery with the gruesome killing of Halbach, but later told a jury he made it up. The now 26-year-old said during his trial that he based the original story he told police on a James Patterson novel-turned-thriller-movie called Kiss the Girls, which tells the story of a sadomasochist who tortures women.
Dassey, who is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, tried to appeal his conviction, but was denied and the Wisconsin Supreme Court wouldn't review the case. In December, Dassey’s lawyers filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, hoping to get another shot at freeing him.
Steven Avery appeals murder conviction, claims he was 'deprived of impartial jury': https://t.co/0pSwdmOujA— Making A Murderer (@MakingAMurderer) January 12, 2016
In addition, Avery, who was locked up for 18 years for the rape and is now serving a life sentence, appealed his murder conviction to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals Tuesday. He represented himself when he filed the appeal, although he is now being represented by a Chicago-area attorney. Like Dassey, an earlier appeal was denied and the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear the case.