Kim Kardashian West is once again using her platform for prison reform. In her latest push, the reality TV star is pushing for Making a Murderer‘s Brendan Dassey to receive clemency. Dassey, who confessed to helping his uncle Steven Avery murderer photographer Teresa Halbach, was 16 at the time and has served 13 years for the crime.
Earlier this week, Dassey’s attorney Laura Nirider revealed that his team has filed for clemency.
After hearing of the news, Kardashian took to social media where she tweeted out a hand-written letter from Dassey to her 62 million followers and tagged Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers while urging him to read it.
“Please @GovEvers Read this letter,” she tweeted.
Dassey’s letter reads in part: “I am writing to ask for a pardon because I am innocent and want to go home. If I would get to go home, I would like to get a job involving video games. I would like to help take care of my mom and one day have a son and a daughter of my own. I would name my daughter Grace and my son Mizar which is the name of a star in the big dipper.”
Many believe that Dassey was coerced into giving his confession.
“When Brendan Dassey was in special education, he was in 10th grade, he required an aide to sit next to him in the classroom to help him understand the teachers’ spoken sentences. Then shift him into the interrogation room where he was barraged with 1,500 questions over 3.5 hours,” Nirider said in the filing. “You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand how an interrogation like that would overwhelm someone like Brendan Dassey.
“Should the Governor decline to issue a full pardon on all three convictions, Brendan asks at least for his freedom via a commutation of his remaining sentence(s) to time served with no remaining supervision time. This Board has not, to undersigned counsel’s knowledge, adopted any rules limiting eligibility for commutations. Undersigned counsel also notes that any form of relief that does not include a pardon of the second-degree sexual assault charge will likely require Brendan to register as a sex offender.”
You can read the entire filing for clemency from attorney Laura Nirider here.
