Release of 'Making A Murderer's' Brendan Dassey Gaining Backers

MILWAUKEE, WI — Attorneys representing Brendan Dassey say nearly 250 people — including a wide range of retired U.S. government officials and most prominent legal and political experts — wrote Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers in support of executive clemency for Dassey, one of the key figures in the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer."

“We call upon you, Governor Evers, to use your sovereign power of executive clemency, whether in the form of a pardon or a commutation, to end the incarceration of Brendan Dassey,” the letter states. “You are an educator; you are a reformer; and you are a believer, like us, in justice, mercy, and redemption.”

Evers has yet to respond to the letter, or previous calls for clemency.

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250 People signed the letter. Here's the list.

Dassey's camp said the people who signed the letter represent a wide range of nationally-recognized legal experts.

“Brendan’s case is so much more than just a Netflix series,” said Laura Nirider, co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and an attorney for Dassey. “From former senators to formerly incarcerated individuals, Brendan’s plea for help has been backed by an authoritative coalition of expert voices. We’re deeply honored that so many prominent Americans have asked Governor Evers, as a matter of conscience and decency, to grant Brendan a commutation or pardon.”

The full list includes the following:

• More than 24 people who had been exonerated for crimes. They collectively served nearly 850 years in prison for crimes they did not commit
• More than a dozen retired senior U.S. government officials, including two former deputy attorneys general of the United States, a former deputy secretary of Homeland Security, three former federal judges, a former senator and the former United States pardon attorney
• Forty-five current and former state and federal prosecutors, including former United States attorneys, state attorneys general, assistant attorneys general, assistant U.S. attorneys, criminal appellate chiefs, public integrity lawyers and other prominent prosecutors
• Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic sister whose social justice advocacy was featured in the film "Dead Man Walking"
• Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-founders of the Innocence Project
• Leading psychological experts, including the current president of the American Psychological Association
• The original psychologists who pioneered the study of false confessions
• Formerly incarcerated individuals who have built accomplished lives, including two who currently serve as law professors at Georgetown University and one who recently was named the 2018 Guggenheim Fellow for poetry
• Directors and chief executive officers of over 20 national juvenile justice organizations

Incarcerated since age 16, Brendan turned 30 years old on Saturday. He is not eligible for parole until 2048, when he will be 59 years old.