Making a Murderer's Brendan Dassey wins court victory as judges rule convict's confession was coerced

Prisoner Brendan Dassey could be re-tried or released after judges backed a ruling that he was coerced into confessing to helping rape and murder a woman.

Lawyers acting for the 27-year-old, who featured in popular Netflix series Making a Murderer, will now fight for his release.

On Thursday a panel of three judges upheld a previous court decision to throw out the convict's confession.

Dassey was 16 and mentally impaired when he told police under interrogation that he helped his uncle Steven Avery rape and kill photographer Teresa Halbach.

The 25-year-old woman's charred remains were found at the Avery family's scrap yard in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, in 2005.

Dassey's lawyers, Professors Steven Drizin and Laura Nirider of the Centre on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, celebrated the judges' majority decision.

"We are overjoyed for Brendan and his family, and we look forward to working to secure his release from prison as soon as possible," they said in a joint statement.

"As of today's date, Brendan Dassey has lost 4,132 days of his life to prison."

Investigators subjected him to "death by a thousand cuts" by using coercive techniques such as fact-feeding, false promises, manipulation and leading him through the interview, the judges said.

The panel was split, with judges Ilana Rovner and Ann Williams supporting the ruling and David Hamilton disagreeing.

Judge Hamilton said the decision "breaks new ground and poses troubling questions for police and prosecutors".

Dassey and Avery's cases found international attention after they were featured in the documentary series in 2015.

Additional reporting by Press Association.