Two Damning Excepts from the Dassey Confession

These are covered in the post covering the trial on 20 April, 2007. But, I feel that they are important enough to get a separate post. These excerpts relate to two areas that the prosecution claims shows the accuracy of the confession.

The first is about the hood latch evidence. Steven Avery DNA was found on the hood latch in April, 2006. According to the prosecution, the discovery of this evidence was a direct result of the confession. And it was since the confession was the basis for the search warrant that collected the evidence. The Halbach Toyota RAV was in the custody of the Calumet County Sheriff.

It is apparent that investigators already know the hood has been opened. Questioning is by Calumet County Investigator Mark Wiegert and Wisconsin Special Agent Tom Fassbender.

Fassbender “Do you recall him taking the plates off?”
Dassey: “Yeah”
Fassbender: “What else did he do? He did something else you need to tell us what he did. After that car is parked there. It’s extremely important.”
Dassey: “Then he left the gun in the car.”

Fassbender: “That’s not what I’m thinking about. He did something to that car …”
Dassey: “I dunno.”
Fassbender: “Did he do something like look at the engine did he raise the hood at all or anything like that?”
Dassey: “I dunno”

Fassbender: “Did he do something to that car?”
Dassey: Long Pause “Yeah”
Fassbender: “What was that?”
Wiegert: “What did he do Brendan?” Long Pause “It’s OK. What did he do?”

Fassbender: “What did he do under the hood if that’s what he did?”
Dassey: “I don’t know what he did but I know he went under.”
Fassbender: “He did raise the hood. You remember that?”
Dassey: “Yeah”
Wiegert: “While he was raising the hood, did you take the license plates off?”
Dassey: “No”
Wiegert: “Who did?”
Dassey: “He did.”

And shortly thereafter, Dassey says the Avery left the knife in the truck.

Hear Investigators Guiding Brendan

The following exchange is used to prove that Dassey disagreed when investigators claimed (falsely) that Teresa had a tattoo on her stomach. According to the prosecution the following proves that Dassey knew that she did not have a tattoo and he actively disagreed

Fassbender: “We Know that Teresa had a tattoo on her stomach. Do you remember that?”
Dassey: “Uh Uh.”
Fassbender: “Do you disagree with me when I say that?”
Dassey: “No. But I don’t know [pause] what it was.”

Hear Brendan Dassey Disagree and Agree with Investigators about the Tattoo

Who is being damned by these exchanges?