A panel of federal judges ruled on Thursday that the confession in a high-profile, Wisconsin murder case was illegitimate.
Dassey was convicted in 2007 of helping his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and murder Teresa Halbach at Avery's salvage yard in Wisconsin.
Dassey should be retried or released, recommends a three-judge federal appeals panel from the Chicago-based 7th Circuit.
Dassey's attorneys say they will take immediate steps to secure his release.
Though Dassey will remain in custody until the state's appeal is resolved, potentially by the U.S. Supreme Court, his attorneys Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin described the panel's ruling as victory. A ruling released Thursday also stated that Dassey's confession was not voluntarily given.
He ruled that investigators took advantage of Dassey's youth - he was 16 at the time - and cognitive problems to coerce his confession. He gives prosecutors 90 days to decide whether to retry Dassey.
Dassey was sentenced to life in prison, and he has served ten years of that sentence.
"It turned out the way I thought it would", Zellner said of the Dassey ruling. The state Justice Department eventually appealed the ruling, and Dassey was kept behind bars.
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Avery is pursuing his own appeal in state court.
"There is no longer any reason to further stay the district court's order releasing Mr. Dassey". That same judge then overturned Dassey's conviction, though the Wisconsin Justice Department appealed that decision-which prevented Dassey from becoming a free man.
After 99.9% of the world's population watched Making A Murderer, most viewers came to the conclusion that either (A) Brendan Dassey was innocent, or (B) Brendan Dassey was guilty, but there wasn't enough evidence to convict him of the murder of Teresa Halbach, and it looks like the federal judges in the USA came to the same conclusion.
Avery remains in prison, but his attorneys have been seeking a new trial.
Circuit Judges Ilana Diamond Rovner and Ann Claire Williams were the majority.
According to the Independent, Judge David Hamilton said that the decision "breaks new ground and poses troubling questions for police and prosecutors".
Dassey was 16 years old when he was questioned - and later charged - in connection with Halbach's murder.
Detectives interviewed Dassey multiple times in the months after Halbach's disappearance. Millions of Americans were captivated when the murder, resultant investigations and subsequent trials were documented in the Netflix feature "Making a Murderer" a year ago.
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