he said in there that he's sad. let's make people happy and let's have a candidate we can be proud of. >> jimmy: mitt romney, everybody. thanks to ray romano. apologies to matt damon. we're out of time. "nightline" is next. thanks for watching. good night! [ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, cold-blooded killer or confused teen? made famous by the netflix series "making a murderer," this confession helped put 16-year-old brendan dassey behind bars for life. his lawyers now saying it was coerced. >> we're on our way to meet -- >> tonight we investigate why someone could confess to a crime they didn't commit. plus, wings and waves. we're taking you on an airborne mission into enemy territory. >> it is an intense rush, and at nighttime your eyes can play all sorts of tricks on you in the dark.

massive aircraft carrier, home to 5,000 armed sailors and hundreds of heavy weapons. it's a rare journey to the front line in the fight against isis. and the world of melania. before her glamorous life with the donald, there was this guy -- >> wow. who was in girl? >> a look back at the small town beginnings of a beautiful girl with huge ambition.

this is a letter from someone who's here. she has to take a brand name drug. been taking it since the early 1980's. at that time it cost approximately $180 for 10 shots. the latest refill was $14.700 for the same 10 vials and the company is called valeant pharmaceuticals. i'm going after them. this is predatory pricing and we're going to make sure it is stopped. i'm hillary clinton and i

good evening. thanks for joining us. one teenager admits to taking part in a gruesome murder, landing him in jail for the rest of his life. now his lawyers are saying that his confession was coerced. it's the lynchpin in brendan dassey's controversial case. tonight my "nightline" co-anchor dan harris investigates. >> come on, brendan, be honest. you can do it. just tell us the truth. >> i grabbed her arm, put it on the side, and tied her up. >> reporter: are we looking at a killer reluctantly unspoolg the details of his crime? >> then we shot her. >> why don't you draw what the blood stains looked like? >> reporter: or are we looking at a confused intellectually challenged teenager being manipulated into falsely confessing? the case of brendan dassey has

consciousness as a result of the netflix documentary series "making a murderer." >> they got to my head. >> reporter: this controversial confession tape was the centerpiece of dassey's trial. he's been in prison now for nearly ten years, convicted of raping and murdering teresa halback. but he and his family have maintained his innocence. >> they interrogated him and made him say what they wanted to hear. >> reporter: dassey now has a new legal team and they've filed a new federal appeal based in large measure on the argument that dassey's confession was coerced. so we went out to explore these questions. if dassey didn't commit the crime, why would he confess? and if this videotape really shows dassey falsely confessing, what made the jury convict? first stop -- >> we're going to laura's office. >> reporter: laura nirider, one of dassey's lead attorneys and fiercest defenders. >> come on, buddy. let's get this out. okay? >> what you have here are police

psychological interrogation tactics that were designed for seasoned adult criminals on a 16-year-old with intellectual limitations. >> reporter: the interrogators aren't banging the table. they're not threatening him. does it fit into the sort of classic model of coercive interrogations? >> absolutely it does. >> reporter: at the time of his arrest brendan dassey was a high school sophomore in manitowoc county, wisconsin. he had a low i.q. and was enrolled in several special ed classes. he lived on the family's salvage yard right next to his uncle steven. >> i'm free. >> reporter: who'd been released from prison after serving 18 years for a rape he didn't commit. >> i'm just glad you're home, honey. >> reporter: but then avery was arrested and charged with the murder of teresa halbach. >> dwroent you have have a seat, brend snn. >> reporter: several months later brendan was brought in for questioning. >> cut her. >> cut her where?

>> it appeared hard to argue that it was coerced. >> reporter: len kachinsky was one of dassey's original court appointed attorneys. he says when he watched the confession tape he became convinced there was no way a jury would believe dassey was innocent. kachinsky did try to get dassey's confession thrown out. >> the defendant's motion to suppress these statements is denied. >> what are your thoughts after today? >> well, we're disappointed in in -- start over. >> reporter: so kachinsky steered dassey to cut a plea deal. he even set up another interview with his client and the police. planned? yeah? yes or no? >> yeah. >> reporter: an interview kachinsky actually skipped because he says he had army reserve duty. >> how on earth could you opt out of that? >> with 20-20 hindsight, yeah, it was a mistake. >> reporter: for his failure to attend that meeting -- >> why don't you sign that? >> reporter: the judge removed kachinsky from dassey's case. >> do you have a clear

>> yes, i do. i did what i thought was in dassey's best interests. i don't think those mistakes had any impact at all on the verdict in dassey's case. >> reporter: several months later dassey went to trial with different attorneys, and his confession dominated the proceedings. >> your job at the end of this case will decide whether that statement ought to be believed. >> when you watch the videos carefully, they'll be exposed for what they are. and i think they're just garbage. >> reporter: dassey himself took the stand. >> you made it up. >> yeah. >> reporter: sticking to his story even under tough cross-examination. >> and you lied to the police. >> yes. >> are you lying -- you're lying today? >> no. >> reporter: the prosecutor at dassey's trial made this confident assertion. >> people who are innocent don't confess. the defendant confessed because he was guilty. because he did it. >> reporter: but the fact is innocent people do confess. richard ofshe is one of the leading defense experts on interrogation tactics. he worked on the infamous case

>> i grabbed her arm. stuff. >> reporter: five teenagers who confessed in gruesome detail to attacking and raping a 28-year-old woman in the spring of 1989. shut up. kept smacking. >> reporter: but these confessions were all false. >> they came to believe that they would only be able to minimize their punishment if they cooperated with the police. >> reporter: turns out 1 out of 4 people wrongfully convicted and later exonerated by dna evidence have made a false statement. dassey's confession, what do you see in. >> i see something that almost makes one ashamed to be an american. it's that bad. they get him to say anything that they want him to say. >> i don't feel if i was faced by cops accusing me of a crime i did not commit that i would confess to it. >> what would you do? >> i would say give me a lawyer.

those are the people i never see. the ones i see tend to think i've got to get myself out of this. and probably your income is a bit higher than the average person. >> reporter: if she can get her client a new trial, laura nirider hopes to demonstrate how she says the interrogators railroaded dassey. >> we just need to see the whole story from you. >> they reduce him over time to a place where he doesn't think that he can convince these officers of his innocence. and when he's at that position of hopelessness, then the officers offer him a way out. with us. >> she's behind you 100% no matter what happens here. >> that's what she said. too. >> we're in your corner. >> and what you see is brendan begin to believe the officers and think, okay, i have to say these things that they want me to say. >> reporter: even when dass wree breaks down and confesses any nirider says by her analysis he offers no information that was the media.

disappeared last halloween. >> was last seen taking pictures at the avery salvage yard. >> reporter: or directly fed to him by investigators. >> all right. i'm just going to come out and ask you. who shot her in the head? >> he did. >> why didn't you tell us that? >> because i couldn't think of it. >> any fair reading of that sequence is that brendan is guessing in an attempt to placate his interrogators. >> reporter: we reached out to the detectives in this video for comment, but our efforts were not successful. even now that i understand that false confessions are a real problem in our justice system, when it comes to the case of brendan dassey there are still so many open questions. if he didn't do it, is it just a total coincidence that he was at a bonfire that night with his uncle and in that bonfire they found the remains of a murder victim? >> look, what happened that night is exactly what brendan has said all along. the family had bonfires all the time to burn their garbage. same thing with cleaning up the garage with his uncle.

people were constantly tinkering around with cars and having to clean up after the fact. >> reporter: even though two lower courts have already denied his appeal, brendan dassey sits in prison tonight holding out hope that a federal judge will answer his prayers. >> i wish i could have a family someday. >> reporter: toward the end of "making a murderer" he can be heard reading a letter with an emotional plea. >> i am innocent of the rape and murder of teresa halbach. please help me if you can. sincerely, brendan dassey. >> so do you think brendan dassey's confession was coerced? head to the "nightline" facebook page to weigh in. and next -- we're with the men attacking isis from the air. on board an aircraft carrier with massive firepower. but first, your voice, your vote. the results of couldn't's tonight's heated primary contests.

again trouncing his rivals. again trouncing his rivals. projected to win in michigan. although a strong showing from senator ted cruz and governor john kasich in that state. trump is also projected to win in mississippi. moving west keeping the pressure on trump. cruz projecting a win in idaho. and on the democratic side a split decision. abc projects hillary clinton will win handily in mississippi but an upset in michigan. abc now projecting bernie sanders will win by a narrow margin in the rust belt state. of course trump, the night's biggest winner, sizing up his victories with his trademark bravado. >> the bottom line is we have something going that's so good. we should grab each other and we should unify the party. and nobody's going to beat us. okay? man. woman. or where you're from. city. country. we're just everyday people fighting high blood sugar. i am everyday people, yea, yea. pfarxiga may help in that fight every day. palong with diet and exercise, pfarxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults

pone pill a day helps lower your a1c. pand, although it's not a weight-loss por blood-pressure drug, pfarxiga may help you lose weight and may even lower psystolic blood pressure when used with metformin. pdo not take if allergic to farxiga or its ingredients. psymptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling, por difficulty breathing or swallowing. pif you have any of these symptoms stop taking pfarxiga and seek medical help right away. pdo not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, pare on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. ptell your doctor right away if you have blood por red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. pfarxiga can cause serious side effects, pincluding dehydration, pgenital yeast infections in women and men, pserious urinary tract infections, plow blood sugar and kidney problems. pstop taking farxiga and call your doctor pright away if you have signs of ketoacidosis, pwhich can be serious or life threatening. pfarxiga. pwe are everyday people. p i am everyday people, yea, yea. pask your doctor if farxiga

how you can get it for free. huh. introducing centrum vitamints. a new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint... with a full spectrum of nutrients...

what do you think it takes to land a fighter jet on a moving ship in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night? we're with the country's top fighter pilots risking their

out isis. abc's chief global affairs correspondent martha raddatz gives us a rare look aboard the massive mother ship that these aces call home. >> do you have any rituals before you go out in. >> i go to the bathroom, say a prayer. >> reporter: lieutenant commander john hilts, call sign johnny kittens, is calm on the surface, but he is about to be hurtled off an aircraft carrier to attack isis. lieutenant charles wickware, call sign wingnut, has his camera rolling as he embarks on this risky mission, flying in the dead of night over enemy territory, crossing iraq into syria through a gathering storm. >> whatever you can do to avoid some of the weather. >> reporter: we joined the mission hours before on the "uss harry s. truman," deployed to the persian gulf, the truman is

and a jaw-dropping amount of military might. farm. hundreds of precision guided weapons, millions and millions of dollars' worth of ordnance aircraft. landing on a moving target the length of a football field is a delicate maneuver. but to the pilots it's routine. basics tonight. this is a pretty standard mission for us. we should be able to execute it flawlessly. >> let me start with you, lieutenant commander, because should do that. >> i'm taller too. >> not by much and not by much. >> reporter: the duo jokes, but they are some of the navy's best pilots. wickware has been in the navy 11 years. growing up in hawaii, he started 14. john hilts played basketball for notre dame before joining the navy, where he would be chosen for the elite blue angels

it takes a crew of 5,000 to get hilts and wickware in the air on a ship 20 stories high with miles of passageways. life below the deck is bustling. the ship's barber shop doles out 20,000 haircuts and trims per year. and the kitchen dishes up 18,000 meals to the hungry crew each day. they worship on board as well. >> everything from voodoo to roman catholic services, an anglican services, anything you can imagine we have. >> wait a minute. voodoo? >> that's true. >> reporter: these creature comforts are true on a ship that launches or lands an aircraft every 60 to 90 seconds when flight operations are under way. it is the rainbow warriors who make it happen, the maintainers in green, white launch and recovery, and the red bombs. dropped. >> a lot more than my last three

>> reporter: all that teamwork leads to this. lieutenant commander hilts leads a detailed mission brief where we were allowed to hear exactly what the night would hold. >> we're going after that oil infrastructure in syria. there will also be some thunderstorms that may impact tanking and then possibly into the execution. we've got a 30-minute window to execute. >> reporter: the pilots head for their jets just as the sun goes down. >> most naval aviators will say i do this job for free during the day but you have to pay me to do it at night. >> you've been in afghanistan and iraq before. is it different going after this kind of enemy? >> i think it is. you don't have as many eyes on the ground to develop those targets. >> have a safe flight. >> reporter: the mission is a go. lieutenant wickware gives a sign to the air traffic controllers, and he's off. catapulted from 0 to 160 miles an hour in seconds.

you're almost completely out of control. those few seconds as it accelerates you down that catapult stroke. if it's night sometimes you have no stars no, horizon, you're launched right into darkness. >> reporter: that target an oil pipeline in a remote area of eastern syria. an effort to cripple isis's financial resources. but before they hit their target the jets must refuel, mid-air. connecting with a tanker to gas up. >> you are left side joining. >> reporter: the pilots guiding their probe into the tanker's basket. >> you're over hostile territory running out of gas. so you need to get that gas. and if you don't, then we can't complete our mission. >> whatever you can do to avoid some of the weather would be great. >> reporter: an intense storm develops. lightning strikes illuminate wickware's nightvision. but finally, the target is in sight. >> three, two, one. tickle. >> reporter: the two pilots hit

flare. but the mission is not over yet. >> we still have to come back and land on a moving aircraft carrier deck at night. really nobody else around the world operates at night the way america's navy does. >> expect the approach. >> it is an intense rush. at nighttime your eyes can play all sorts of tricks on you in the dark. >> final bearings. >> while you're doing it you don't realize how amped up you are. your body's flooded with adrenaline. >> reporter: we met up with the pilots seconds after landing safely on deck again. >> it was not exactly routine. we had to climb above a thunderstorm and then to employ we had to drop down below it. but we got the results we wanted. >> reporter: but as the military moves closer to trying to help take back major cities under isis control, the danger will only increase. >> every time we take the sky there's risks that are inherently placed on us throughout the world.

martha raddatz on the ""uss truman." up next, she's the glamorous wife of republican front-runner donald trump. tonight, a look back into melania's world in slovenia. shopping for an suv? well, this is the time. and your ford dealer is the place, to get 0% financing for 60 months on a ford suv. that's right. just announced. ford explorer...edge...escape... and expedition... are available with 0% financing for 60 months. ford suvs. designed to help you be unstoppable. no wonder ford is america's best selling brand. but hurry, 0% financing for 60 months on ford suvs is a limited time offer. see your ford dealer today. moderate to severe crohn's disease is tough, but i've managed. except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who

symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. what backache? what sore wrist? what headache? advil makes pain a distant memory. nothing works faster stronger or longer

before contemplating the many choices on steak 'n shake's $4 dollar menu, one must calm the mind in our zen garden. focus. the garlic double steakburger meal. reflect. the taco salad meal. zen the original double 'n cheese steakburger meal. oh! the $4 menu. where all meals are under $4.

i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. her life's work has been about breaking barriers. and so would her presidency. which is why, for every american who's not being paid what they're worth... who's held back by student debt or a system tilted against them- and there are far too many of you- she understands that our country can't reach it's potential... unless we all do. together.

from a small town in slovenia to ritzy fifth avenue, melania trump's next residence may even be the white house. so did the man who says he's her hometown ex see it coming? on the banks of the sava river, sevnica, slovenia, a modest factory town that boasts one very famous export. melania trump. >> two words. grace kelly. she was like an angel. >> reporter: before the paparazzi and that very public marriage, she was melania knauss and this was her home. >> we met for the first time. >> reporter: before the donald there was the jure, who says he's melania's ex-boyfriend. >> she was never a typical slovenian girl. very, very classy. >> reporter: from sevnica to manhattan to perhaps next the white house. a lofty end to quite the fairy

you can watch much more of abc's digital shorts like this one by downloading the abc news app. thanks for watching tonight. tune in to "gma" for a full wrap-up of election results in the morning. and as always, we're online 24/7 on our "nightline" facebook page and at abcnews.com. good night, america. the list starts now. lose weight by eating pizza. it's possible if you do this.

in the middle of suburb yeah. >> it's called utopia for a reason. dad's the best, our list of entrepreneurs. let's count down the three stories. in the newsroom, here's bradley. >> thanks so much. friendship means companionship and loyalty. pushing those you love to be their best. life changing bond at number three. >> he is a good boy. >> a very good boy. seriously, this story from humane society might justin expire you to change your ways. >> i'm still here because a shelter dog saved my life. >> he isn't lying. he weighed 340 pounds. he had type two diabetes and his doctor told him he would be dead in five years unless he turned