Christopher Dunn freed from prison after 1991 murder conviction overturned

[Pelican Press 0]

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Christopher Dunn freed from prison after 1991 ******* conviction overturned

A Missouri man was freed from prison Tuesday after his ******* conviction was overturned after 34 years behind bars, despite the state attorney general’s efforts to keep him there.

“I never gave up because my family never gave up,” Christopher Dunn said from the steps of the downtown St. Louis courthouse. “It’s easy to give up in prison when you lose hope. But when the system throws you away, you have to ask yourself if you wanted to just settle for it or ****** for it.”

Dunn, 52, reunited with his wife, Kira Dunn, as he was officially released from the St. Louis city jail Tuesday night. As his release drew imminent, he was driven by van from the state prison in Licking, Missouri, to St. Louis, about 140 miles away.

A St. Louis circuit judge overturned Dunn’s ******* conviction on July 22 and ordered his immediate release. But Dunn remained imprisoned amid a chaotic process that began when Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed to try and keep Dunn locked up.

When asked about the delay since the judge’s ruling, Dunn said, “It was testing. To hear the decision by the judge and then be prepared to leave on Wednesday, only to be brought back to prison. It was ********.”

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Christopher Dunn emerges from a St. Louis courtroom with his wife, Kira, in St. Louis, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, after being freed following 34 years in prison. A judge overturned Dunn’s conviction on July 22.

Jim Salter / AP

Dunn’s release marks the second time in recent weeks that a person was freed from prison despite Bailey’s appeals to keep them in custody after a ******* conviction was overturned.

Sandra Hemme was freed July 19 from a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for a ******* that a judge deemed there was evidence of her “actual innocence.” Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release while an appellate court reviewed the case. She walked out of the prison only after a judge threatened Bailey with contempt if she wasn’t freed.

Political scientists and some attorneys have said Bailey was taking the tough stance to shore up votes in advance of a contested *********** primary. He faces a challenge from Will Scharf, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, in the Aug. 6 primary.

At one point last week, Dunn was minutes away from getting out of prison after the circuit judge, Jason Sengheiser, threatened a warden with contempt if he wasn’t released. But then the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to consider the case, temporarily halting his freedom.

Then on Tuesday, the state’s highest court issued a ruling stating that the St. Louis circuit attorney needed to confirm it had no plans to retry Dunn before he could be freed. Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore immediately filed a memorandum stating he would not seek a new trial, setting in motion the process toward Dunn’s freedom.

A statement from the Midwest Innocence Project said Dunn “is coming home.”

“We are thrilled that Chris will finally be reunited with his family after 34 years behind bars for a ****** he did not commit,” the statement read. “We look forward to supporting Chris as he rebuilds his life.”

Earlier Tuesday, leaders of the Missouri NAACP and other organizations said that politics and racism were behind Bailey’s effort to keep Dunn behind bars. State NAACP President Nimrod Chapel Jr. said at a news conference that Bailey “superseded his jurisdiction and authority” in appealing Sengheiser’s ruling.

“What’s happening now is another form of lynching,” said another speaker, Zaki Baruti of the Universal ******** People’s Organization.

Bailey’s office, in an earlier statement, said the effort to keep Dunn in prison was warranted.

“Throughout the appeals process, multiple courts have affirmed Christopher Dunn’s ******* conviction,” the statement read. “We will always ****** for the rule of law and to obtain justice for victims.”

Dunn was convicted of first-degree ******* in the 1990 ********* of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February seeking to vacate the guilty verdict. A hearing was in May.

Sengheiser wrote in his ruling that Gore “made a clear and convincing showing of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions because in light of new evidence, no juror, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these ******* beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the effort to vacate Dunn’s conviction. Lawyers for the state said at the May hearing that initial testimony from two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they later recanted as adults.

Rogers was shot May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened ***** while he was with a group of other teenage boys outside a home. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, both initially identified Dunn as the shooter.

In a recorded interview played at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he thought Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.

Stepp’s story has changed a few times over the years, Gore said at the hearing. Most recently he has said he did not see Dunn as the shooter. Gore said another judge previously found Stepp to be a “completely unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to discount him altogether.

Dunn has said he was at his mother’s home at the time of the *********. Childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke with him by phone that night and he was on a phone at his mother’s house.

Tristin Estep, the assistant attorney general, said that alibi could not be trusted and that Dunn’s story has shifted multiple times over the years. Dunn did not testify at the hearing.

A Missouri law adopted in 2021 lets prosecutors request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. While Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, he also opposed another effort in St. Louis that resulted in Lamar Johnson being freed last year after serving 28 years for a ******* case in which a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted.

The 2021 law has resulted in the release of two men who each spent decades in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was freed in 2021 after more than 40 years for three killings in Kansas City after a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted in 1979.

Another hearing is approaching for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and is now facing another ********** date.

St. Louis County’s prosecutor believes DNA evidence shows that Williams didn’t commit the ****** that landed him on ****** row. DNA of someone else — but not Williams — was found on the ****** used in the 1998 ********, experts said.

A hearing on Williams’ innocence claim begins Aug. 21. His ********** is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Bailey’s office is opposing the challenge to Williams’ conviction, too.

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