A Missouri man was released Tuesday after 34 years in prison after his murder conviction was overturned, despite efforts by the state’s attorney general to keep him in custody.
“I never gave up, just like my family never gave up,” Christopher Dunn said on the steps of the courthouse in downtown St. Louis. “It’s easy to give up when you’ve lost all hope in prison, but when the prison system abandons you, you have to ask yourself do you want to just sit there or do you want to fight?”
Missouri halts release of man nearing release after murder conviction overturned
Dunn, 52, was officially released from the St. Louis City Jail on Tuesday night and reunited with his wife, Kira Dunn. With his release looming, Dunn was transported by van from the state prison in Licking, Missouri, about 140 miles to St. Louis.
A St. Louis Circuit Court judge on July 22 overturned Dunn’s murder conviction and ordered his immediate release, but he remains jailed amid a chaotic trial that began when Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued for Dunn’s continued detention.
On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, on the steps of a courthouse in downtown St. Louis, Christopher Dunn walked free after his murder conviction was overturned after 34 years in prison. (Laurie Scriven/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via The Associated Press)
Asked about the delays since the judge’s ruling, Dunn said: “It’s been an ordeal. I heard the judge’s ruling, I was getting ready to be released on Wednesday, and then I’m back in prison. It’s been torture.”
Dunn’s release marks his second in recent weeks despite Bailey’s plea that he remain in custody after his murder conviction was overturned.
Sandra Hemme was released from a western Missouri prison on July 19th after serving 43 years for murder. The judge determined there was evidence proving Hemme’s “innocence.” Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release while the appeals court was reviewing the case. Hemme was released from prison after the judge threatened Bailey with contempt charges if she was not released.
Political scientists and some lawyers say Bailey is taking a hardline stance to garner votes ahead of the Republican primary, where he will face former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Will Scharf on August 6.
At one point last week, Dunn was minutes away from being released from jail after Circuit Judge Jason Sennheiser threatened to sue the prison warden for contempt if he wasn’t released, but then the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and temporarily halted his release.
Then on Tuesday, the state Supreme Court ruled that before releasing Dunn, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney must ensure that there are no plans to retry the case. Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore immediately filed a memorandum saying he would not seek a retrial and began the process of freeing Dunn.
A statement from the Midwest Innocence Project said Dunn is “coming home.”
“We are pleased that Chris will finally be reunited with his family after 34 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit,” the statement read. “We support Chris as he rebuilds his life.”
Earlier Tuesday, leaders of the Missouri NAACP and other organizations said politics and racism were behind Bailey’s efforts to keep Dunn in prison. State NAACP President Nimrod Chappell Jr. said at a press conference that Bailey “exceeded his jurisdiction and authority” in appealing Sennheiser’s sentence.
“What’s happening now is another form of lynching,” said another speaker, Zaki Barti of the World African People’s Organization.
In an earlier statement, Bailey’s office said efforts to keep Dunn behind bars were justified.
“Throughout the appeals process, multiple courts have upheld Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction,” the statement said. “We will always fight for the rule of law and justice for the victims.”
Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting and killing 15-year-old Rico Rogers in 1990. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion to vacate the conviction in February. A hearing was held in May.
In his decision, Judge Sennheiser wrote that Gore had “clearly and convincingly demonstrated ‘actual innocence’ and undermined the basis for Mr. Dunn’s conviction, because, in light of the new evidence, no juror acting reasonably could have voted to find Mr. Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed efforts to vacate Dunn’s conviction, saying at a May hearing that two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter initially testified correctly but later recanted as adults.
Rogers was shot and killed by a gunman while outside his home with other teenagers on May 18, 1990. Demoris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, initially identified Dunn as the gunman.
In a recording of the interview played at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he believed Dunn had ties to a rival gang.
Gore said at the hearing that Stepp’s testimony had changed several times over the past few years, most recently saying he didn’t believe Dunn was the shooter. Gore noted that another judge had previously found Stepp a “totally unreliable witness” and had asked Judge Sennheiser to disregard him entirely.
Dunn has said he was at his mother’s house at the time of the shooting. Childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke to Dunn on the phone that night and that Dunn was on the phone at his mother’s house.
Assistant Attorney General Tristin Estep said the alibi was not credible and that Dunn’s statements had changed several times over the years. Dunn did not testify at the hearing.
A Missouri law enacted in 2021 allows prosecutors to request a trial if they find evidence of a wrongful conviction. Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, but he opposed another effort in St. Louis that resulted in the release last year of Lamar Johnson, who served 28 years in a prison sentence after a judge found him wrongfully convicted of murder.
The 2021 law freed two men who had been in prison for decades. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was also released in 2021 after serving more than 40 years for three Kansas City murders after a judge in 1979 said he was wrongfully convicted.
A new hearing is looming for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and now has a new execution date.
St. Louis County prosecutors believe DNA testing shows Williams did not commit the crime for which he is on death row, and experts say they found DNA from someone other than Williams on the knife used in the 1998 murder.
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A hearing to plead Williams’ innocence begins Aug. 21. His execution is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Bailey’s office also opposes Williams’ challenge to his conviction.
