ST LOUIS — A Missouri man whose 1991 murder conviction was overturned earlier this month appeared to be on the verge of release Tuesday, following a lengthy legal battle with the state's attorney general that extended his stay behind bars.
Christopher Dunn has spent 34 years imprisoned for a 1990 killing in St. Louis. Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser on July 21 tossed out Dunn's conviction, citing evidence of “actual innocence.” The judge at the time ordered Dunn's immediate release.
But Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday 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.
By late afternoon, the state Supreme Court had still not granted Dunn's release. But Missouri Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann said Dunn was being taken by van to St. Louis, pending further orders from the court.
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 crime he did not commit,” the statement read. “We look forward to supporting Chris as he rebuilds his life.”
Dunn's wife, Kira Dunn, was more cautious.
“Seeing is believing," she said. “I’m not a Missourian, but I feel like one. I’m like, show me, show me, show me.”
Bailey's office didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
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 said at a news conference that Bailey “superseded his jurisdiction and authority” in appealing Sengheiser's ruling.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 African 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 murder conviction," the statement read. "We will always fight for the rule of law and to obtain justice for victims.”
Dunn was 18 in 1990 when 15-year-old Ricco Rogers was killed. Testimony from a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old at the scene of the shooting was key to convicting Dunn of first-degree murder. Both later recanted their testimony, saying they had been coerced by police and prosecutors.
At an evidentiary hearing in 2020, another judge agreed that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence. But that judge, William Hickle, declined to exonerate Dunn, citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only death row inmates — not those like Dunn, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — could make a “freestanding” claim of actual innocence.
A 2021 law now allows prosecutors to seek court hearings in cases with new evidence of a wrongful conviction. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore sought the hearing on behalf of Dunn and Sengheiser heard testimony in May.
Another case involving a Black inmate goes before another judge Aug. 21, with life-or-death consequences.
Marcellus Williams is on death row for the stabbing death of a St. Louis County woman in 1998. His execution is scheduled for Sept. 24, unless his conviction is overturned. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell requested the hearing. His motion said three experts determined that Williams’ DNA was not on the handle of the butcher knife used in the killing.
Bailey's office also will oppose overturning Williams' conviction.
But another inmate who Bailey sought to keep imprisoned after a conviction was overturned was white.
Sandra Hemme, 64, spent 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a woman in St. Joseph in 1980. A judge on June 14 cited evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned her conviction. She had been the longest held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to the National Innocence Project, which worked to free Hemme.
Appeals by Bailey — all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for several days, until a judge on July 19 ordered her immediate release and threatened Bailey with possible contempt of court charges. Hemme was released later that day.
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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
