A Missouri man was released from prison Tuesday after his Murder conviction overturned after 34 years behind bars, despite efforts by the state attorney general to keep him there.
“I never gave up because my family never gave up,” Christopher Dunn said from the steps of the courthouse in downtown St. Louis. “It’s easy to give up in prison when you lose hope. But when the system rejects you, you have to ask yourself if you wanted to settle for that or fight for it.”
Dunn, 52, was reunited with his wife, Kira Dunn, when he was officially released from the St. Louis City Jail Tuesday night. With his release imminent, he was driven by van from Licking State Prison in Missouri to St. Louis, about 140 miles away.
A St. Louis circuit judge overturned Dunn’s murder 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 filed an appeal to try to keep Dunn locked up.
Asked about the time since the judge’s decision, Dunn said: “It was an ordeal. Hearing the judge’s decision and being ready to leave on Wednesday, to be taken back to prison. It was torture.”
Jim Salter/AP
Dunn’s release marks the second time in recent weeks that a person has been freed from prison despite Bailey’s calls to keep him in custody after a murder conviction was overturned.
Sandra Hemme has been released On July 19, Bailey was released from a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for a murder for which a judge found there was evidence of her “actual innocence.” Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release while an appeals court reviewed the case. She left prison only after a judge threatened Bailey with contempt of court if she was not released.
Bailey has taken a tough stance to shore up his support ahead of a hotly contested Republican primary, political scientists and some lawyers say. He faces a challenge from Will Scharf, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, in the Aug. 6 primary.
Last week, Dunn was set to be released from prison after Judge Jason Sengheiser threatened a prison warden with contempt of court if he wasn’t released. But the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to review the case, temporarily halting his release.
On Tuesday, the state’s highest court issued a ruling that the St. Louis district attorney must confirm that he does not intend to retry Dunn before he can release him. District Attorney Gabe Gore immediately filed a memorandum saying he would not seek a new trial, setting in motion the process for Dunn’s release.
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.”
Earlier Tuesday, leaders of the Missouri NAACP and other organizations said politics and racism were at the root of Bailey’s efforts to keep Dunn behind bars. State NAACP President Nimrod Chapel Jr. said at a news conference that Bailey “exceeded his jurisdiction and authority” by appealing Sengheiser’s decision.
“What is 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 justified.
“Throughout the appeals process, multiple courts have upheld Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction,” the statement read. “We will always fight for the rule of law and justice for victims.”
Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis District Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February to have the conviction overturned. A hearing was held in May.
Sengheiser wrote in his decision that Gore “has clearly and convincingly demonstrated his actual innocence, which 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 crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Missouri attorney general’s office opposed the request to overturn Dunn’s conviction. State attorneys said at the May hearing that the initial testimony of two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they later recanted as adults.
Rogers was shot and killed on May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire as he and a group of other teenagers stood outside a home. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, both initially identified Dunn as the shooter.
In a recorded interview played during the hearing, Davis said he lied because he believed Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.
Stepp’s story has changed several times over the years, Gore said at the hearing. Most recently, he said he did not see Dunn as the shooter. Gore said another judge had previously found Stepp to be a “totally unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to dismiss him altogether.
Dunn said he was at his mother’s house at the time of the shooting. Nicole Bailey, a childhood friend, testified that she spoke to him on the phone that night and that he was on the phone at his mother’s house.
Tristin Estep, the assistant attorney general, said Dunn’s alibi was unreliable and that Dunn’s story had changed several times over the years. Dunn did not testify at the hearing.
A Missouri law passed in 2021 allows prosecutors to request hearings when they find evidence of wrongful conviction. While Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such moves, it also opposed another move in St. Louis that resulted in Lamar Johnson being released last year after serving 28 years in prison for a murder case in which a judge ruled he was wrongly convicted.
The 2021 law freed two men who each spent decades in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was released in 2021 after more than 40 years for three Kansas City murders, after a judge ruled he was wrongly convicted in 1979.
Another hearing is approaching for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and now faces a new execution date.
The St. Louis County prosecutor believes DNA evidence shows Williams did not commit the crime that landed him on death row. DNA from another person — but not Williams — was found on the knife used in the 1998 killing, experts said.
Williams’ innocence hearing will begin on August 21. His execution is scheduled for September 24.
Bailey’s office also opposes challenging Williams’ conviction.
