The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the immediate release of a man whose Murder conviction overturned — just as the man was about to be released.
A St. Louis district court judge had ordered the release of Christopher Dunn, now 52, at 6 p.m. Central time Wednesday and threatened the prison warden with contempt of court if Dunn remained incarcerated. But Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey opposed Dunn’s release.
The situation was chaotic as the judge’s deadline approached. Karen Pojmann, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, told The Associated Press that Dunn had left the jail and was waiting to be picked up. His wife told the AP she was on her way to pick him up. Minutes later, Pojmann corrected herself and said that while Dunn was signing papers to be released, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a ruling that suspended his freedom.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser on Monday overturned Dunn’s murder conviction, citing evidence of “genuine innocence” in the 1990 murder. He then ordered Dunn’s immediate release, but Bailey appealed and the state Department of Corrections refused to release Dunn.
St. Louis District Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion Wednesday asking the judge to immediately order Dunn’s release.
“The Attorney General cannot unilaterally decide to ignore this Court’s order,” Gore wrote.
A Department of Corrections attorney told a lawyer in Gore’s office that Bailey had advised the agency not to release Dunn until the appeal was over, according to a court filing. When told it was inappropriate to ignore a court order, the Department of Corrections attorney “responded that the attorney general’s office is the DOC’s legal counsel and that DOC would follow the advice of its counsel.”
Dunn’s attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, expressed frustration.
“What does this do for Missouri taxpayers? What good is this use of our resources and our state’s time?” she asked. “All it does is keep innocent people in jail.”
Dunn’s wife said on her way to the prison that they were left speechless when he failed to emerge earlier this week.
“If you know anything about history, you know we had a lot of disappointments when we thought we were finally going to get her freedom and it was taken away from us,” Kira Dunn said. “So we were preparing for the future.”
Dunn’s situation is similar to what happened to Sandra Hemme.
The 64-year-old spent 43 years in prison for stabbing a woman to death in St. Joseph in 1980. On June 14, a judge cited evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned her conviction. She was the longest-serving woman wrongfully imprisoned in the United States, according to the National Innocence Project, which worked to free Hemme.
Bailey’s appeals, all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court, kept Hemme in custody at the Chillicothe Correctional Facility. At a hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme was not released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court on a contempt of court charge. Hemme was released later that day.
The judge also reprimanded Bailey’s office for calling the warden and asking prison officials not to release Hemme after he ordered her released on her own recognizance.
Dunn, who is black, was 18 in 1990 when Ricco Rogers, 15, was killed. Key evidence used to convict him of first-degree murder included testimony from two boys who were at the scene of the shooting. Both later recanted, saying they were coerced by police and prosecutors.
At a 2020 hearing, 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 said only death row inmates — not those like Dunn sentenced to life in prison without parole — could claim “stand-alone” actual innocence.
A 2021 law now allows prosecutors to request court hearings in cases that present new evidence of wrongful conviction.
While Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, attorneys for his office said during the hearing that the initial testimony of two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they recanted as adults.
He also raised objections at a hearing for Lamar Johnson, who spent 28 years in prison for murder. Another St. Louis judge ruled in February 2023 that Johnson was wrongly convicted and he was released.
Another hearing will begin Aug. 21 for death row inmate Marcellus Williams. Bailey’s office also opposes challenging Williams’ conviction. Timing is of the essence: Williams is scheduled to be executed Sept. 24.
Steven Puro, professor emeritus of political science at Saint Louis University, said Bailey is in a highly competitive race for attorney general, with the primary fast approaching on Aug. 6.
“Bailey is trying to show that he is, quote, ‘tough on crime,’ which is a very important position of Republican conservatives,” he said. “Clearly he is angering the members of the justice system that he will have to fight in the future. But he is making the strategic point that he needs to get his name out to voters and try to use that to win the primary.”
Former Missouri Supreme Court Justice and Chief Justice Michael Wolff agrees, saying it appears to have become political for Bailey.
“But whatever your beliefs, if a court orders something, you have no right to refuse,” he said. “The court must be respected.”
