Missouri Supreme Court Blocks Release of Exonerated Man

For more than 30 years, Christopher Dunn has been incarcerated in Missouri, accused of a murder he insisted he did not commit. Freedom seemed within his grasp when a circuit judge overturned his conviction and ordered for his release Wednesday — only to be overruled when the state Supreme Court granted the attorney general’s request for a stay.

Dunn's case is the second time in a matter of weeks that Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) has fought a court order to release someone who was found to be wrongly convicted. Last month, Sandra Hemme, 64, the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., had her conviction overturned, only to have Bailey appeal her release, keeping her behind bars. Ultimately, she was released July 19 after a judge threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt of court.

Dunn, now 52 years old, was 18 when he was accused of fatally shooting 15-year old Ricco Rogers on the night of May 18, 1990. Though there was no physical evidence in the case linking Dunn to the shooting, he was convicted of first-degree murder in a case that heavily relied on two young witnesses who claimed to see the shooting. Those witnesses, who were 12 and 14, later recanted their testimony as adults and said they were coerced by prosecutors and police.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser overturned Dunn’s conviction last Monday following a motion filed by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore in February seeking to vacate the guilty verdict. After weighing the case for nearly two months, Sengheiser issued a ruling that cited “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 crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“The State of Missouri shall immediately discharge Christopher Dunn from its custody,” Sengheiser’s ruling said, and ordered that Dunn be freed by 6 p.m. Wednesday, until the ruling was blocked by Bailey’s motion for an emergency stay and sustained by the state’s highest court.

The decision to keep Dunn incarcerated puzzled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, whose office investigated his case and determined he was wrongfully convicted, prompting a May hearing before Sengheiser. “In our view, the judge’s order was very clear, ordering his immediate release,” Gore said at a news conference Tuesday. “Based on that, we are considering what approach and what legal options we have to obtain Mr. Dunn’s relief.”

“Christopher Dunn has been found innocent by two separate judges after both judges hearing the evidence before them,” Dunn's attorney, Justin Bonus said in a statement. “He remains in prison, an innocent man, with his conviction overturned. This is a travesty of justice. The AG should not be fighting Judge Sengheiser’s decision. Their job is not to fight to uphold convictions, but to seek justice. That is not what is happening here,”

“We are devastated and so confused as to why the Missouri Supreme entertained the Attorney General’s improper intrusion into a matter already settled by a judge. Chris was literally a few steps away from freedom when the call came,” Dunn’s wife, Kira Dunn, said in a statement to NBC affiliate KSDK of St. Louis. “This is unimaginably cruel treatment of a proven innocent person. It is torture. It is pointless. It is a perversion of what justice should be in Missouri.”

You can read more about Christopher Dunn's case and his fight for justice in "Why is Missouri's Attorney General blocking overturned conviction cases?" from KSDK News/St. Louis.