A sentence handed down in Missouri on Monday overturned the conviction of Christopher Dunn, who spent more than 30 years in prison for a homicide he long claimed not to have committed.
The ruling will most likely free Dunn from prison, but it’s unclear when that will happen. He is serving a life sentence without the option of parole.
The ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser came weeks after he presided over a three-day hearing on Dunn’s fate.
Dunn, now 52, convicted of first-degree murder for shooting 15-year-old Ricco Rogers in 1990. St. Louis Circuit District Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February to vacate the guilty verdict. A hearing held in May.
Sengheiser, in his ruling, wrote that “the Circuit Attorney made a transparent and convincing demonstration of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the foundations of Dunn’s convictions because, in light of new evidence, no jury, acting instead of that, Array would not have voted to locate Dunn. guilty of these crimes beyond all moderate doubt.
Dunn’s attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said she was “delighted” with the judge’s decision.
“Chris now looks forward to spending time with his wife and circle of family as a relaxed man,” Bushnell said in a statement.
The Missouri attorney general’s office opposed efforts to overturn Dunn’s conviction. State attorneys said at the May hearing that initial testimony from two children at the scene, who knew Dunn as the shooter, was correct; then they retracted as adults.
“This verdict was accurate and stands,” Deputy Attorney General Tristin Estep said at the hearing.
It’s unclear if the state will appeal. Messages left at Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office were not responded to promptly.
A Missouri ruling on Monday, July 22, 2024, overturned the conviction of Dunn, who spent more than 30 years in prison for a homicide he long claimed not to have committed. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis after sending via AP, pool, file)
The resolution in Dunn’s case came days after Sandra Hemme was released from a West Missouri prison after serving 43 years for a murder a trial decided she did not commit. not committed. Bailey’s workplace also opposed Hemme’s release.
A Missouri law passed in 2021 allows prosecutors to request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. Although Bailey’s workplace is not required to oppose such efforts, he also opposed other efforts at St. Paul’s. St. Louis that resulted in Lamar Johnson’s release last year after serving 28 years of criminal conviction for a homicide case in which he was wrongly ruled. convicted.
Rogers was shot and killed on May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire while he was with a group of other teenagers outside a home. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr. , 12, both initially identified Dunn as the shooter.
In a taped interview played at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he believed Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.
Stepp’s story has been replaced several times over the years, Gore said during the hearing. Most recently, he said he didn’t consider Dunn the shooter. Gore said someone else had tried Stepp in the past to be a “completely unreliable witness” and suggested to Sengheiser that he dismiss it entirely.
Dunn said he was at his mother’s house at the time of the shooting. His childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke to him on the phone that night and that he spoke to him on the phone at his mother’s house.
Estep, the deputy attorney general, said the alibi could be relied upon and that Dunn’s story had been replaced several times over the years. Dunn testified at the hearing.
The 2021 law allowed for the release of two men who had spent decades in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was released in 2021 after more than 40 years for 3 murders in Kansas City after a sentence ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted in 1979.
Another hearing will be held next month for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped a fatal injection and now faces an execution date.
St. Louis County District Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the conviction of Williams, who was convicted of the 1998 shooting death of Lisha Gayle. Bell’s move said three experts decided Williams’ DNA was not at stake. Care of the butcher knife used in the murder.
Williams was hours away from execution in 2017, when then-Governor Eric Greitens put an end to it and appointed a commission of inquiry to read into his declaration of innocence. The board never made a resolution and Gov. Mike Parson, like Greitens, a Republican, dissolved it last year.
The Missouri Supreme Court declared this month that Parson had authority to dissolve the board and set a new execution date of Sept. 24.
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