ST. LOUIS (news agencies) — A Missouri man was freed from prison Tuesday after his murder conviction was overturned after 34 years behind bars, despite the state attorney general’s efforts to keep him there.
“I never gave up because my family never gave up,” Christopher Dunn said from the steps of the downtown St. Louis courthouse. “It’s easy to give up in prison when you lose hope. But when the system throws you away, you have to ask yourself if you wanted to just settle for it or fight for it.”
Dunn, 52, reunited with his wife, Kira Dunn, as he was officially released from the St. Louis city jail Tuesday night. As his release drew imminent, he was driven by van from the state prison in Licking, Missouri, to St. Louis, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) 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 appealed to try and keep Dunn locked up.
When asked about the delay since the judge’s ruling, Dunn said, “It was testing. To hear the decision by the judge and then be prepared to leave on Wednesday, only to be brought back to prison. It was torture.”
Dunn’s release marks the second time in recent weeks that a person was freed from prison despite Bailey’s appeals to keep them in custody after a murder conviction was overturned.
Sandra Hemme was freed July 19 from a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for a murder that a judge deemed there was evidence of her “actual innocence.” Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release while an appellate court reviewed the case. She walked out of the prison only after a judge threatened Bailey with contempt if she wasn’t freed.
Political scientists and some attorneys have said Bailey was taking the tough stance to shore up votes in advance of a contested Republican primary. He faces a challenge from Will Scharf, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, in the Aug. 6 primary.
At one point last week, Dunn was minutes away from getting out of prison after the circuit judge, Jason Sengheiser, threatened a warden with contempt if he wasn’t released. But then the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to consider the case, temporarily halting his freedom.
Then on Tuesday, the state’s highest court 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, setting in motion the process toward Dunn’s freedom.
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 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 convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February seeking to vacate the guilty verdict. A hearing was in May.
Sengheiser wrote in his ruling that Gore “made 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 Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the effort to vacate Dunn’s conviction. Lawyers for the state said at the May hearing that initial testimony from two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they later recanted as adults.
Rogers was shot May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire while he was with a group of other teenage boys outside a home. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, both initially identified Dunn as the shooter.
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