July 24, 2024

Man’s Conviction Overturned But Prison Refuses To Release Him

Christopher Dunn has spent 33 years in jail for a murder he says he never committed.

A man 30 years into a life sentence with parole had his conviction overturned by a Missouri judge. But though he has been ordered to be released, according to the Associated Press, the Michigan prison he is still in has not complied with the order.

Christopher Dunn, 52, was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of then-15-year-old Ricco Rogers in 1990, which he has always denied. In February, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion requesting that the court vacate Dunn’s guilty verdict. After a hearing in May, St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser ruled in favor of releasing Dunn from his sentence.

In his ruling, the judge wrote that the “Circuit Attorney has 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. It testified that although the witnesses, who pointed to Dunn as the suspect, had recanted their stories, it believed their initial testimony was correct.

“That verdict was accurate, and that verdict should stand,” Assistant Attorney General Tristin Estep said at the hearing. The Attorney General’s Office vowed to appeal.

Although a judge instructed the prison to release Dunn, he is still locked up at the state prison in Licking. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Dunn was not released because the office appealed the judge’s ruling, “and we’re awaiting the outcome of that legal action,” Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann wrote in an email to AP.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, whose office investigated the case didn’t understand the reluctance to release Dunn.

“In our view, the judge’s order was very clear, ordering his immediate release,” Gore said at a July 23 news conference. “Based on that, we are considering what approach and what legal options we have to obtain Mr. Dunn’s relief.” He declined to specify those options.

The Midwest Innocence Project assisted in getting Dunn’s conviction overturned when it was brought to the attention of Gore’s office.

Rogers was shot on May 18, 1990, when the shooter opened fire on a group of teenage boys outside a home. At the time, DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, claimed Dunn was the shooter. However, in a recently recorded interview played at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he believed Dunn was a member of a rival gang.

Stepp also admitted recently that he did not witness Dunn shoot Rogers. Stepp’s story has changed a few times over the years, Gore said at the hearing. Gore testified that another judge previously found Stepp to be a “completely unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to discount him altogether.