Why Did Missouri Halt the Release of A Man With An Overturned Conviction JUST As He Was About To Walk Free?

Christopher Dunn, 52, has maintained his innocence for more than three decades after he was convicted of the 1990 murder of Ricco Rogers. After spending 33 years in a Missouri prison, Dunn was scheduled to be released Wednesday evening after a St. Louis Circuit judge found there to be insufficient evidence to hold Dunn further, according to USA Today.

When Judge Jason Sengheiser announced his decision, Dunn’s family including his mother, Martha Dunn; wife, Kira Dunn; and 19-year-old son Sequoia Dunn sat in the courtroom eager to bring Dunn home after years of his incarceration, reported NBC .

The judge ordered his immediate released saying “in light of the new evidence, no juror, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.” It wasn’t until two days after the judge’s ruling that Kira was permitted to pick up her husband from prison, according to NPR.

Kira told NPR her husband was dressed in civilian clothes when he was ordered to return back to his cell Wednesday night. “The sheer and pointless cruelty is mind boggling,” she said. “If you know a little about the story, you know we’ve had a lot of disappointments where we thought we’d finally get his freedom, and it was snatched away,” she continued.

The Midwest Innocence Project, an organization working to help free Dunn announced on X, “Chris’ legal team hoped and expected him to be released this evening. But at the Attorney General’s request, and less than an hour before Chris’ scheduled release, the Missouri Supreme Court stayed the order to release Chris, and requested additional briefing.”

Corrections Department spokesperson Karen Pojmann told AP News that Dunn was in the middle of signing his release papers when news of the immediate stay took affect. The cause of the stay was Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He had been fighting against Dunn’s release, and directly following Judge Sengheiser’s ruling, Bailey filed an appeal.

Dunn’s case marks the second time Bailey has appealed the immediate release of a person whose murder conviction was overturned. Last month, 64-year-old Sandra Hemme had her 1980 murder conviction overturned only for Bailey to appeal her release, according to NBC. Hemme spent 43 years behind bars until a judge ruled her innocent in June.

Despite the ruling, Bailey fought to keep Hemme imprisoned. NBC reported Bailey’s appeal kept her locked up for several more weeks until a judge threatened to hold Bailey’s office in contempt for continuing to fight against her release. Hemme was released to her family on July 19.

Dunn was only 18 years old when he was accused of shooting and killing 15-year-old Rogers, according to NBC. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His first-degree murder conviction relied on two witness statements. The witnesses were 12 and 14 years old at the time. They have since recanted their statements saying they were coerced by police.

During a 2020 evidentiary hearing, Judge William Hickle agreed that a jury would not find Dunn guilty with updated evidence, but he declined to set Dunn free, citing a 2016 ruling only allowing death row inmates to make an innocent claim.

Despite two separate judges finding Dunn innocent, his case could be dragged out until next week when Judge Sengheiser and Bailey both have to prove their rebuttals. Dunn’s attorney, Justin Bonus, called his client’s case “a travesty of justice,” to NBC as he continues to sit in a prison cell with an overturned conviction.

Missouri is also set to execute Marcellus Williams in Sept., according to the New York Times. A hearing to appeal Williams’ case is scheduled for Aug. 21, and once again, Bailey’s office is challenging his case.