Missouri judge overturns murder conviction of man sentenced to more than 30 years in prison

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri judge on Monday overturned the conviction of Christopher Dunn, who spent more than 30 years in prison for a murder he long said he didn’t commit.

The ruling will likely free Dunn from prison, nevertheless it was not immediately clear when that will occur. He is serving a life sentence without the chance of parole.

Saint Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser’s decision got here weeks after he presided over a three-day hearing on Dunn’s fate.

Dunn, now 52, ​​was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting death of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis District Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February to overturn the conviction. A hearing was held in May.

Sengheiser wrote in his ruling that “the district attorney presented clear and convincing evidence of ‘actual innocence,’ which undermines the basis for Dunn’s conviction because, in light of the new evidence, no juror acting reasonably would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Dunn’s attorney, Midwest Innocence Project executive director Tricia Rojo (*30*), said she was “overjoyed” with the judge’s decision.

“Chris now looks forward to spending time with his wife and family as a free man,” (*30*) said in an announcement.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the trouble to overturn Dunn’s conviction. Lawyers for the state argued at a hearing in May that the initial statements of two boys on the scene who identified Dunn because the shooter were correct, although they later recanted them as adults.

“This verdict was correct and should be upheld,” Deputy Attorney General Tristin Estep said on the hearing.

Spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said the Attorney General’s Office will appeal.

The decision in Dunn’s case got here days after Sandra Hemme was free of a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for murder that a judge found unconvicted. Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release.

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A Missouri law passed in 2021 allows prosecutors to request hearings once they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. While Bailey’s office doesn’t have to oppose such actions, he also opposed one other motion in St. Louis that led to Lamar Johnson’s release last yr after serving 28 years for a murder case in which a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted.

Rogers was shot May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire while he was with a bunch of other teenage boys outside a house. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, each initially identified Dunn because the shooter.

In a taped interview played on the trial, Davis said he lied because he thought Dunn was related to a rival gang.

Stepp’s story has modified several times over the years, Gore said on the hearing. Most recently, he said he didn’t see Dunn because the shooter. Gore said one other judge had previously found Stepp to be “a completely unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to ignore him entirely.

Dunn said he was at his mother’s house on the time of the shooting. Childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke to him on the phone that night and that he was on the phone at his mother’s house.

Estep, the deputy attorney general, said the alibi was not credible and Dunn’s story had modified again and again over the years. Dunn didn’t testify on the trial.

The 2021 law led to the discharge of two men who had spent many years in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was freed in 2021 after more than 40 years for 3 slayings in Kansas City, after a judge ruled he was wrongly convicted in 1979.

Next month shall be the subsequent trial for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and now faces one other execution.

St. Louis County District Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to overturn Williams’ conviction in the 1998 fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle. Bell’s motion stated that three experts determined Williams’ DNA was not on the handle of the butcher knife used in the slaying.

Williams was hours away from execution in 2017 when then-Gov. Eric Greitens halted it and appointed a commission to investigate his claim of innocence. The commission never issued a ruling, and Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican like Greitens, disbanded it last yr.

This month, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Parson had the appropriate to dissolve the board and set a brand new execution date of Sept. 24.