Missouri judge urges release of Christopher Dunn; Missouri AG resists

ST. LOUIS – A man convicted of murder more than 30 years ago could soon be walking out of prison.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore argued for Christopher Dunn’s release but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought to keep the now 52-year-old in prison.

During a hearing back in May, the state argued Dunn lied repeatedly about the case involving the 1990 shooting death of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers but the Circuit Attorney’s office said there were witnesses who later recanted their statements and said they were lying.

There was no remaining evidence that would lead a reasonable jury to convict Dunn.
Those arguments were made inside a St. Louis courtroom, with Dunn there.

The president of the St. Louis NAACP followed this case and last year’s overturning of Lamar Johnson’s murder conviction in St. Louis City. He believes a judge’s ruling to free Dunn and another judge’s decision to overturn Johnson’s sentence show the justice system can right a wrong.

“There’s been a string of cases that have recently been overturned where the person was proven to be, in most cases, innocent or should not have been convicted in the first place,” St. Louis NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt II says. “If not for the prosecutors willing to take a stand and try to get them released, they may still be in jail or, in some cases, would have been put to death by the state and that’s a problem.”

The Attorney General’s Office has indicated they plan to appeal Monday’s ruling.

It’s not clear when Dunn will be released. An attorney for Dunn says he’s looking forward to spending time with his wife and family as a free man.

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