An inmate’s murder conviction was overturned Monday after more than 30 years in a Missouri prison, following years of insisting he was innocent.
Christopher Dunn, now 52, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting death of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers and has spent the past 33 years serving life in prison without parole.
But St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser ruled Monday that Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore “has clearly and convincingly demonstrated his ‘actual innocence’ and that this undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions 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.”
He then ordered the Missouri Department of Corrections to release Dunn from custody. according to First Alert Four.
Dunn’s attorney, Midwest Innocence Project Executive Director Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said she was “delighted” by the judge’s ruling, while revealing the first thing she will do when she is released.
Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction was overturned Monday after more than 30 years in prison
“Now Chris looks forward to spending time with his wife and family as a free man,” he said.
But a prison spokesman he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office filed an appeal and it is unlikely that he will be released.
State attorneys argued that Dunn’s conviction should not be overturned at a hearing in May.
They claimed that the initial testimony of two boys at the scene of the May 18, 1990, shooting, who identified Dunn as the shooter, was correct, although they later retracted their statements as adults.
“The verdict was accurate and should stand,” argued Deputy Attorney General Tristin Estep.
He also claimed that Dunn’s alibi could not be trusted and that he had changed his story several times over the years.
He had said he was at his mother’s house at the time of the shooting, and his childhood friend testified that she spoke to him on the phone that night, stating that he was using a phone at his mother’s house.
Dunn was arrested after two teenagers identified him as the gunman who shot and killed 15-year-old Ricco Rogers.
Rogers was shot on May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire while he was with a group of other teenagers outside a home.
DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, initially identified Dunn as the shooter.
But in a recorded interview played at the May hearing, Davis admitted he lied because he thought Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.
Stepp’s story has also changed several times over the years, Gore argued, noting that another judge recently deemed him a “completely unreliable witness.”
However, more recently Stepp said he did not view Dunn as the shooter.
During the May hearing, eyewitness identification expert Nancy Franklin argued that it was also unlikely the children would have recognized the shooter’s face that night.
He said the shooter was standing about 15 feet away from them on a dark street and because Dunn was not a friend or family member, it is unlikely Stepp and Davis could have recognized him in a split second.
Sengehiser finally determined on Monday that “the only evidence incriminating Dunn has been retracted.”
He went on to acknowledge that Dunn’s alibi for the night of the murder was not solid, but argued that it was not essential to determining Dunn’s guilt given the lack of evidence against him.
Dunn’s attorney, Midwest Innocence Project Executive Director Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said she was “delighted” by the judge’s ruling.
It is unclear whether Dunn will be released from prison as the Attorney General’s Office appeals the judge’s ruling.
Dunn’s potential freedom was made possible by a Missouri law passed in 2021 that allows prosecutors to request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction.
The law has resulted in the release of two men who had spent decades in prison.
Lamar Johnson was released last year after serving 28 years in prison for a murder case in which a judge ruled he had been wrongfully convicted.
Additionally, Kevin Strickland was released in 2021 after more than 40 years for three Kansas City murders after a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted in 1979.
Another hearing will be held next month for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and now faces another execution date.