Missouri Supreme Court halts release of man with overturned conviction as he was about to go free

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court docket halted the instant launch Wednesday of a person whose homicide conviction was overturned — simply as the person was about to stroll free.

A St. Louis Circuit Court docket decide had ordered Christopher Dunn, now 52, to be launched by 6 p.m. CDT Wednesday and threatened the jail warden with contempt if Dunn remained imprisoned. However Republican Lawyer Basic Andrew Bailey has been preventing Dunn’s launch.

The scenario was chaotic because the deadline set by the decide approached. Corrections Division spokesperson Karen Pojmann advised The Related Press that Dunn was out of the jail facility and ready for a journey. His spouse advised the AP she was on his method to choose him up. Minutes later, Pojmann corrected herself and mentioned that whereas Dunn was signing paperwork to be launched, the Missouri Supreme Court docket issued a ruling that put his freedom on maintain.

St. Louis Circuit Decide Jason Sengheiser overturned Dunn’s homicide conviction Monday, citing proof of “precise innocence” within the 1990 killing. He ordered Dunn’s instant launch then, however Bailey appealed, and the state Division of Corrections declined to launch Dunn.

St. Louis Circuit Lawyer Gabe Gore had filed a movement Wednesday urging the decide to instantly order Dunn’s freedom.

“The Lawyer Basic can’t unilaterally resolve to disregard this Court docket’s Order,” Gore wrote.

An legal professional for the Division of Corrections advised a lawyer in Gore’s workplace that Bailey suggested the company to not launch Dunn till the attraction performs out, in line with a court docket submitting. When advised it was improper to disregard a court docket order, the Division of Corrections legal professional “responded that the Lawyer Basic’s Workplace is authorized counsel to the DOC and the DOC can be following the recommendation of counsel.”

Dunn’s legal professional, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, the chief director of the Midwest Innocence Challenge, expressed her frustration.

“What is that this bringing to taxpayers in Missouri? What is that this use of our assets and our state’s time getting us?” she mentioned. “All it’s doing is conserving harmless folks in jail.”

Dunn’s spouse mentioned whereas driving to the jail that they had been numb when he didn’t get out earlier this week.

“If you recognize slightly concerning the story, you recognize we’ve had quite a lot of disappointments the place we thought we’d lastly get his freedom and it was snatched away,” Kira Dunn mentioned. “So we had been simply bracing ourselves.”

Dunn’s scenario is just like what occurred to Sandra Hemme.

The 64-year-old girl spent 43 years in jail for the deadly stabbing of a girl in St. Joseph in 1980. A decide on June 14 cited proof of “precise innocence” and overturned her conviction. She had been the longest held wrongly incarcerated girl recognized within the U.S., in line with the Nationwide Innocence Challenge, which labored to free Hemme.

Appeals by Bailey — all the way in which as much as the Missouri Supreme Court docket — stored Hemme imprisoned on the Chillicothe Correctional Heart. Throughout a court docket listening to Friday, Decide Ryan Horsman mentioned that if Hemme wasn’t launched inside hours, Bailey himself must seem in court docket with contempt of court docket on the desk. Hemme was launched later that day.

The decide additionally scolded Bailey’s workplace for calling the warden and telling jail officers to not launch Hemme after he ordered her to be freed on her personal recognizance.

Dunn, who’s Black, was 18 in 1990 when 15-year-old Ricco Rogers was killed. Among the many key proof used to convict him of first-degree homicide was testimony from two boys who had been on the scene of the taking pictures. Each later recanted their testimony, saying that they had been coerced by police and prosecutors.

At an evidentiary listening to in 2020, one other decide agreed {that a} jury would seemingly discover Dunn not responsible based mostly on new proof. However that decide, William Hickle, declined to exonerate Dunn, citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court docket ruling that solely demise row inmates — not these like Dunn sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole — might make a “freestanding” declare of precise innocence.

A 2021 legislation now permits prosecutors to hunt court docket hearings in circumstances with new proof of a wrongful conviction.

Though Bailey’s workplace will not be required to oppose such efforts, legal professionals for his workplace mentioned on the listening to that preliminary testimony from two boys on the scene who recognized Dunn because the shooter was right, despite the fact that they recanted as adults.

He additionally raised opposition at a listening to for Lamar Johnson, who spent 28 years in jail for homicide. One other St. Louis decide dominated in February 2023 that Johnson was wrongfully convicted, and he was freed.

One other listening to begins Aug. 21 for demise row inmate Marcellus Williams. Bailey’s workplace is opposing the problem to Williams’ conviction, too. Timing is of the essence: Williams is scheduled to be executed Sept. 24.

Steven Puro, professor emeritus of political science at St. Louis College, mentioned Bailey is in a extremely aggressive race for the legal professional common place with the first shortly approaching on Aug. 6.

“Bailey is making an attempt to point out that he’s, quote, ‘powerful on crime,’ which is a vital Republican conservative place,” he mentioned. “Clearly, he’s angering members of the judicial system that he must argue earlier than sooner or later. However he’s making the strategic notion that he must get his title earlier than the voters and attempt to use that to win the first election.”

Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court docket decide and chief justice, agreed, saying it appears this has turn out to be political for Bailey.

“However one of many issues is that it doesn’t matter what your beliefs are, if a court docket orders one thing to occur, it’s not your purview to say no,” he mentioned. “The court docket needs to be obeyed.”

___

This story has been up to date to right the deadline {that a} court docket order says Dunn have to be launched from jail. It ought to have mentioned 6 p.m. CDT as an alternative of 6 p.m. EDT. This story has additionally been up to date to right that Dunn was represented by the Midwest Innocence Challenge, not the Nationwide Innocence Challenge.

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas; Related Press author Summer season Ballentine contributed from Columbia, Missouri.