ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri judge on Monday overturned the conviction of Christopher Dunnwho spent more than 30 years in prison for a murder he has long claimed he did not commit.
The ruling will likely release Dunn from prison, but it was not immediately clear when that would happen. He is serving a life sentence without parole.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser’s decision came several 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 of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February seeking to overturn the guilty verdict. A hearing was in May.
Sengheiser, in his ruling, wrote that the “Circuit Attorney made a clear and convincing demonstration of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions because, in light of 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 Bushnell, said she was “very happy” with the judge’s decision.
“Now, Chris looks forward to spending more time with his wife and family as a free man,” Bushnell said in a statement.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the effort to overturn Dunn’s conviction. Attorneys for the state said at the May hearing that initial testimony from two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, although they later recanted themselves as adults.
“This verdict was accurate and should stand,” Assistant Attorney General Tristin Estep said at the hearing.
Spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said the Attorney General’s Office will appeal.
The ruling in Dunn’s case came days later Sandra Heme was released from a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for a murder a judge ruled she did not commit. Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release.
A Missouri law adopted in 2021 allows prosecutors to request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. While Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, he also opposed another effort in St. Louis that resulted in Lamar Johnson being released last year after serving 28 years for a murder case in which a judge ruled he was wrongly convicted.
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.
In an interview recorded at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he thought Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.
Stepp’s story has changed a few times over the years, Gore said at the hearing. More recently, he said he didn’t see Dunn as the shooter. Gore said another judge found Stepp to be a “completely unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to disregard him completely.
Dunn said he was at his mother’s house at the time of the shooting. Childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke to him on the phone that night and he was on the phone at his mother’s house.
Estep, the assistant attorney general, said the alibi cannot be trusted and that Dunn’s story has changed several times over the years. Dunn did not testify at the hearing.
The 2021 law resulted in the release of two men who spent decades in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was released in 2021 after more than 40 years for three murders in Kansas City after a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted in 1979.
Another hearing will be next month for Marcelo Williamswho narrowly escaped lethal injection and now faces another execution date.
St. Louis County District Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the conviction of Williams, who was convicted of the fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle in 1998. Bell’s motion said three experts determined that DNA de Williams was not on the identifier of the butcher knife used in the murder.
Williams was hours away from execution in 2017 when then-Gov. Eric Greitens interrupted him and appointed a commission of inquiry to examine his claim of innocence. The board never issued a decision and Gov. Mike Parson, like the Greens, a Republican, dissolved it last year.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled this month that Parson had the authority to dissolve the board and set a new execution date for September 24.
