Christopher Dunn: Murder conviction of man who has spent 30 years in jail overturned | US News

A Missouri judge overturned the murder conviction of a man who spent more than 30 years in prison.

Christopher Dunn has been serving a life sentence without parole and has always said he was innocent.

The ruling will likely set Dunn free, but it was not immediately clear when that would happen.

The ruling comes after a judge presided over a three-day hearing on Dunn’s fate in May.

Dunn, now 52, ​​was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1990 shooting of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers.

A motion to vacate the guilty verdict was filed in February.

And in the latest ruling, Judge Jason Sengheiser wrote: “The Circuit Attorney has clearly and convincingly demonstrated his ‘actual innocence’ which undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions because, in light of new evidence, no member of the “A jury, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Dunn’s attorney said she was “delighted” by the judge’s ruling.

“Chris now looks forward to spending time with his wife and family as a free man,” Tricia Rojo Bushnell said in a statement.

He Missouri The Attorney General’s Office opposed the attempt to overturn Dunn’s conviction.

Attorneys for the state said at the May hearing that initial testimony from two children at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, although they later recanted as adults.

“That verdict was accurate and should stand,” Deputy Attorney General Tristin Estep said at the hearing.

It is not yet known whether the state will appeal.

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 a taped interview played at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he thought Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.

Stepp’s story has changed several times over the years. He most recently said that he did not view Dunn as the shooter, according to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore.

Dunn has 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 that he was on the phone at his mother’s house.