ST. LOUIS – The decades-long saga of freeing a Missouri man wrongfully convicted of murder has reached its end.
52-year-old Christopher Dunn walked out of the St. Louis Justice Center Tuesday evening free, after spending 34 years incarcerated.
On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the St. Louis Circuit Court lacked the authority to order the release of Christopher Dunn because the underlying murder charge filed against him was still pending. The state’s highest court wrote, “ordering [Mr. Dunn’s] release without allowing the State of Missouri an opportunity to indicate its intent, if any, to retry Dunn.”
In essence, the matter was put back in the hands of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, who last week filed a motion for Dunn’s immediate release. St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser overturned Dunn’s conviction on July 22.
Following the state Supreme Court’s ruling, Gore’s office released a statement saying they had “filed a Memorandum of Nolle Prosequi stating that ‘the State elects not to proceed’ in State of Missouri vs. Christopher Dunn, Cause Number 22901-001555, which makes clear that Mr. Dunn will not be retried.”
Kira Dunn, Christopher’s wife, told FOX 2 that the Missouri Department of Convictions contacted her and said her husband would be transported to the St. Louis City Justice Center, where he’d be released Tuesday evening.
Dunn’s legal team from the Midwest Innocence Project released a statement Tuesday afternoon, elated at the news.
Today, the Missouri Supreme Court cleared the way for Christopher Dunn’s release from custody after 34 years of incarceration. The Court lifted the emergency stay of Judge Sengheiser’s order and correctly held that Judge Sengheiser’s finding of actual innocence had immediately overturned Chris’ wrongful convictions. The only remaining legal formality was to dismiss the original criminal charges so that Chris can walk free. Thus, with Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore’s dismissal of those charges this afternoon, Chris’ nightmare comes to an end. He is coming home.
We are thrilled that Chris will finally be reunited with his family after 34 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. We look forward to supporting Chris as he rebuilds his life. But our joy in welcoming Chris home is tempered by the additional days and moments stolen from him by this week’s proceedings. We are grateful for the outpouring of support from all corners of the country over the past few days. As we all observed, that was not justice.
Tragically, this is not the first time the Missouri Attorney General has fought to keep an innocent person in prison. We hope it will be the last. Chris Dunn deserved better. Ricco Rogers and his family deserved better. As a nation, we deserve better.
Until that day comes, we will celebrate that Chris will finally return home to his family as a free man. This result would not have been possible without the persistence of Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore and special prosecutors Judge Booker Shaw, Rachael Moore, and Layla Husen of Thompson Coburn LLP. Their work was integral to securing Chris’ freedom, which is long overdue.
We look forward to being a part of Chris’ next chapter, and we are honored to support him as he rebuilds his life alongside his loved ones. If you would like to support Chris on his new journey, you can find his GoFundMe here.
Rachel Wester and Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Midwest Innocence Project; Justin Bonus and Jonathan Potts, Bryan Cave Leighton Paiser.
Dunn, 54, was convicted on July 18, 1991, for the murder of Ricco Rogers.
Rogers, 15, was shot and killed on May 18, 1990, in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. Investigators believed Rogers was murdered over a gang affiliation.
At the time, Dunn was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Kim Gardner, the former circuit attorney, believed there to be clear and convincing evidence pointing to a wrongful conviction and had asked the St. Louis Circuit Court to overturn the verdict.
At the time, the trial hinged on the testimony of 12 and 14-year-olds, who later admitted that they were not telling the truth and recanted.
Ultimately, Circuit Attorney Gore said that proved to be enough.
His predecessor, Gardner, had filed that paperwork in mid-May 2023. Days later, she announced her resignation and left office on May 16. Earlier in the year, Gardner succeeded in getting the courts to re-examine and ultimately vacate Lamar Johnson’s murder conviction. Johnson had been behind bars for 28 years for the 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd.
Shortly after assuming office, Circuit Attorney Gore promised his office would conduct a full review of Dunn’s case before moving forward on anything.
In June 2023, Gore withdrew Gardner’s petition, saying he wanted to conduct his own investigation and review of Dunn’s case. He appointed retired Judge Booker Shaw to assist in the review and advise the circuit attorney on the possibility of withdrawing the case. Both Shaw and Gore concluded that Dunn was innocent of the crime.
