Chris Dunn, Wrongfully Convicted 34 Years Ago, Finally Free. St. Louis Legal Officials Tried To Keep Him Locked Up Despite Innocence

 

Stories of the wrongfully convicted are bad enough when an innocent person ends up spending years, even decades in prison for a crime they did not commit. But when a court of law decides after years and even decades that a person is not guilty of a crime they’ve been convicted of, sentenced for and imprisoned behind, and legal officials still move to keep that person behind bars, it’s clear that there are officials in our “justice” system who have no interest in justice at all.

Meet Chris Dunn—and St. Louis’s ethically challenged Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Circuit Court Judge William Hickle, who appear to have zero interest in honoring the sanctity of life or a person’s inherent right to freedom.

On Tuesday, Dunn walked out of the Carnahan Courthouse in St. Louis hours after Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore officially dropped murder charges against him after he had been wrongfully incarcerated for 34 years. Dunn had been convicted based on the testimony of two young kids, one 12 and one 14. Both of those children later recanted their testimony, but nobody seemed to care. And it surely is no stretch of the imagination–even though it’s not been reported–to believe that the two young people were coerced and manipulated by law enforcement in the first place.

From St. Louis Public Radio:

Dunn was convicted in the 1990 murder of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers in the city’s Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. And his conviction was largely based on the testimony of two boys, ages 12 and 14, who later recanted their statements.

Dunn’s release came hours after the Missouri Supreme Court lifted an emergency order it issued last week that paused a ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser.

Sengheiser had overturned Dunn’s conviction on July 22 and ordered his immediate release, but the South Central Correctional Center in Licking where Dunn was being held refused to release him, following advice from Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

In a virtual emergency hearing on July 24, Sengheiser gave South Central’s warden until 6 p.m. to release Dunn or face being held in contempt. He noted that defiance of a court order would not be tolerated. The high court then put a hold on Sengheiser’s ruling after Bailey filed a writ at the last minute that day.

In their opinion, Supreme Court judges wrote that Bailey does not have the authority to hold an inmate in prison. They also wrote that for Dunn to be released, the circuit attorney had to follow proper procedure and drop the charges.

 

‘St. Louis, we did it!’ Christopher Dunn exclaimed from the steps of the courthouse where a judge set him free after spending 34 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction. He is innocent and free, and he loves his mother. pic.twitter.com/Pcynzr5cT0

— Tony Messenger (@tonymess) July 31, 2024

No Plot Twists: Black People Are Primary Victims of Wrongful Convictions

And, of course, like in all things oppressive in America, it’s Black people who are statistically and historically the most vulnerable to these instances of cruel injustice.

This is as good a time as any to note that, in 2022, the National Registry of Exonerations reviewed the cases of 3,200 innocent defendants exonerated in the United States since 1989 and found that Black people represented 56% of all death row exonerees; 55% of wrongful murder convictions resulting in life imprisonment; and 54% of wrongful murder convictions for exonerees who didn’t receive life sentences but were still sentenced to years/decades in prison.

“Innocent Black people are about seven-and-a-half times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people,” the Registry reported.

If a person spends even two minutes in prison for a crime they didn’t commit, that’s two minutes too many. If legal technicalities and legal officials who refuse to admit the system got it wrong are halting an innocent person from enjoying life outside of prison walls, then the law has become a tool of cruel oppression, not justice.

“This is what they do.”

Dunn could have been released from prison as early as four years ago—and then two years ago—if not for the legal efforts of a Republican AG Andrew Bailey, who is being forced to testify under oath for a unrelated violation legal ethics rules. (Bailey whined about how being forced to do this harmed his free speech rights because he’s campaigning for reelection and wow, just wow).

This from a man who did his damnedest to keep Dunn locked up knowing he was innocent, as did the judge, William Hickle, who heard the 2016 appeal–and agreed with the finding of innocence!

“It was torture.”[/pullquote]

“To hear the decision of the judge, and then get prepared to leave on [July 24] only to be brought back into the prison, it was torture,” Dunn said Tuesday. “It’s something that you shouldn’t have to put anyone through, but then again, this is what they do.”

Openly Opposing Justice Is Business As Usual For AG Bailey & Co.

The Dunn case isn’t Bailey’s first rodeo when it comes to keeping innocent people locked up–a clear and dangerous violation of his job.

Earlier his month, a woman named Sandra Hemme was freed from prison after serving 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a St. Joseph, Mo., woman in 1980. Hemme’s release only happened after Bailey spent more than a month disobeying a court order while fighting to keep her in prison despite the fact that the judge in her case cited evidence of “actual innocence” on June 14 and ordered her release.

As for Dunn’s case, Bailey had help: Circuit Court Judge William Hickle who ruled that a jury sitting today with all the evidence would most surely have concluded not guilty. But too bad, so sad. Hickle said because Dunn was not a death row inmate, he had no right to claim innocence and had to stay in prison.

And no. You did not misread that.

More from STLPR:

In 2020, Circuit Court Judge William Hickle found that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence, but the judge declined to order Dunn’s release citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only people on death row can make a freestanding claim of actual innocence.

A new state law took effect in 2021 that allows prosecutors to file petitions when they believe an innocent person is imprisoned. Gore asked the court in February to vacate Dunn’s conviction, which ultimately led to Sengheiser overturning the sentence last week due to a lack of evidence.

What sense does it make for a judge who knows a person would likely not be convicted again if jurors were aware of all the evidence?

What kind of reason, logic, fairness and actual due process were these people taught? Why TF would the right to “make a freestanding claim of actual innocence” be limited to only death row inmates in the first place? And why would a judge apply such an arbitrary and nonsensical ruling to Dunn’s case? Who are these people, legal officials who play fast and loose with people’s lives? Would they be so frivolous with their own lives and freedom or that of someone they love.

Anyway, despite the efforts of sanctioned oppressors disguised as justice system officials, Dunn finally walked out of prison a free man.

“When the system chooses to throw you away…”

“Thank you, St. Louis, we did it. But it shouldn’t have taken so long. Not 34 years. There’s not enough words in the dictionary to describe this day right here,” Dunn said outside of Carnahan Courthouse, accompanied by his wife, Kira Dunn, and his mother, Martha Dunn.

“It’s easy to give up in prison when you lose hope,” Dunn told reporters. “But when the system choose[s] to throw you away, you have to ask yourself if you’re willing to just settle for it or you’re going to fight for it. I come from a strong family. I don’t know not how to fight. This is what we have done for the majority of our lives.

“And whether you want to believe it or not, everyone that’s in prison [should be]…[so we]  can’t give up,” he continued. “Let their stories be heard. Don’t give up on them. Give them a chance.”

Yes.

And free them all, not later, but NOW!

SEE MORE:

Black Twitter Joins Exonerated Five’s Yusef Salaam In Mocking Trump After City Council Primary Victory

Exonerated 5 Honored With Commemorative Central Park Entryway

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