A man who has been in prison for more than 30 years for a murder almost everyone agrees he did not commit is getting a chance at freedom.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner late Friday to vacate the conviction of Christopher Dunn.
鈥淔or the last 33 years, Mr. Dunn has been incarcerated for a crime in which there is clear and convincing evidence he did not commit,鈥� Gardner said in a statement on Monday. 鈥淲e have an ethical duty to work to correct this injustice. We are hopeful his wrongful conviction is set aside for the sake of Mr. Dunn, his family, and the people of the city of St. Louis.鈥�
Dunn鈥檚 wife, Kira, said she woke up Monday to the news.
鈥淚鈥檓 very grateful,鈥� she said.
Kent Gipson, who represented Dunn during his initial attempts to prove his innocence, said the announcement 鈥渃ame as a bolt from the blue.鈥�
In a phone call on Friday, Dunn was 鈥渞eally down in the dumps, and almost ready to give up hope,鈥� Gipson said. He reminded Dunn that Gardner still had another three weeks before she left office.
鈥淚 guess I turned out to be prophetic,鈥� he said with a laugh.
Dunn is now represented by lawyers from the Missouri Innocence Project.
Dunn was 19 when he was convicted of the May 18, 1990, murder of Ricco Rogers based solely on the testimony of two adolescent boys who later recanted. In 2020, , where Dunn is in prison, ruled 鈥渢his court does not believe that any jury would now convict Christopher Dunn under these facts.鈥�
But the Missouri Supreme Court has held multiple times that it will only recognize freestanding innocence claims in death penalty cases and refused to consider Dunn鈥檚. Freestanding innocence claims are those that do not require an underlying finding that the defendant鈥檚 constitutional rights were violated in the process.
That meant Dunn鈥檚 only hope was that allows prosecutors in the jurisdiction where someone was convicted of a crime to ask a court to set aside the conviction. It鈥檚 the same process that鈥檚 freed and .
The law gives state Attorney General Andrew Bailey the right to participate in the process. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he would fight the move.
Gipson said his natural pessimism means he is worried that whoever takes over for Gardner after she resigns June 1 will stop the process. Even if it continues, he said, it will necessarily be low on the list of priorities.
鈥淏ut I think that any fair-minded prosecutor looking at the facts of this case, regardless of their politics, will see that this is a case where an innocent man is in prison,鈥� he said.
