Global Courant 2023-05-16 10:30:37
The office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is seeking to overturn the conviction of a man who served 33 years in prison for a murder he claims he did not commit.
On Monday, Gardner cited “clear and compelling evidence” that Christopher Dunn, now 51, was not involved in the 1990 fatal shooting of Ricco Rogers. The statement came after Gardner filed a motion in St. Louis Circuit Court on Friday to seek the conviction. for first-degree murder.
Witnesses who testified against Dunn later said authorities pressured them to lie, Gardner’s office said.
“We hope that his wrongful conviction is overturned in the best interests of Mr. Dunn, his family and the people of the City of St. Louis,” Gardner said in a statement Monday.
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St. Louis’s Supreme Prosecutor has asked a court to quash the conviction of Christopher Dunn, who spent 33 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit, after witnesses who testified against him later said that the authorities had pressured them to lie. (Kira Dunn via AP)
It was not immediately clear whether the office of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey would oppose the motion.
Dunn, who was 18 when Rogers was killed, was convicted in part because of testimony from two boys who claimed to have witnessed the shooting. Years later, both boys retracted their testimony, saying they were coerced by state officials.
Dunn’s potential innocence was brought before a judge in 2020, but according to procedural precedent, he could not be acquitted.
Judge William Hickle said at the hearing that year that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence, but he declined to exonerate Dunn.
SOROS-SUPPORTED Prosecutor PROVIDED IN SCANDAL STANDS BACK
In his decision, Hickle cited a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only death row inmates could make a “detached” claim of their innocence — not those serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, like Dunn.
Dunn’s claim is under reconsideration as a 2021 law allows prosecutors to seek court hearings in cases with new evidence of a wrongful conviction.
The law has already led to the release of two detainees who have served long sentences.
Lamar Johnson, pictured at a law firm in Clayton, Mo., on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, is now free after serving nearly 28 years in prison for the death of a St. Louis man. (AP Photo / Jim Salter)
Lamar Johnson, who had spent nearly three decades in prison, was released after Gardner’s office convinced a court to overturn his conviction in February.
An investigation with the Innocence Project into the 1994 murder and subsequent conviction found that Johnson was convicted largely on the testimony of an eyewitness, who later claimed he was coerced into giving his statements.
A second inmate, Kevin Strickland, who served more than 40 years for a Kansas City triple homicide, was also released as a result of the new law.
Dunn’s attorneys at the Midwest Innocence Project believe he should be the third.
“We are confident that any court, when faced with such evidence, will rule, as Judge Hickle did nearly three years ago, that Christopher Dunn is innocent,” the group said this week.
YET ANOTHER MISSOURI OFFICIAL CAN MAKE AN APPROACHER DEEMED BY SOROS RESIGN IN COURT AS MORE ASSISTANT
The overturning of these convictions comes as Gardner announced on May 4 that she would resign effective June 1.
Gardner has been under fire for months because critics accused her of neglecting her duties by allowing too many cases, including murders, to go unpunished. Her office has also been accused of being too slow to take cases.
Critics also said criminals have been released back onto the streets, while the victims of their crimes and their families are left unaware.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner sits behind her attorneys in a courtroom, April 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (David Carson/St. Louis Post dispatch via AP)
Her time as a city attorney is riddled with allegations of misconduct and mishandled cases. One such incident led to Gardner being publicly reprimanded and fined by the Missouri Supreme Court.
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Gardner was backed in 2016 and again in 2020 by liberal billionaire and Democrat mega-donor George Soros.
Republican Governor Mike Parson will appoint her replacement.
Greg Wehner of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
