Current:Home > FinanceHearing to determine if Missouri man who has been in prison for 33 years was wrongfully convicted -Intelligent Capital Compass
Hearing to determine if Missouri man who has been in prison for 33 years was wrongfully convicted
View
Date:2025-04-19 12:13:53
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Christopher Dunn has spent 33 years in prison for a murder he has claimed from the outset that he didn’t commit. A hearing this week will determine if he should go free.
St. Louis prosecutors are now convinced Dunn is telling the truth, but lawyers for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office disagree and will argue for keeping him behind bars. Dunn, 52, is serving a sentence of life without parole at the state prison in Locking, Missouri, but is expected to attend the hearing before Judge Jason Sengheiser that begins Tuesday.
The hearing follows a motion filed in February By St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. A Missouri law adopted in 2021 allows prosecutors to request hearings in cases where they believe there is evidence of a wrongful conviction.
Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers in 1990, based largely on the testimony of two boys who said they witnessed the shooting. The witnesses, ages 12 and 14 at the time, later recanted, claiming they were coerced by police and prosecutors.
In May 2023, then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed a motion to vacate Dunn’s sentence. But Gardner resigned days later, and after his appointment by Gov. Mike Parson, Gore wanted to conduct his own investigation. Gore announced in February that he would seek to overturn the conviction.
Dunn, who is Black, was 18 when Rogers was shot to death on the night of May 18, 1990. No physical evidence linked Dunn to the crime but the two boys told police at the time that they saw Dunn standing in the gangway of the house next door, just minutes before shots rang out.
Rogers and the two boys ran when they heard the shots, but Roger was fatally struck, according to court records.
A judge has heard Dunn’s innocence case before.
At an evidentiary hearing in 2020, Judge William Hickle agreed that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence. But Hickle declined to exonerate Dunn, citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only death row inmates — not those like Dunn sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — could make a “freestanding” claim of actual innocence.
The 2021 law has resulted in the the release of two men who both spent decades in prison.
In 2021, Kevin Strickland was freed after more than 40 years behind bars for three killings in Kansas City after a judge ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted in 1979.
Last February, a St. Louis judge overturned the conviction of Lamar Johnson, who spent nearly 28 years in prison for a killing he always said he didn’t commit. At a hearing in December 2022, another man testified that it was he — not Johnson — who joined a second man in the killing. A witness testified that police had “bullied” him into implicating Johnson. And Johnson’s girlfriend at the time had testified that they were together that night.
A hearing date is still pending in another case in which a Missouri murder conviction is being challenged for a man who was nearly executed for the crime.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the conviction of Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection seven years ago for the fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle in 1998. Bell’s motion said three experts have determined that Williams’ DNA was not on the handle of the butcher knife used in the killing.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- NCAA hands former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh a 4-year show cause order for recruiting violations
- Alec Baldwin and Wife Hilaria Cry in Court After Judge Dismisses Rust Shooting Case
- Bananas, diapers and ammo? Bullets in grocery stores is a dangerous convenience.
- Trump asks judge to throw out conviction in New York hush money case
- Carolinas bracing for second landfall from Tropical Storm Debby: Live updates
- Federal judge refuses to block Biden administration rule on gun sales in Kansas, 19 other states
- Baltimore Judge Tosses Climate Case, Hands Win to Big Oil
- US Navy pilots come home after months of shooting down Houthi missiles and drones
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- DWTS' Peta Murgatroyd Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Maks Chmerkovskiy
Ranking
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- HGTV Star Christina Hall Reveals the Secret of Her Strong Marriage to Josh Hall
- Madewell's Big End of Season Sale Is Here, Save up to 70% & Score Styles as Low as $11
- Layered Necklaces Are The Internet's Latest Obsession — Here's How To Create Your Own Unique Stack
- American news website Axios laying off dozens of employees
- Inside the courtroom as case dismissed against Alec Baldwin in fatal shooting of cinematographer
- Mental health clinics across the US are helping Latinos bridge language and access barriers
- Georgia sheriff laments scrapped jail plans in county under federal civil rights investigation
Recommendation
'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
Retired Massachusetts pediatrician pleads not guilty to abusing young patients
Historically Black Cancer Alley town splits over a planned grain terminal in Louisiana
Pecans are a good snack, ingredient – but not great for this
Daughter of Utah death row inmate navigates complicated dance of grief and healing before execution
US Navy pilots come home after months of shooting down Houthi missiles and drones
Former Georgia insurance commissioner sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to health care fraud
Chicago removing homeless encampment ahead of Democratic National Convention