ST. LOUIS — A man who was on the verge of being released from prison this week after a judge found evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned his murder conviction now faces a new legal hurdle.
The person blocking the freedom of Christopher Dunn Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has just fought an unsuccessful battle to keep another woman, whose murder conviction was overturned, in prison.
Political scientists say Bailey’s efforts are a way to appear tough on crime and rally votes ahead of a tough primary. Judges and defense attorneys are expressing frustration.
“His actions caused unnecessary harm to this innocent person and are a stain on our justice system,” said Michael Heiskell, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, when asked about Bailey’s opposition to Dunn’s release.
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Dunn, who is black, was 18 in 1990 when 15-year-old Ricco Rogers was killed. One of the key pieces of evidence used to convict him of first-degree murder was the testimony of two boys who were at the scene of the shooting. Both later recanted their testimony, saying they were coerced by police and prosecutors.
Judge Jason Sengheiser on Monday overturned the now 52-year-old’s murder conviction and ordered his immediate release. Bailey’s office appealed and prison officials declined to release Dunn.
Sengheiser held an emergency hearing Wednesday and threatened to hold the guard in contempt of court if he didn’t release Dunn within hours. Dunn was signing papers and preparing to walk out the door when the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to consider Bailey’s objections and stayed his release, a prison service spokesman said.
“That is not justice,” the Midwest Innocence Project, which represents Dunn, said in a statement.
Bailey’s spokesman declined repeated email and text requests for comment. On Wednesday, she provided a link to the order blocking Dunn’s release.
Dunn’s case is the second ruling in the state in recent weeks in which he has been accused of “actual innocence.” Sandra Hemmenow 64, served 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a library worker in 1980 before a judge overturned her conviction.
Appeals by Bailey — all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme in the Chillicothe Correctional Center for more than a month after that initial ruling. During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman reprimanded an attorney in Bailey’s office for telling the guard not to release Hemme on his own recognizance pending an appeals hearing.
“Calling someone and telling them to ignore a court order is wrong,” Horsman said. He said if Hemme wasn’t released within a few hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court with a contempt of court charge on the table.
Hemme, who was described by her lawyers at the Innocence Project as the longest-wrongfully imprisoned woman in the US, was released later that day.
“The court must be obeyed,” said Michael Wolff, former associate justice and chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court.
A law from Missouri adopted in 2021 This allows prosecutors to request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction.
The law was passed after another judge, William Hickle, ruled in 2020 that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence. But Hickle declined to order Dunn’s release, citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only people sentenced to death can make a “stand-alone” claim of actual innocence.
In 2023, Bailey opposed the release of Lamar Johnsonwho was serving 28 years in prison for murder. Another judge in St. Louis overturned Johnson’s conviction and he was released.
The stakes are even higher for a hearing next month. The St. Louis County district attorney believes DNA evidence shows that Marcellus Williams did not commit the crime that put him on death row. DNA from someone else — but not Williams — was found on the knife used in the 1998 killing, experts said.
Williams’ innocence hearing is scheduled to begin on August 21. His execution is scheduled for September 24.
Bailey’s office is also opposing the challenge to Williams’ conviction.
When Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2022, Republican Governor Mike Parson appointed Bailey, who was then serving as the governor’s attorney, as Schmitt’s replacement.
Bailey’s first election test comes in next month’s primariesKen Warren, a professor emeritus of political science at Saint Louis University, said challenging the release of people in custody furthers Bailey’s agenda.
“This will only help him with his base,” he said.
Bailey’s opponent, Will Scharf, a former federal prosecutor who most recently served as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, has attacked Bailey, calling him a liberal, said Steven Puro, a professor emeritus of political science at St. Louis University.
According to Puro, Bailey tries to find a balance between having a tough exterior and avoiding appearing indifferent and breaking the law.
“Most other prosecutors felt the risk wasn’t worth the reward,” Puro said.
Since Bailey took office, he has Planned Parenthood Sued and president Joe Biden, attempted to force clinics that provide gender-affirming care to hand over their dataand pushed a liberal prosecutor resign.
As the debate over transgender minors’ access to gender-affirming health care reached a fever pitch in Missouri in 2023, Bailey said tried to restrict access for both minors and adults through regulation — a step normally reserved for the state health department.
He later the rule drawn amid legal battles and legislative action. Most recently, Bailey sued New York State over Trump’s prosecution, arguing that Trump’s conviction constitutes election interference.
Richard Serafini, a former federal prosecutor who now practices law, called the lawsuit against New York “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in law.”
And Lindsay Runnels, an attorney who serves on the board of the Midwest Innocence Project, questioned the struggle to free people after judges make a ruling.
“The system doesn’t work when our top law enforcement officer in the state ignores the justice system and believes that they’re not accountable for their orders and following orders,” she said. “It’s insane.”
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Summer Ballentine contributed to this report from Columbia, Missouri. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.