2 judges say he’s innocent. Missouri still wants to reimpose his unjust conviction | Opinion
On April 15, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the state may move forward with an appeal of the 2024 judgment that vacated the convictions of Christopher Dunn. Dunn, a St. Louis man, spent more than 33 years in prison for a 1990 murder. Two separate Missouri judges have now ruled that he is actually innocent.
The case began with the 1991 shooting death of 14-year-old Ricco Rogers. Dunn was convicted of murder, assault and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to life without parole. There was no physical evidence. His conviction relied entirely on the statements of two teenagers, both of whom later recanted and said they were pressured by police.
In 2020, during a habeas corpus proceeding, Judge William Hickle reviewed the case and found that no reasonable juror would convict Dunn. Because Missouri law at the time did not allow relief in non-capital cases based on innocence alone, Hickle could not grant release. But his ruling was unambiguous: Dunn had been wrongfully convicted.
In 2024, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office filed a motion under Missouri’s innocence statute, Section 547.031. That law allows prosecutors to seek relief when they believe someone was wrongly convicted. After a court-ordered evidentiary hearing, Judge Jason Sengheiser agreed with Hickle. He found clear and convincing evidence of Dunn’s actual innocence and vacated the convictions. Dunn was released from prison on July 30.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed the ruling, arguing that overturning old convictions could undermine public confidence in the courts. The Missouri Supreme Court sided with that argument, holding that the state has standing to challenge the judgment. The case now returns to the Missouri Court of Appeals, where the attorney general will ask to reinstate the convictions.
Dunn remains free, but his legal status is once again uncertain. The state is now seeking to reimpose a conviction that two Missouri courts have found to be unsupported by evidence.
Meanwhile, the 1990 killing of Ricco Rogers remains unsolved. No new suspect has been charged. The family still has no closure. Justice remains out of reach.
This case raises a pressing question for Missouri: Should finality matter more than truth? When the courts find a man innocent, why is the state still fighting to put him back behind bars?
Public confidence is not shaken by correcting wrongful convictions. It is strengthened by doing so. What threatens faith in the legal system is not the decision to free the innocent. It is the decision to fight against it.