{"id":95336,"date":"2022-04-21T09:37:54","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T04:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/the-evidence-to-convict-christopher-dunn-of-murder-fell-apart-so-why-is-the-missouri-man-still-in-prison\/"},"modified":"2022-04-21T09:37:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T04:07:54","slug":"the-evidence-to-convict-christopher-dunn-of-murder-fell-apart-so-why-is-the-missouri-man-still-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/the-evidence-to-convict-christopher-dunn-of-murder-fell-apart-so-why-is-the-missouri-man-still-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evidence to Convict Christopher Dunn of Murder Fell Apart. So Why Is the Missouri Man Still in Prison?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Christopher Dunn has spent most of his life behind bars in a Missouri\u00a0prison, but familiarity with his circumstances has not lessened the pain Dunn said comes with being incarcerated. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLife in prison is a living hell,\u201d the 50-year-old told Inside Edition Digital. \u201cEvery day you\u2019ve got to go through something totally different.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dunn has been stabbed and has suffered three heart attacks while in prison, incidents that have threatened his chances of dying a free man. Because despite being sentenced to life without parole plus 90 years for a 1990 murder, Dunn continues to fight for his freedom. And that\u2019s because, he says, he is innocent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He and his supporters saw their hope that he would be freed renewed when a circuit judge found the evidence in the case, which included recanted witness testimony, would not be enough to convict Dunn today. Though the judge said Dunn had legally proven he is innocent under what\u2019s considered a \u201cfreestanding claim of innocence,<\/a>\u201d Missouri law is only clear in death penalty cases and not others \u2013 and Dunn was not sentenced to death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf innocence doesn’t matter, then guilt doesn’t matter, then why do we have loss?\u201d said Dunn\u2019s wife, Kira Dunn. \u201cWhat’s the point of the legal system?\u201d<\/p>\n

Undeterred, Dunn is now working to convince a circuit attorney to take up his case and convince a judge of the innocence he has maintained for more than three decades.<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

On May 18, 1990, 14-year-old Recco Rogers was shot to death while sitting on a porch in his and Dunn\u2019s St. Louis neighborhood. At the time of Rogers\u2019 killing, Dunn said he was home on the phone with a friend who was giving birth at a nearby hospital. Dunn said he had nothing to do with Rogers\u2019 murder\u00a0and that he didn\u2019t know Rogers personally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNever knew him at all,\u201d Dunn said. \u201cI never knew his family at all. All I knew was that his family moved into my neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, police arrested Dunn, then 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis public defender spent maybe a total of 20 minutes with him before she represented him at trial,\u201d Kira Dunn said.\u00a0
During Dunn\u2019s trial, a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy claimed Dunn shot at them while sitting on the porch around midnight. They have since admitted to lying because they didn\u2019t like Dunn and have recanted their stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither witness saw who pulled the trigger because it was dark out at the time and no physical evidence linked Dunn to the shooting, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Dunn was found guilty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was convicted in 45 minutes of jury deliberation and that was it. I mean, he was an 18-year-old. He was given life without parole plus 90 years,\u201d Kira Dunn said. \u201cHe was initially offered 10 to plead out and he said, \u2018No way. I didn’t do this. I don’t want these people to think I did this. I don’t want these parents to think I took their child from them. I would never do that.\u2019 Refused it and they really threw the book at him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1991, Dunn was sentenced to life without parole plus 90 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a two-day trial with jury selection, so really it was opening, witness statement, witness testimony, closing, one day, really it was a one-day trial,\u201d attorney Justin Bonus told Inside Edition Digital. \u201dAnd unfortunately it’s an all too familiar reality for poor, especially Black, men in this country. It’s quite astounding.\u201d<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

Prison, for Dunn, is a \u201cconstant battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s landmines everywhere,\u201d he said. \u201dYou don’t know where to walk, you’re walking on eggshells in prison… You always have to watch your back in prison, make sure nobody try to stab you in the neck or hit you in your gut. You can set someone off just by staring. Or just by a simple gaze. So, you’ve got to be careful with what you’re doing, what you’re saying, how you look, how you present yourself to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn met his wife in 1999 while she was working as a volunteer writer for the online magazine Justice Denied. Through a series of letters, phone calls and visits, the pair fell in love. They got engaged in 2007 and married in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s untraditional, definitely. It’s different. It’s challenging,\u201d Kira Dunn said. \u201cI feel that if we can make it through these days like this, we can make it through anything. It’s lonely. It’s sad. We kind of have our little life in 15-minute increments because that’s what the correctional phone system allows.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they see each other in person, Kira and Chris Dunn are only allowed to hug for two seconds. They\u2019re not permitted to kiss for any longer than that as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s what we have physically, but mentally and emotionally, we have much more,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kira Dunn fiercely advocates for the release of her husband.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At a recent rally she organized in St. Louis, Kira Dunn told supporters, \u201cMy husband\u2019s health isn\u2019t good, and we just don\u2019t know how much time we have.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s served almost 32 years for something he didn’t do, and we just don’t know how much time we have to wait for the wheels of justice to turn,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt\u2019s so slow.”<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

Dunn saw a chance at freedom come and go last August, when the Missouri Supreme Court refused\u00a0a petition to hear his case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2020, a 25th Circuit judge agreed that evidence of Dunn\u2019s guilt was lacking, but that judge stopped short of freeing Dunn, citing a precent set by a Missouri Supreme Court ruling in 2016, in the case of Lincoln vs. Cassady. In that case, the Western District Court of Appeals determined that only death row prisoners can make a \u201cfreestanding\u201d claim of actual innocence in habeas corpus cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest with you, I felt that pain,\u201d Dunn said of hearing the judge\u2019s reasoning for not granting him freedom. \u201cTo hear that man say, with the evidence specifically before this court, there is no jury that can find him guilty. And it is apparent before this court that Christopher now was convicted based on the testimony of a liar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Justin Bonus takes issue with Dunn remaining behind bars because of a technicality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people think that guys get out of jail on a technicality, this guy is being held in prison off of procedure, a technicality,\u201d he said. \u201cThat’s mind-blowing. I have seen judges say pretty crazy things, but never put it in paper. I’ve never seen a judge say, \u2018there’s no reasonable juror that would convict this man.\u2019 No, I have not seen it on paper in a decision, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and attorney Kent Gipson are working to try to secure Dunn\u2019s freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis best shot, I believe, is to get the prosecutor in Saint Louis City to invoke the new law that gives her the right to file a motion to allow someone that she thinks is innocent to prove it, so that’s what we’re focusing on right now,\u201d Gipson said.\u00a0
Dunn\u2019s family hopes Kimberly Gardner, the circuit attorney for St. Louis, will bring his case before a judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have a new mechanism that prosecutors are able to file motions to have wrongful convictions reviewed, but it’s like a mini trial. There’s still a process where that is impeded by the Attorney General. And there’s a process that puts the onerous burden, not only on the state, but of the defendant,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gardner said she is reviewing Dunn\u2019s case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is an issue in Missouri where actual innocence is only for individuals on death row. Well, I believe life without is a death sentence and others share that sentiment,\u201d she said. \u201cBut our Missouri law, actual innocence is only for people on death row.\u201d<\/p>\n

+++\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Gardner were to take up Dunn\u2019s cause, she would then have the challenge of finding witnesses from the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to find witnesses from cases where people 30 years ago were in different situations. So, there’s a lot of work that goes into these cases,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to make sure if this is the mechanism, that as a prosecutor, we do a thorough investigation, as well as a thorough presentation of the facts and evidence that we have found in these cases where this individual is languishing in prison wrongfully convicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner\u2019s office has been looking into Dunn\u2019s case since 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll continue to look at that case with our investigators, as well as working with Chris Dunn’s defense counsel, because he has a right,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we actually have a right to one, evaluate the case in terms of this new mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the case is being considered, all the Dunns can do is remain cautiously optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we’re very hopeful. And yet at the same time, we’re afraid to be hopeful because our hopes have been up quite a few times, and they’ve been dashed quite a few times,\u201d Kira Dunn said. \u201cAnd after a while, you build up that protective wall around, and you’re afraid to get too excited, or too happy, or too hopeful about anything in case it falls through yet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missouri\u00a0Gov. Mike Parson, who has the power to fully pardon Dunn, declined Inside Edition Digital\u2019s request for an interview and did not answer questions sent through email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through his spokesperson, Parson said, \u201cFederal law could provide a good model for the kinds of procedural safeguards that protect against endless post-conviction litigation that ultimately can undermine the integrity of our criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Missouri Supreme Court said they could not speculate as to whether a court might overrule any prior court ruling in the future, or the grounds on which it might do so, as it is a legislative issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Missouri House of Representatives directed Inside Edition Digital\u2019s request for comment to two legislators. One lawmaker did not respond to Inside Edition Digital\u2019s request for comment, but through his spokesperson, Sen. Brian Williams said he helped pass the bill that is making it possible for Gardner to take up Dunn\u2019s case. When asked about the possibility of overturning 2016\u2019s Lincoln vs. Cassady, Williams said, \u201cgiven recent court rulings, the only avenue for a change in Missouri law is to pass new legislation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year, Senate Bill 1201 has been filed to allow a person to raise a freestanding claim of actual innocence in any postconviction proceeding challenging the validity of the judgement, Williams said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such a law would allow a court to vacate or set aside a judgement where the court finds there is clear and convincing evidence that undermines confidence in the judgment. Williams also filed another bill that would expand the circumstances under which a person who was wrongfully imprisoned can seek damages from the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2022 legislative session ends May 13.<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

In the meantime, all Dunn and his loved ones can do is wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just a little scary because Chris has now had three heart attacks. On one of those times, he flatlined and had to be shocked back, and his health just is fragile right now, and we don’t know how much time we have to wait,\u201d Kira Dunn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think the good intentions are definitely there and we appreciate that. We’re so grateful, really, but we don’t know how much time we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two lives were lost that Spring night in 1990, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this gets lost sometimes. There’s a victim at the center of all this,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a young man who was only 14 years old who had his life taken from him. There’s a family who never got to see that child grow up, never got to be grandparents, never got to be aunties and uncles to the kids he may have had. Who knows what that child would’ve done with their life? Who knows what he would’ve become? And we never want to forget that. But that child hasn’t seen justice and Chris hasn’t seen justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so when I look back at that night in 1990, I feel like two lives were lost that night,\u201d she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne was quick and the other is a slow, slow, slow, long death and it’s still going on day by day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not a day has gone by that Dunn hasn\u2019t insisted he is innocent, and he\u2019s willing to prove it, should authorities be willing to listen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve never jumped anyone, stabbed anyone, raped anyone, or done anything to anyone to justify what they’re doing to me. I just need the support of society to influence the Circuit Attorney of the City of St. Louis as well as the Attorney General of Missouri to reconsider,\u201d he said. \u201cTo give me a new trial. If anything. If you don’t want to let me go, give me a new trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s all I’m asking for, is a chance now to have what I didn’t have 32 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Dunn has spent most of his life behind bars in a Missouri\u00a0prison, but familiarity with his circumstances has not lessened the pain Dunn said comes with being incarcerated. \u00a0 \u201cLife in prison is a living hell,\u201d the 50-year-old told Inside Edition Digital. \u201cEvery day you\u2019ve got to go through something totally different.\u201d\u00a0 Dunn has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":95337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,3,105,106],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/The-Evidence-to-Convict-Christopher-Dunn-of-Murder-Fell-Apart.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}