Missouri prison ignores court order to free wrongfully convicted inmate for second time in weeks

ST. LOUIS (AP) — For the second time in weeks, a Missouri prison has ignored a court order to release an inmate whose murder conviction was overturned.

Just as in the case of Sandra Hemme, actions by the state's attorney general are keeping Christopher Dunn locked up.

St Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser on Monday tossed out Dunn's conviction for a 1990 killing. Dunn, 52, has spent 33 years behind bars, and he remained Tuesday at the state prison in Licking. “The State of Missouri shall immediately discharge Christopher Dunn from its custody,” Sengheiser's ruling states.

Dunn wasn't released after his conviction was overturned because Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed the judge's ruling, “and we're awaiting the outcome of that legal action,” Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said in an email Tuesday.

The decision to keep Dunn incarcerated puzzled St Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, whose office investigated his case and determined he was wrongfully convicted, prompting a May hearing before Sengheiser.

“In our view, the judge's order was very clear, ordering his immediate release,” Gore said at a news conference Tuesday. “Based on that, we are considering what approach and what legal options we have to obtain Dunn's relief.” He declined to specify what legal options were under consideration.

Bailey's office didn't respond to Tuesday messages seeking comment.

Dunn's situation is similar to what happened to Hemme, 64, who spent 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a woman in St. Joseph in 1980. A judge on June 14 cited evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned her conviction. She had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to the Midwest Innocence Project, which worked to free Hemme and Dunn.

But appeals by Bailey — all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme wasn't released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court with contempt of court on the table. She was released later that day.

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