BACKGROUND: From a previous post of this Blog: (July 30, 2024; St. Louis Public Radio; "Christopher Dunn is a free man after 34 years in prison for a murder he did not commit."..."Dunn was convicted in the 1990 murder of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers in the city's Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. And his conviction was largely based on the testimony of two boys, ages 12 and 14, who later recanted their statements." "The fight for his freedom has been going on for years. In 2020, Circuit Court Judge William Hickle found that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence, but the judge declined to order Dunn’s release citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only people on death row can make a freestanding claim of actual innocence. A new state law took effect in 2021 that allows prosecutors to file petitions when they believe an innocent person is imprisoned. Gore asked the court in February to vacate Dunn’s conviction, which ultimately led to Sengheiser overturning the sentence last week due to a lack of evidence. (Attorney General) Bailey similarly fought against the release of Sandra Hemme, who spent 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a St. Joseph, Mo., woman in 1980. The judge in that case cited evidence of "actual innocence" on June 14 and ordered her release. Bailey's appeals all the way to the state supreme court kept her imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center until July 19."
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/7334788182253094501
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STORY: "In 4-3 ruling, Supreme Court orders Christopher Dunn's case back to appeals court," published by KSDK, on April 15, 2025.
SUB-HEADING: "The court ordered Dunn's case back to an appeals court, where a judge will consider the attorney general's appeal "on its merits."
GIST: "In a 4-3 ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court found that the Missouri attorney general has the right to appeal Christopher Dunn's exoneration even after Dunn was freed from prison last year.
In a decision written by Judge Ginger K. Gooch, the four justices ruled that the state is the aggrieved party when convictions are vacated, therefore the attorney general can appeal.
Dunn was sentenced in 1991 to life in prison for a murder he maintained he didn’t commit.
In July, Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser granted Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore's motion to vacate Dunn's conviction.
The State of Missouri fought to keep Dunn behind bars and even delayed his release, but he was released on July 30.
After his conviction was vacated, the Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed.
Now, months later, that appeal will get its day in court.
The state Supreme Court court ordered Dunn's case back to an appeals court where Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore's motion to dismiss the appeal will be overruled and the appeals court judge should "proceed with the state’s appeal on the merits."
Judges Zel Fischer, Robin Ransom and Kelly Broniec concurred with the decision.
Judge W. Brent Powell wrote the dissenting opinion, which Chief Justice Mary Russell and Judge Paul Wilson concurred with.
In the dissenting opinion, Powell said the state law that allowed for Dunn's exoneration allowed only the prosecuting or circuit attorney to appeal the ruling, and by allowing the attorney general to appeal, the ruling created a right to appeal where "none exists."
Online court records do not show a potential date for additional hearings in the case."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
