Newly sworn in St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore addresses family, friends and supporters in a St. Louis courtroom after he took the oath of office during a brief ceremony on Tuesday, May 30, 2023.Â
ST. LOUIS — The city’s new circuit attorney has withdrawn a motion seeking to free a man serving a life sentence for murder, despite growing support nationally for proving his innocence.
With the motion, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore is undoing one of the last official acts former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner made before she resigned May 16. Gore was sworn in days later.
Christopher Dunn’s innocence claims rely on the lack of physical evidence linking him to the killing of a 15-year-old in 1990.
“We will conduct a full review of Mr. Dunn’s case and proceed as the law and facts dictate. As Circuit Attorney that is my responsibility,†said Gore.
The day before she resigned, Gardner filed a motion to vacate Dunn’s murder conviction, using a law influenced by the case of a man whose innocence she had also sought to prove, Lamar Johnson.
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A judge overturned Johnson’s murder conviction on Valentine’s Day, agreeing that he was innocent after a five-day hearing in December. Johnson walked out of prison after nearly 30 years.
A teen himself in 1990, Dunn, now 51, maintains that at the time of the murder, he was at home with his mother and sister. The main two witnesses have since recanted their testimony, saying they were pressured by police and prosecutors at the time to make an identification, similar to in Johnson’s case.
A judge in 2020 noted clear evidence of his innocence and said no court today would convict him, but cited legal hurdles in his bid for freedom.
