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.
I’m not entirely familiar with how contempt of court works. Wouldn’t this be grounds for the bench to issue contempt charges?
Last week Judge Ryan Horsman threatened to do that to AG Andrew Bailey. Bailey relented and freed Sandra Hemme instead.
I’m sure Judge Horsman would love to see the AG’s office back in his courtroom for the same reason. ;)
Remember that one time an ex president was convicted of 30+ felonies and had to wait in jail during the appeal? Me either.
This wasn’t by any chance the same ex president who appointed judges who would later say he was immune from the laws us mortals must follow?
Nah I think that was a different guy. I think this was the one that idolizes Putin
Missouri loves company?
Seriously though, the prison industrial complex is totally fucked and should not exist as a for-profit entity at all.
Missouri actually doesn’t use private prisons, privatization is only a part (albeit extremely cruel part) of how messed up the overall US prison problem is, not the cause.
And even though they’re not private prisons, there are still many private corporations that contract with them and want to keep things the way they are.
Seriously though, the prison industrial complex is totally fucked and should not exist
as a for-profit entityat all.We need prisons to some extent, but we don’t need a prison industrial complex for any reason other than to abuse the slavery loophole in the 13th amendment.
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=565.130&bid=29321&hl=
By Missouri state law, this is kidnapping. Anyone involved with the non-release should be charged, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for up to four years (class E felony).
I don’t know if Missouri also has enhancements for people abusing their badge or office, but every state should.
Too bad the person who’d be responsible for bringing those charges is the one who needs to be charged.
It’s also deprivation of rights under color of law, a federal offense.
Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, etc… If I were about to go to prison in the south, I’d kill myself for sure. I don’t think the barbarism of the American judicial system can get more horrific.
They’re allowed to do that?
No, and it doesn’t appear that they care
Well, nobody’s stopping them, so apparently so. I think prison workers get the same leeway as cops when it comes to committing crimes they can spin as somehow related to their jobs.
