Gore asks St. Louis court to vacate murder conviction

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore wants the city’s circuit court to vacate the murder conviction of 54-year-old Christopher Dunn, who’s been in prison for more than three decades. 

Dunn was sentenced to life without parole in the 1990 shooting death of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. 

He was convicted on the testimony of two youths, 12 and 14 years old at the time, but both have since recanted. 

Three years ago, a judge ruled that a current jury would likely find Dunn not guilty of murder, but that he couldn’t overturn his sentence because state law restricts rulings on innocence claims to death row inmates only. 

Dunn is serving his life sentence at South Central Correctional Center in Licking, which has made headlines for its high number of recent inmate deaths.