Christopher Dunn spent 34 years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned this week. An unusual appeal has delayed his leaving.

Christopher Dunn was steps away from freedom.

He was wearing civilian clothes picked out months before: a sage green button-down, a blazer, and a green and blue tie that brought it all together. He had on real underwear, the kind with an elastic band that he hadn’t worn in 34 years, and had thrown out his prison toothbrush. His wife would be waiting with a new one in the parking lot.

A judge had finally ruled two days earlier what Dunn had always maintained: He was wrongfully convicted of a 1990 murder.

But as the Missouri Department of Correction was finalizing his release papers Wednesday, the warden got the call. The state Supreme Court had halted the release order after the state attorney general appealed to keep Dunn in prison.

“It was probably the highest high and lowest low I can remember in my life,” said Kira Dunn, who had used saved-up airline miles to fly in from California to see her husband’s release. “We were completely stunned.”

“He was literally 50 feet from freedom,” she added.

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  • norimee@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    This is the third story like this, wrongly convicted felon who didn’t get released as their conviction was overturnt I saw in the last few weeks. And surprise! All 3 were black people. (2 black man, one black woman).

    • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today
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      4 months ago

      Meanwhile, a dementia racist rapist white guy with 34 felonies that can’t complete a coherent sentence is running for president.

      And his weirdo side kick, the couch fucker. You may better know him as the guy that talked shit about the dementia racist rapist white guy, referring to him as Hitler for one fine example.

    • waggz@programming.dev
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      4 months ago

      this same AG is suing new York for prosecuting trump alleging ejection interference. he’s a real piece of work