Pop quiz: should lawyers counsel clients to ignore court orders? (The answer is no, but this AG’s office doesn’t seem up to speed on that).
The post Prisons & State AG Keep Refusing Court Orders To Let Innocent People Out Of Jail appeared first on Above the Law.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey took a break from filing frivolous lawsuits about people hurting Elon Musk’s feelings and demanding the DOJ hand him all their evidence about Trump’s purloined top secret documents to actually do something in the state of Missouri! Alas, his activity within his state’s borders seems as deleterious to the taxpayers as everything else he does. Yesterday, Bailey sought and secured an order from the Missouri Supreme Court blocking another judge’s demand that the state prison release of an inmate held on a wrongful conviction for the last 34 years even though no one at this point thinks he’s guilty.
Two courts have now kicked Christopher Dunn’s conviction for a 1990 killing. After St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser fully tossed the conviction on Monday, he learned on Tuesday that the warden at the state prison had refused to let Dunn go.
Was he keeping the books for the warden’s illegal accounting scheme or something?
On Wednesday, the judge ordered the warden to release Dunn by 6 p.m. or find himself in contempt of court. In response, the AG’s office intervened and got the state supreme court to set up a briefing schedule to decide… it’s not clear actually.
Again, no one is arguing that Dunn is guilty at this point. The prosecutors responsible for Dunn’s case have all agreed that he’s not guilty.
“In our view, the judge’s order was very clear, ordering his immediate release,” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said at a news conference Tuesday. “Based on that, we are considering what approach and what legal options we have to obtain Mr. Dunn’s relief.” He declined to specify what legal options were under consideration.
Bailey’s objection is that his office had “less than one hour’s notice,” which somewhat elides the two days that passed after the judge first ordered Dunn’s relief.
This isn’t even the first time prison officials and Bailey have teamed up to keep an innocent person in prison this summer. In June, Sandra Hemme had her conviction overturned when evidence of actual innocence turned up. She’d been held for 43 years. While Bailey’s office fought to keep her in prison — even after the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed tossing her conviction — the trial judge ordered Hemme released.
Bailey’s office called the prison and told them to ignore the judge’s order.
It will surprise you not at all to learn that Judge Ryan Horsman did not take kindly to an attorney telling someone to go ahead and ignore a court order.
“I would suggest you never do that,” Horsman said, adding: “To call someone and tell them to disregard a court order is wrong.”
The judge said Bailey himself would be in contempt if Hemme wasn’t released. She was out within hours. It seems as though Bailey is comfortable putting others at risk of contempt, but his boldness stops when he might feel the pinch.
Honestly, Bailey got off easy with just the threat of contempt. The judge could’ve gone ahead and held him in contempt until she was released — if only to solidify the future record of the office’s misconduct. In a rational world, this is the sort of activity that prompts an inquiry from disciplinary committees. For Bailey, it just gets him a plum speaking slot at Federalist Society events.
Missouri Supreme Court: Christopher Dunn has to stay in prison — for now [AP via KSDK]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
