ST. LOUIS—Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is facing fresh criticism from his primary election rival and potential general election opponent for his state supreme court appeal to keep a man behind bars despite a finding of innocence in a 1990 murder case.

A St. Louis judge this week ruled on the actual innocence of Christopher Dunn, overturning his murder conviction and later ordered his release by 6 p.m. Wednesday, threatening the South Central Correctional Center warden with being held in contempt. After a state appeals court rejected his request to stay the decision, Bailey went to the State Supreme Court, which put a hold on Dunn’s release, roughly an hour before the deadline. 

Bailey, who is trying to retain his office in his own right after being appointed to the post by Gov. Mike Parson, is in a heated Republican primary against Will Scharf, a former federal prosecutor, an advisor to former Gov. Eric Greitens, and currently an attorney for former president Donald Trump.

Bailey’s political campaign declined comment. His office told Spectrum News that “multiple courts have affirmed Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction. We will always fight for the rule of law and to obtain justice for victims.”

In an interview with Spectrum News, Scharf said if he believed a wrongfully convicted prisoner had met the bar to prove actual innocence, he wouldn’t appeal.

“It's a clear and convincing evidence standard for someone to essentially prove that they've been wrongfully convicted, I think that's an appropriately high bar, and it appears that in this case Judge Sengheiser thought that that bar had been met," he said. 

Elad Gross, an attorney running unopposed in the Democratic primary also questioned Bailey’s tactics. 

“Mr. Dunn is still in prison because of Attorney General Andrew Bailey. This is what he decided to do with his power and our money. Deny justice to an innocent Missourian,” Gross shared in a social media message.

Bailey’s appeal to the Supreme Court argues that the circuit court judge overstepped his authority to order Dunn’s immediate release in a case where the attorney general’s office had already issued a notice of appeal. Court rules, Bailey’s prosecutors wrote in their supporting argument, mandate that rulings are not considered final for 30 days. 

A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections said the time gives prosecutors "the opportunity to let the department know whether new charges will be filed, gives the attorney general’s office time to let the department know whether the court’s decision will be appealed, and gives our staff time to process the paperwork and ensure that the person has a home plan, transportation etc. Once we have written confirmation that no new charges or appeals will be filed and the release documents have been completed, the person is released," the spokesperson said.

A Missouri law adopted in 2021 lets prosecutors request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction.

The law was passed after another judge, William Hickle, found in 2020 that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence. But Hickle declined to order Dunn's release, citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only people on death row could make a “freestanding” claim of actual innocence.

The 2021 law does not allow for appeals, either by prosecutors or the person attempting to prove their innocence.

"His actions are causing undue harm to this innocent individual and is a stain on our legal system,” Michael Heiskell, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said when asked about Bailey's opposition to Dunn's release.

Dunn's case marks the second “actual innocence” ruling in the state in recent weeks. Sandra Hemme, now 64, spent 43 years in prison for the fatal 1980 stabbing of a library worker before a judge overturned her conviction.

Appeals by Bailey — all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for more than a month after that initial ruling. During a court hearing last Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman scolded an attorney in Bailey's office for telling the warden not to release Hemme on her own recognizance pending an appellate court review.

“To call someone and tell them to disregard a court order is wrong," Horsman said. He said that if Hemme wasn’t released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court with contempt of court on the table.

Hemme, whose attorneys with the Innocence Project described her as the longest held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., was released later that day.

“The court has to be obeyed,” said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge and chief justice.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office and lawyers for Dunn plan to file briefs with the Missouri Supreme Court by a 5 p.m. Friday deadline. The attorney general’s office has until Monday to respond but there is no timetable for the court to take action.