♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, fight for freedom. he was just 18 years old when he was arrested for a murder he says he didn't commit. >> are you concerned that you might die before being able to be vindicated? >> to be honest with you, yeah. >> still behind bars three decades later, even after a judge said no jury would convict him today. >> i pray every night that they send him home. >> so can christopher dunn finally get justice? >> your circuit judge in missouri said i was innocent. why can't you free me? hiplet. a dazzling mix of classical ballet with the rhythmic beat and heat of hip-hop. >> i tell people, we kind of cut our bodies in half.

our feet will be doing something classical but our arms will be going crazy. >> it's about inclusion, welcoming those not always embraced by traditional ballet. >> i don't have the feet, i don't have the long legs. i have big thighs and feet that i have big thighs and feet that don't point for ballet. just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything! ugh. well, i switched to swiffer wetjet, and it's awesome. it's an all-in-one, that absorbs dirt and grime deep inside. and it helps prevent streaks and haze. wetjet is so worth it. love it, or your money back. this cough. [sfx: coughs] this'll help. vicks vaporub? vicks vaporub's ...medicated vapors go straight to the source of your cough... ...so you can relieve your cough to breathe easier. vicks vaporub. fast-acting cough relief.

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thank you for joining us. i'm trevor ault. the search for justice in america is at times imperfect, and for missouri inmate christopher dunn, that has meant spending the majority of his life behind bars for a 1990 murder he insists he didn't commit. abc's linsey davis sat down with dunn and his family to understand their fight for freedom. ♪ >> here we go. >> this is a free call from an offender at the south central correctional center. >> hey, babe. >> hey there, babe. >> hi, chris. >> reporter: for there years, this has been christopher dunn's lifeline. a maximum of 15 minutes, that's all he's allowed for each call. but dunn savors every precious second. a momentary distraction from his

life sentence behind bars. >> missouri call itself the show me state. they show me nothing except that they refuse to admit their wrongs. you can't have hope in the justice system. hope died a long time ago. >> reporter: dunn was just 18 when he was arrested for a murder he is adamant he did not commit. now, at 51 years old after surviving three heart attacks and being stabbed by an inmate, who he's not sure what will run out first -- his patience or his time. are you concerned that you might die before being able to be vindicated? >> to be honest with you, yeah. i fear that the truth of what happened to me may never be known.

>> reporter: in the early morning of may 19th, 1990, a 15-year-old boy named rico rogers was fatally shot on the front steps of a friend's house in st. louis, not far from dunn's family home. was there any point where you said, did you -- are you responsible for this shooting? >> i know he wasn't, because we all was at the house. i told the police that. and he said, "well, family people lie for family people." >> reporter: according to dunn's mother, the family had sat down to watch the crime drama "hunter" and chris was on the phone with his friend, nicole bailey, who just checked into the hospital to give birth. >> police come search the house. it was kind of weird because, how can he shoot someone if he's at home? >> reporter: two neighborhood kids -- 14-year-old demorris stepp and 12-year-old michael davis -- testified under oath that chris was at the scene of the crime. the jury deliberated less than 45 minutes, and at 19 years old,

dunn was sentenced to life in prison plus 90 years. reports suggest he didn't have a good public defender? >> i thought she had chris's best interests at heart. but she didn't do anything. i read the transcript after. i could have done better than that. >> he had so many alibi witnesses that were never called to court. >> reporter: in 1999, kyra kaywood, a volunteer for a nonprofit magazine "justice denied," was assigned to write an article about dunn's story. over time, she was ultimately convinced of two things -- that loved him. eight years ago, they got married in a tiny ceremony at the prison. in 2012, kyra hired dan grothouse, a private investigator, to uncover what dunn's missouri public state defender never did, prove absolute innocence. >> michael davis testified.

we needed his testimony to be recanted. and he did, without any problem. >> is there anything in your mind that has changed with your statement or with your version of events? >> still the same thing, i didn't see nothing. >> reporter: armed with davis' recantation, along with new witness testimony, dunn's team was able to file for post-conviction relief to vacate his conviction in 2018, which they all thought would be an open-and-shut case. >> he told mom that he believed chris was innocent. >> he said, "mrs. dunn, on behalf of the state of missouri, i am so sorry for what's happened to your son." remember that, mama? >> was that day harder in some ways? because you really thought -- >> yeah. >> -- justice was going to be done?

>> i had his clothes, we had the car, we were just ready to go have something to eat afterwards. yeah. it was -- it felt so close. and when we all had to walk out of there without him, it was -- it was heartbreaking. >> mrs. dunn, you've been really strong this whole time. i'm curious what aspect made you break down just now. >> it's just a whole lot. >> reporter: judge william hickel took two years to render his decision in which he wrote "coupled with evidence in the record that petitioner had an alibi, this court does not believe that any jury would now convict christopher dunn under these facts." but despite that belief, dunn cannot walk free because of a 2016 ruling in a missouri state case, lincoln versus cassidy, which limits releases for freestanding claims of actual innocence to capital punishment

cases. you would have been better off had you been given a death sentence than the life plus 90 years? >> this case is holding me from being free. the judge said i was innocent. your circuit judge in missouri said i was innocent. kennedy gardner, the attorney for the city of st. louis, said i'm innocnt. why can't you free me? >> reporter: kevin strickland, another man sentenced to life, spent 43 years in missouri prisons for wrongful conviction. what does justice look like? >> that's a tough one. i mean, i don't know. haven't seen it yet. >> reporter: he was only able to be released last year, thanks to senate bill 53, a new law that gives prosecutors an avenue to free innocent prisoners. >> this election, freedom and liberty is on the ballot. >> reporter: we reached out to former attorney general eric

schmidt, as well as governor mike parson. months later, both have not responded to multiple requests for comment. and now for johnson and dunn, their only option for freedom is senate bill 53. >> missouri stands alone, i think, in not giving an innocent prisoner the right to access to the courts when he has a compelling case of innocence. >> reporter: here, hope is in short supply. dunn's old family home was destroyed in a fire. all that remains now this is dormant block. >> all these houses, there was four right here -- >> reporter: dunn's existence now as desolate and empty as this vacant land. according to the innocence project, about 20,000 people in u.s. prisons are falsely convicted. in missouri, even if a conviction is overturned, the state doesn't offer any compensation unless prisoners are able to prove their innocence through dna testing.

>> it seems like an impossible battle sometimes, but we will never give up. i know i can speak for all of us. we will never give up trying to get chris home. the justice system failed us. it failed rico rogers' family are it also failed the people that he hurt. >> mom, i'm curious, this is your only son. locked up for more than 30 years for a crime that you believe he did not do. >> i know he didn't. >> that he says he did not do. >> right. >> i'm just trying to get at how that feels, to be robbed of that time. >> it hurts. i mean, he missed a lot of stuff. and so did i. and so did his sisters. because they took him away. i don't know how much time i have. and i pray every night that they send him home.

>> reporter: his mom is now holding out hope that she'll live long enough toee h comeomagn. but considering he's spent his entire adult life behind bars, christopher dunn fears he may never see his mother's prayers answered. and that notion was enough to trigger one lone tear. your mom broke down yesterday. said she's tired. >> the united states cry and complain about every other country, about the humanitarian rights. about how china is treating their own citizens. i'm a citizen of the united states, the state of missouri. i was here, you can't free me? >> what would you do if you were about be fro freed? >> i want to get on the stirs steamboat out of missouri. i don't want to look back. i want to walk up out this door,

walk up that hill, and stand out there for everybody who couldn't walk out for themselves. >> our thanks to linsey. up next, hiplet, the pulsating dance movement blending traditional ballet with hip-hop for something that's entirely new. detect this: living with hiv, i learned i can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why i switched to dovato. dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. detect this: no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this:

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traditional ballet has not always embraced diversity. but hiplet, which fuses hip-hop with classical ballet, is changing that rhythm and welcoming everyone with talent and a passion for dance. here's abc's janai norman. ♪ >> a one a two -- >> reporter: the precision of a pointed toe and the grace of a grand plie, dance moves that taylor edwards has been perfecting ever since she was a little girl in chicago. >> all my sisters play the basketball, i was a dancer. i was the one who wanted to dance all the time. then it just became who i am. >> reporter: when it came to classical ballet, edwards didn't always feel like she fit in. >> i've always been very

insecure about point ae because i don't have the apps feet, i don't have the long legs, i have point for ballet. t that don't - >> yeah. >> what was that like? feeling like there's a whole style that is meant for a body type that just doesn't include you? >> diagngoing into rooms, okay short, here they're going to look over me immediately. >> reporter: enter homer hans bryant whose multicultural dance studio in chicago became like edwards' second home. >> show it, big hit. up, nice. close, elevate -- >> reporter: 13 years ago, ryans took a daring step, creating a unique new form of dance he called hiplet, a vibrant mix of ballet and hip-hop that builds on classic techniques. >> when i opened my school in 1990, i said to myself, how do i capture african american kids in

1993, '94? and i went to a rap concert. at the rap concert, lots and lots of teenagers. audience singing everything and rapping and having a good time. and i walked away with this. if i could put rap and ballet together, to keep kids engaged, because they have the rap kids, i would come off with a hit. ♪ >> reporter: with dancers up en pointe, wearing tights and leotards, fused together with its polar opposite. >> we're trained in tradition. but we're dipped in versatility. they can do african en pointe, latin en pointe, jazz, contemporary, they can do anything en pointe. >> reporter: brian's goal was to make a diverse space for ballet dancers of all colors, shapes, and sizes to share one stage. ♪ inspired after studying under trailblazing deviancer arthur mitchell at the dance theater of

harlem. in 2016, the hiplet ballerinas company was finally noticed on the national stage when homer posted this dance on instagram to jason derulo's "if it ain't love," and it went viral with over 30 million views. ♪ since then, the dancers have taken their show to stages across the country. after seeing a friend perform with bryant's company, taylor edwards joined the dance company and found her place. >> it's so much diversity. like, diverse energy in one space. >> i always tell people, we kind of cut our bodies in half with hiplet. our feet will be doing something classical but our arms will be going crazy or vice versa. >> reporter: nia parker also dances in bryant's company. she's been hanging around homer's dance studio before she could even walk. >> so my mom actually was a student of homer hans bryant back here in new york, way back in the day, at dance theater of harlem. it was kind of guided to dth,

because we have ballet legs and feet, she passed them on to me. a lot of dance studios will look at a child, no, we're not going to take them. we're not like that at all. >> when you talk about some dance studios being exclusive, it even goes down to, let's be honest, race. >> sure does. >> not having the tights or the shoes that match your skin type. what was the like growing up with that? >> so i did grow up in a predominantly black studio. but flesh tone type wasn't a thing. i realized, you guys don't prioritize black people. >> reporter: parker saw homer's contribution shine when her fellow dancers became an online sensation. she says that first video also ignited fierce backlash. >> what kind of negative feedback was there? >> everyone was so ready to harp on something without understanding there's actually a technique being practiced. at the time we went viral, there was still abrasiveness to black girls doing classical ballet, period. >> explain that.

>> there's brown children putting in the work, the sweat ask tears, as much as these other children. but tripped up because of their color. >> that's why homer is doing what he's doing. >> classical ballet is euro-centric. predominantly white girls. long, beautiful necks. beautiful feet. thin. doing the same thing sometimes, looking like mechanics or mannequins. >> reporter: that traditional mold broken open here on the hiplet stage. showing off their moves at new york city's queens theater to songs like "someday we'll all be free" by aretha franklin. how important do you think that inclusivity is for all of the young people coming up behind you? >> because when people sit in the audience, they see it. >> yes, they do. >> young people need to think to the moon and back. follow your passion. don't let anybody tell you that you can't. >> our thanks to janai. up next, prayers at the

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before we go, the images outside st. peter's basilica at the vatican after pope francis asked the faithful to pray for pope emeritus benedict xvi, sharing word that the 95-year-old retired pontiff is in very ill health. that's "nightline." you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here at the same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.