Walter Dunn spent nearly 13 years in Florida state prison for a crime he did not commit – unlike most, he also overturned his own conviction. 

In 2009, Dunn was a promising college student at the University of Southern Florida and father of two. He was just 12 classes away from graduating with a degree in broadcasting when he was arrested for the first time in his life on charges of home invasion, felony battery, aggravated assault and kidnapping. He was denied bail and the state prosecutor later added on a fifth charge: attempted murder. 

When he refused to plea out, the prosecutor told him to “buckle up.” 

Dunn was later convicted by a rushed, 6-man jury after the trial judge refused to acquit on the basis of lack of evidence. No members of the jury looked like Dunn in race or in age. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison at just 26 years old 

“That motivating factor (to educate myself) was losing trial and watching everything that I love get washed away,” said Dunn. “That was enough for me to say I’ve trusted so many people with my future, with my life, that I need to take it in my own hands and learn what they know.” 

While in prison, Dunn educated himself on the law and was later met with the opportunity to become a certified law clerk. Within 9 months of starting his job at the prison library, he found himself as the “jailhouse lawyer,” taking a second look at the cases of his fellow inmates. Once he freed his first man from prison, that put him on the path to freeing himself. 

“At that moment I realized if I’m able to get him out, maybe I need to start looking more closely at my own case,” he said in a talk with the Emporia State community on Thursday night. 

That decision left him with a choice to make. 

“When I learned the law, I was posed with the question, fight it all, or just go fight for the 27 year sentence. I could get the five year charges overturned, but I would still remain in prison. So it was from a legal strategic standpoint, fight the biggest charge, because if you get that out, you could go home,” he said. 

For Dunn, it was the education he received that was his “gateway to freedom.” He would go on to identify the errors made in his case and file an “airtight motion” for a hearing. With help from his mother, he would file a supplemental motion a year later that featured an affidavit from the emergency room doctor that saw him the night of his arrest. The affidavit stated there was no evidence indicating Dunn had committed the crime he was charged with. His injuries were only consistent with getting into the fight he admitted to. 

It would be testimony from that doctor at the motion hearing that would grant him freedom in July 2022, nine years after his sentencing and nearly 13 years after his arrest. 

“By the time that I learned the law, I was in prison, and the time that I had got it overturned, (it) took nine years. So when I was able to get overturned, I was able to walk free, but I wasn’t able to walk free from a felony conviction because (the five year) charges had closed,” said Dunn. 

Dunn doesn’t know where his life would be without education. Currently, no higher education institutions in the state of Florida provide educational opportunities in Florida prisons. He wants to see that change.

“The only way I could further my education was either apply for some school in Southeast Ohio that was not accredited, or self teach (myself) what (I) need to know,” he said. “So from an academic standpoint, I put all of that on the shelf to study the law, to digest as much case law, court procedures, Florida Statutes. Those things were highly important to me, because it was the gateway to my freedom.” 

“Our ancestors fought tooth and nail to be educated. Those who couldn’t be educated got taken advantage of. Think about today’s society. Are we really not allowing people to be educated? We still want to hold people ignorant? That’s got to change,” he said. 

Education is important for incarcerees, Dunn said, as it acts as a safeguard for recidivism, or reoffending after release from prison. For those without a Bachelor’s degree, he says recidivism in the United States sits at 75 percent within the first three years; that number drops to a mere five percent if an individual holds a Bachelor’s degree. 

“When you give people an education, you’re not only educating them from an academic standpoint, you’re bringing value to their life where they have something to hang on to,” said Dunn. “Guys in prison have nothing to hang on to…but when you feed their mind now, you give them something else to hang their hat on. You give them an opportunity to say your life is still your life even in here.” 

Education’s impact is also twofold in that regard. According to Dunn, it opens up opportunities for the formerly incarcerated and makes the stigma of prison fade. Likewise, the more education one receives, the better decisions they make – something Dunn has seen in his own life.

“Because of the education I received, it put me in a position to free others…and to me, that’s just a great feeling to restore somebody,” he said. 

Currently, Dunn is pursuing a Criminal Justice degree from the University of Southern Florida – the same university he attended before his arrest. His eye is set on law school, where he hopes to become a lawyer and “champion justice” working to protect children impacted by the criminal justice system. 

As a lawyer, Dunn says he wants to climb “higher mountains” and focus on the preventative work and legislation that comes with safeguarding the futures of children impacted by the justice system.

“There’s a quote that I often say: anybody can put out a forest fire, anybody. It takes more people to prevent them,” he said. “I want to be one of those people that prevent forest fires from happening in the justice system.”