16 June 2024 , 09:30
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A Missouri woman, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent over 40 years behind bars, has had her conviction overturned due to "clear and convincing" evidence proving her innocence.
Sandra "Sandy" Hemme, 63, was originally sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty for the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke, a library employee from St. Joseph.
The conviction came following Hemme giving false statements about her past mental health issues. Livingston County circuit judge, Ryan Horsman, stated last Friday that there is "evidence directly" connecting a local police officer to Jeschke's death. The same officer who later faced jail time for an unrelated offence and has since passed away, remains unnamed.
Horsman has ordered Hemme's release from prison within the next 30 days unless the prosecution choose to retry the case. This decision was taken following an evidentiary hearing in January, when arguments were presented by Hemme's legal team in support of her testimony.
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According to her lawyers from the Innocence Project, Hemme's sentence stands as the longest-known case of a woman's wrongful conviction in American history. In a statement released by them, they expressed their gratitude to the court saying: "We are grateful to the Court for acknowledging the grave injustice Ms Hemme has endured for more than four decades,".
Sandra Hemme, (centre) 63, was found guilty for the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke (Innocent Project)Hemme initially pleaded guilty to capital murder to avoid the death penalty. However, her conviction was later overturned on appeal, according to the Associated Press. After a one-day trial where her "confession" was the only evidence against her, she was found guilty again in 1985.
Her lawyers stated that while Hemme was a patient at a mental hospital, she made "wildly contradictory" and "factually impossible" claims, which were ignored by authorities in a 147-page petition demanding her exoneration.
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At the time of the police investigation, Hemme, then 20, was receiving treatment for drug use, de-realisation, and auditory hallucinations. She had been receiving inpatient mental health care since she was 12 years-old.
Sandra Hemme was just 20 when she was jailed (Innocent Project)According to her lawyers, Hemme, who was on psychiatric medication, gave inconsistent statements about the murder during several hours-long interviews. They said, "She was restrained and strapped to a chair at times and was so heavily medicated that she was unable to even hold her head up."
Hemme's lawyers claimed that the police "exploited her mental illness and coerced her into making false statements while she was sedated and being treated with antipsychotic medication". They also alleged that evidence implicating Michael Holman, a 22 year old police officer at the time, in attempting to use the victim's credit card was concealed by authorities.