24 July 2024 :
July 19, 2024 - Missouri. Sandra Hemme, now 64, White, was freed on July 19 after 44 years in prison for a crime that evidence supports she did not commit, making her the longest-known wrongly incarcerated woman in the U.S.
On June 14, 2024, Livingston County Presiding Judge Ryan Horsman overturned Ms. Hemme’s conviction in the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.
No witnesses linked Ms. Hemme to the murder, the victim, or the crime scene. She had no motive to harm Ms. Jeschke, nor was there any evidence that the two had ever met. Neither did any physical or forensic evidence link Ms. Hemme to the killing. The only evidence that ever connected Ms. Hemme to the crime was her own unreliable and false confessions: statements taken from her while she was being treated at the state psychiatric hospital and forcibly given medication literally designed to overpower her will.
At the same time, the St. Joseph Police Department hid evidence implicating one of their own: a fellow police officer was found using the victim’s credit card the day after the murder. His truck was seen parked near the victim’s home at the time she was killed and he was caught hiding the victim’s earrings in his home.
In its June 14 ruling overturning her conviction, the Court found that Ms. Hemme proved her actual innocence, noting that “the only evidence linking Ms. Hemme to the crime was that of her own inconsistent, disproven statements, statements that were taken while she was in psychiatric crisis and physical pain.” Meanwhile, the evidence implicating the police officer was so significant, “it would be difficult to imagine that the State could prove Ms. Hemme’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on the weight of the evidence now available that ties Holman to this victim and crime and excludes Ms. Hemme.”
But Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought her release in the courts.
During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme wasn’t released by a designated time, he wanted Bailey himself to appear in court Tuesday morning.
He also scolded Bailey’s office for calling the warden and telling prison officials not to release Hemme after an appeals court panel said she could be released. “I would suggest you never do that,” Horsman said, adding: “To call someone and tell them to disregard a court order is wrong.”
Hemme's wrongful conviction produced the longest ever prison tenure for an exonerated American woman. Hemme, now a grandmother, was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center at 5:50 p.m. on July 19, and will live with her sister. Her lawyer stated that she will need help due to her long prison tenure and being ineligible for Social Security.
https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/free-sandra-hemme/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/missouri-judge-rebukes-state-attorney-general-for-delaying-release-of-woman-from-prison
