US woman freed after 43 years in prison for murder she didn’t commit
Sandra Hemme, who spent 43 years imprisoned for a crime she did not commit, has been released following the overturning of her conviction. At the age of 20, Hemme was found guilty of the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke, a library worker from St. Joseph, Missouri, and was sentenced to life in prison.
The only evidence against her was a confession given while she was heavily sedated in a psychiatric hospital, as revealed by a recent review of her case. At 64 years old, Hemme is believed to have endured the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history, according to her representatives.
Her legal team at the Innocence Project expressed their relief at Hemme’s reunion with her family and their commitment to clearing her name. Although Hemme is no longer in prison, her case remains under review.
The original 118-page ruling by Circuit Court Judge Ryan Horsman, which overturned her conviction on June 14, noted that Hemme’s lawyers had presented clear evidence of her innocence, including information that was not available to her defense team at the time of her trial.
“This court finds that the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence,” Judge Horsman concluded.
The review found that local police ignored evidence that directly pointed to one of their own officers – Michael Holman – who later went to prison for another crime and died in 2015.
Holman’s truck was seen in the area the day of the murder, his alibi could not be corroborated, and he used Patricia Jeschke’s credit card after claiming he found it in a ditch.
A pair of distinctive gold earrings identified by Ms Jeschke’s father were also found in Holman’s home.
None of this was disclosed to Ms Hemme’s defence team at the time, the review said.
Ms Hemme was interrogated by police several times under the influence of antipsychotic medication and a powerful sedative after being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. She had been receiving occasional psychiatric treatment since she was 12 years old.
Her responses were “monosyllabic” and she was “not totally cognisant of what was going on”, court documents showed, and at times could barely hold her head up straight and was in pain from muscle spasms – a side effect of the medications.
Judge Horsman’s review noted that no forensic evidence linked Ms Hemme to the murder. She had no motive and there were no witnesses linking her to the crime.
Sandra Hemme finally left prison on Friday, and the Kansas City Star reports that she will live with her sister.
After her release she was reunited with family in a nearby park, where she hugged her sister, daughter and granddaughter.
Her father had been hospitalised and was receiving palliative care this week. Her legal team said she was planning to visit him as soon as she can.
Defence lawyer Sean O’Brien told the Star that she will still need help because she has spent most of her life in prison and was ineligible for social security.
