John,
For the past 43 years, Sandra “Sandy” Hemme has been incarcerated for a crime she didn’t commit. On Friday, Livingston County Presiding Judge Ryan Horsman overturned Sandra’s conviction in the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.
In its ruling, the Court found she 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.”
Sandy is the longest-known wrongly incarcerated woman in the U.S.
The fight to free Sandy isn’t over, but this is a big step in the right direction. Please take a moment right now to learn more about her case and then share the news on social media.
Sandra Hemme (center) with her sister and mother. (Image: Courtesy of the Hemme family)
No witnesses linked Sandy 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 Sandy to the killing. The only evidence that ever connected Sandy 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 that implicated one of their own: fellow police officer Michael Holman, who was found using the victim’s credit card the day after the murder; whose truck was seen parked near the victim’s home at the time she was killed; in whose closet the victim’s earrings were discovered; and who, in the months before and after the murder, committed many other crimes.
In overturning her conviction, the Court found that “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.”
We won’t stop fighting for Sandy until she is free. Help spread the word about her story and the latest breaking news in her case by sharing on social media:
Thank you for your support,
— The Innocence Project Team
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