By The opinion
Jun 15, 2024, 7:57 PM EDT
To a Missouri woman who was imprisoned for more than 43 years for murder his conviction was annulled after what a judge found “clear and convincing” evidence that he was innocent of the murder in questionaccording to CBS News.
Sandra Hemme’s lawyers argue that the murder was committed by a now-discredited police officer. If she is released, Sandra Hemme’s prison sentence will mark the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in US history, his lawyers said.
Judge Ryan Horsman ruled Friday night that Hemme has established evidence of actual innocence and must be released within 30 days unless prosecutors retry her. He said her defense attorney was ineffective and that prosecutors failed to reveal evidence that would have helped her.
Hemme’s attorneys from The Innocence Project, based in New York, They filed a motion requesting his immediate release.
“We thank the court for recognizing the grave injustice that Ms. Hemme has suffered for more than four decades,” her legal team said in a statement after the ruling.
The Innocence Project and attorney Sean O’Brien challenged Hemme’s decades-old conviction.
They will continue to seek dismissal of any charges against him while Hemme reunites the rest of his family.
Hemme was convicted of the 1980 murder of 31-year-old Patricia Jeschke, whose mother found her dead inside her apartment in Saint Joseph, Missouri, after she failed to show up for work at the city library.
Despite having no connection to Jeschke, Hemme signed confession statements four times, but at the time she was a psychiatric patient.
Her lawyer argued that the interviews occurred while Hemme was heavily medicated and that her confessions did not match the crime.
“She signed those statements while under chemical restraints,” O’Brien argued. “Psychiatric drugs literally [fueron] designed to dominate your will.”
The physical evidence also affirms that she did not commit the crimesaid O’Brien, who said former Saint Joseph police officer Michael Holman, who died in 2015, likely committed the murder.
Police ignored evidence pointing to Holman, including using her credit card to purchase camera equipment the same day her body was found. Police also found earrings belonging to Jeschke in Holman’s apartment.
Holman was also investigated for theft and insurance fraud, and was incarcerated when he died.
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