Years of legal wrangling have come to an end for a woman who spent 43 years behind bars for a killing that her attorneys argue was committed by a discredited police officer.
A judge ruled Tuesday that Sandra Hemme can't be retried, the final step in a tumultuous journey to making her freedom permanent. Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project.
She was freed in July but under a cloud as Attorney General Andrew Bailey continued to argue that she should remain imprisoned. Last month, an appellate court found that some arguments raised by Bailey’s office bordered "on the absurd” and sided with the lower court judge that overturned her murder conviction. The ruling gave prosecutors 10 days to refile charges.
Once that time ran out, Hemme's attorneys filed a motion seeking her “unconditional release." They had no immediate comment on the decision to grant their request.
Hemme was being treated with heavy doses of antipsychotic drugs when she was first questioned about the 1980 murder of 31-year-old library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph. One of Hemme’s attorneys, Sean O’Brien, likened the drugs to a “chemical straightjacket” in an October hearing and said they raised questions about her ultimate confession.
O’Brien also outlined evidence that was withheld that pointed to Michael Holman — a former police officer, who died in 2015. Evidence showed that Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment, that he tried to use her credit card, and that her earrings were found in his home.
Judge Ryan Horsman in Livingston County cited some of that evidence when he found that Hemme’s attorney had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence.”
But Bailey asked the appellate court to review Horsman's decision, leading to a monthlong fight over whether she should be freed while that review took place. A circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court all agreed Hemme should be released, but she was still held behind bars as Bailey argued that she still had time to serve on decades-old prison assault cases.
Hemme walked free only after Horsman threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt.
Now it is over. Tuesday's ruling from Horsman orders her “permanently and unconditionally discharged from custody.”
