An appellate court has ordered the release of a Missouri woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison. The court ruled that Sandra Hemme's attorneys had presented clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence. Hemme, now 64, has been serving a life sentence at a prison northeast of Kansas City after being twice convicted of murder in the death of library worker Patricia Jeschke.
After an extensive review, the judge found that Hemme was heavily sedated and in a malleable mental state when investigators questioned her in a psychiatric hospital. Evidence pointing to a discredited fellow officer who died in 2015 was ignored by the police, and FBI results that could have cleared her were not disclosed before her trials.
The prosecutor at her trial later agreed that nothing linked her to the crime other than her confession, which followed multiple contradictory statements. Her attorneys described her confession as often monosyllabic responses to leading questions.
The judge concluded that the evidence supported a finding of actual innocence. However, the state attorney general is attempting to keep her behind bars, citing safety concerns and arguing that the evidence presented is not newly discovered.
Hemme was arrested weeks after the death of Jeschke, who was found dead in her apartment with her hands tied behind her back and a telephone cord wrapped around her throat. The police initially focused on a discredited officer, Michael Holman, who died in 2015. Hemme was not a suspect until she showed up at a nurse's home carrying a knife weeks after the killing.
Despite evidence pointing to Holman as the perpetrator, Hemme ultimately pleaded guilty to murder to avoid the death penalty. The judge found that key evidence implicating Holman was not shared with the jury, including FBI tests and a hair found on the victim's bedsheet.
The judge also noted that police showed Hemme crime scene photos and details that only the killer would know, falsely implicating her. The jury was not informed of crucial evidence that could have exonerated Hemme and pointed to Holman as the likely perpetrator.
