Oct 24, 2024

Woman found by courts to be wrongly convicted in 1980 St. Joseph murder nears freedom

Posted Oct 24, 2024 7:15 PM
Sandra Hemme/Missouri Dept. Corrections
Sandra Hemme/Missouri Dept. Corrections

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

A woman that a court has found was wrongly convicted of a St. Joseph murder in 1980 has taken yet another step toward freedom.

The Western Missouri Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Sandra Hemme was wrongly convicted in the death of Patricia Jeschke, a library worker at the St. Joseph State Hospital.

Hemme was released from the Chillicothe women’s prison in July after Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ordered Hemme be released or retried. Attorney General Andrew Bailey objected and sought to block her release.

Horsman ruled evidence in the case now points to a discredited former St. Joseph police officer, the late Michael Holman.

Buchanan County Prosecutor Michelle Davidson has 10 days to decide whether to retry Hemme or dismiss the case.

Hemme spent 43 years in prison.

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