By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Sandra Hemme has been released from the Chillicothe women’s prison after a judge found “clear and convincing evidence” of her innocence in the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke, a library worker at the St. Joseph State Hospital.
Hemme has served 43 years in prison after confessing to the murder, though evidence points to a discredited former St. Joseph police officer.
Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ordered Hemme be released or retried. Attorney General Andrew Bailey objected and sought to block her release.
Hemme, who is now 64, reunited with family after her release.
The Innocence Project of New York says Hemme had been the longest-held incarcerated woman in the United States.
During a court hearing in Chillicothe, Judge Horsman stated Hemme must be released or the Attorney General must appear before him.
A state appeals court ruled Hemme should be released while it reviewed her case. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed.
Hemme was sentenced to life for the stabbing death of Jeschke.
Judge Horsman concluded the St. Joseph Police Department ignored evidence that pointed to Officer Michael Holman. Evidence placed Holman outside Jeschke’s apartment and found that he had used her credit card and had her earrings at his home.
In his ruling Horseman called Hemme “the victim of a manifest injustice.”
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