Sixty-four-year-old Sandra Hemme, jailed in 1980 for murder, has been released after a judicial review found that local police ignored evidence that directly pointed to one of their own officers as a likely culprit, the BBC reports.
Former policeman Michael Holman later went to prison for another crime. He died in 2015.
Despite there being no evidence linking her to the crime other than a confession she gave under heavy sedation in a psychiatric hospital, Hemme, then 20 years old, was found guilty of stabbing to death library worker Patricia Jeschke from St Joseph, Missouri, in November 1980.
Hemme’s conviction was overturned in June.
According to the BBC, Circuit Court Judge Ryan Horsman’s 118-page ruling overturning her conviction showed that Hemme’s lawyers had clear proof of her innocence, including evidence that was not given to her defence team at the time.
“This court finds that the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence,” Judge Horsman concluded.
The review found that evidence not shared with Hemme’s defence team in 1980 included the fact that former policeman Holman’s truck was seen in the area on the day of the murder, his alibi could not be corroborated, and he had used Patricia Jeschke’s credit card after claiming he found it in a ditch.
A pair of distinctive gold earrings identified by Jeschke’s father were also found in Holman’s home. This was also not disclosed to Hemme’s defence team at the time, the review said.
Hemme’s current legal team at the Innocence Project said they were grateful that she was finally reunited with her family, and that they would “continue to fight” to clear her name.
[Photo: Innocence Project]