After spending 43 years in prison for a murder conviction that was overturned, the Missouri Supreme Court has cleared the way for Sandra Hemme to be freed. A circuit court judge ruled last month that her attorneys had shown evidence of her “actual innocence,” leading to an appeals court ruling that she should be released while her case is reviewed. However, Hemme’s immediate release was complicated by additional crimes committed while behind bars, resulting in a total of 12 additional years added to her sentence.
Despite efforts by Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey to keep her incarcerated, the Missouri Supreme Court refused to undo the lower court’s decision allowing her release on her own recognizance. Hemme is now set to be placed in the custody of her sister and brother-in-law in Higginsville, Missouri. Details on her actual release date have not yet been released.
Hemme, now 64, had been serving a life sentence for the murder of library worker Patricia Jeschke, but evidence uncovered during a review of her case pointed to her innocence. The circuit court judge found that Hemme’s confession was unreliable, she was heavily sedated and in a vulnerable mental state at the time, and key evidence pointing to another suspect was not disclosed before her trials.
Her legal team at the Innocence Project hailed the decision, with the judge concluding that Hemme was the victim of a manifest injustice. Hemme is now set to be freed, becoming one of the longest wrongly incarcerated women in the U.S. to be released.
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