Missouri woman who has served more than 40 years for murder is declared innocent by judge
A 64-year-old Missouri woman with a history of mental illness has been declared innocent by a judge for a murder that she has spent more than four decades behind bars for and that some now suspect a former police officer of.
A 64-year-old Missouri woman with a history of mental illness has been declared innocent by a judge for a murder that she has spent more than four decades behind bars for and that some now suspect a former police officer of.
Sandra Hemme's innocence in the November 12, 1980, slaying of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri, is “clear and convincing” the judge ruled last week.
But she remains behind bars, and Missouri's top prosecutor on Tuesday asked a court to put the brakes on releasing her.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey also said his office will ask the state appeals court to review the judge’s ruling, which said that Hemmes must be freed within 30 days or retired.
Hemmes' lawyers argued that evidence in the 1980 slaying points to the guilt of a now-dead St. Joseph police officer, Michael Holman, who committed a series of crimes before and after 31-year-old Jeschke’s death and was tied directly to the homicide, according to a petition for exoneration reviewed by Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman.
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