(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Despite opposition from Republican State Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Missouri authorities released a woman who had served 43 years of a life sentence.
Read the tweet further down this post.
According to multiple reports, Sandra Hemme was convicted of murdering Patricia Jeschke, a library worker from St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1981 and was sentenced to life in prison.
The Missouri Supreme Court paved the way for Hemme’s release, upholding lower court rulings that found Hemme’s confessions to the crime were “unreliable and false.”
Yet, Livingston County Presiding Judge Ryan Horsman overturned Hemme’s verdict on June 14.
“Exculpatory evidence was not disclosed to Ms. Hemme that was material to the outcome of her case and that she can show cause-and-prejudice for not having discovered her Brady v. Maryland claim earlier,” Horsman wrote.
He added, “Ms. Hemme has thus established a gateway claim of innocence that overcomes any alleged procedural default related to the ineffective assistance of counsel she received at her trial.
“She is the victim of a manifest injustice,” Horsman said.
However, Bailey’s office argued that Hemme needed to serve an additional 12 years for two assault convictions from her time in prison, one involving a fellow inmate and another involving a correctional officer.
Moreover, Bailey reportedly ordered the prison staff not to release Hemme, but they did after Horsman threatened to hold Bailey in contempt.
The Innocence Project, which represented Hemme, stated that the St. Joseph Police “hid evidence implicating one of their own,” alleging that a police officer from the department had Jeschke’s earrings and that his truck was near the murder victim’s home.
BREAKING: Sandra Hemme is finally free after 43 years.
Read more: https://t.co/vNGWIkz72d pic.twitter.com/4vwSxRM1nl
— Innocence Project (@innocence) July 20, 2024
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