Sandra Hemme spent 43 years behind bars after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Innocent, she will be released because the evidence was ultimately not sufficient. A police officer, who died in 2015, is now implicated.
A miscarriage of justice in the state of Missouri in the United States. Sandra Hemme, a 63-year-old American, spent nearly 43 years behind bars after being convicted in 1980 of intentional homicide.
The facts with which he was accused? The murder of Patricia Jeschke, a 31-year-old librarian. Sandra Hemme was then convicted and imprisoned for this crime “which she only confessed under pressure and the threat of the death penalty”, her lawyers explained this Monday, June 17 to the American news agency Associated Press.
Release required within 30 days
The only evidence linking the woman to the murder are the “extremely contradictory” and “factually impossible” statements she made to investigators while she was a patient in a psychiatric hospital.
When she was first interrogated, Sandra Hemme was shackled with leather cuffs and so heavily sedated that she “could not hold her head up” or “articulate anything beyond monosyllabic responses “, the lawyers clarified.
Livingston County Presiding Judge Ryan Horsman ultimately overturned the ruling and demanded Sandra Hemme’s release within 30 days unless prosecutors tried her again.
According to Sandra Hemme’s lawyers, the evidence pointed to Michael Holman, a 22-year-old police officer at the time who was investigated for insurance fraud and burglaries, and who was later imprisoned. .
Among the suspects, Michael Holman had already been questioned once. He told investigators he used Patricia Jeschke’s credit card after finding a purse in a ditch.
His truck was also seen in the area of the murder and the alibi he provided as to why he was nearby could not be corroborated. A pair of gold horseshoe-shaped earrings identified by the victim’s father were also found in the possession of Michael Holman. Despite these incriminating elements, the investigation was finally closed.
