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A 64-year-old Missouri woman, Sandra Hemme, with a history of mental illness, was recently found not guilty of a murder for which she had spent more than four decades in jail.
A 64-year-old Missouri woman, Sandra Hemme, with a history of mental illness, was recently found not guilty of a murder for which she had spent more than four decades in jail.
The judge found her innocence clear and convincing, yet she has not yet been released. Prosecutors are appealing the decision and want Hemme to remain in prison. They argue she is dangerous, citing a previous prison assault.
However, Hemme’s lawyers claim that new evidence leads to a former police officer as the true offender and that Hemme poses no threat. They think she is the longest wrongfully imprisoned woman in US history and are advocating for her immediate release. It is unclear whether she will be retried for Ms Jeschke’s murder.
According to the petition for her exoneration, the only evidence utilized to convict her was her remarks to police when mentally unwell and under the influence of heavy medicine. Buchanan County prosecutors have not addressed the potential of a retrial.
No witnesses related Ms Hemme to the murder, the victim, or the crime scene. She had no reason to hurt Ms. Jeschke, and there was no proof that they had ever met. According to a statement, no physical or forensic evidence linked Ms. Hemme to the killing.
