Two weeks ago, a Missouri judge ruled Sandra Hemme innocent. Why is she still in prison?
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A hearing on a motion to release Sandra “Sandy” Hemme, who was declared innocent by a judge more than two weeks ago, was canceled Monday.
The 64-year-old woman remains imprisoned at Chillicothe Correctional Center, about 90 minutes northwest of Kansas City.
On June 14, Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ruled there is “clear and convincing” evidence that Hemme is innocent. She was convicted in a 1980 murder in St. Joseph and has been behind bars for more than 43 years.
In recent cases, defendants who were declared innocent have been released swiftly. When a judge found Ricky Kidd innocent in August 2019, he was released the next day. A judge in November 2021 granted Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s motion to exonerate Kevin Strickland and he was released later that day. In April 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court set aside the convictions of Keith Carnes and two days later, prosecutors said they would not re-file charges. He was released four days later.
An evidentiary hearing in Hemme’s case was held in January before Horsman.
Following his ruling last month, Hemme’s attorneys immediately filed a motion to release her.
The office of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has asked the state Court of Appeals to review Horsman’s order. According to the clerk’s office, the hearing Monday was canceled because of the pending appellate case.
Hemme’s attorneys now plan to file a motion for her release with the Court of Appeals.
Hemme was convicted in the killing of Patricia Jeschke more than four decades ago.
But evidence points to Michael Holman, a former St. Joseph police officer who later went to prison for another crime and died in 2015. He was questioned once in Jeschke’s death.
Holman’s truck was seen in the area the day of the murder, his alibi could not be corroborated, and he used Jeschke’s credit card after he said he found it in a purse in a ditch. A pair of gold horseshoe-shaped earrings identified by Jeschke’s father was also found in Holman’s possession.
The judge said in his order that Holman’s “links to the murder are substantial and objective.”
No forensic evidence connected Hemme to Jeschke’s death.
A detective admitted that Hemme, who was on anti-psychotic medication and sedatives when she was questioned by police, was “not totally cognizant of what was going on.” Over a series of interviews while she was hospitalized, she told conflicting stories. At one point, she said a man who picked her up from the hospital was the killer. Investigators discovered he was in a locked detox facility in Kansas at the time of the murder and the capital murder charge against him was dropped.
“This court can thus reach the merits of Ms. Hemme’s claims because she is the victim of a manifest injustice,” Horsman wrote in his 118-page order.
Buchanan County Prosecutor Michelle Davidson has 30 days from the June 14 ruling to decide whether to re-try Hemme or dismiss the charges. Davidson did not immediately respond to an email or voicemail.
