Lawyers for a Missouri woman who spent more than 40 years in prison for murder argued in a hearing this week that evidence points to a police officer who was questioned on suspicion of robbery and later jailed. , her supporters maintained that she was innocent.
The only evidence linking Sandra Hemme to the 1980 murder of St. Joseph's librarian Patricia Jeschke is the “grossly contradictory” and “virtually improbable” statements she made to detectives while she was a patient at a psychiatric hospital. '' statement, her lawyers said. Hemme, now 63 years old and known as Sandy, was sentenced to life in prison.
A hearing to present evidence of her innocence was granted after her lawyers filed a 147-page petition outlining their arguments. Livingston County Chief Judge Ryan Horsman is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks or months, the Kansas City Star reported.
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If Hemme is proven innocent, her prison sentence would be the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history.
A lawyer for a Missouri inmate has argued that a police officer was responsible for a 1980 murder for which the inmate has served more than 40 years in prison. (Fox News Digital)
Stephen Fewston, a former detective with the St. Joseph Police Department, testified that he stopped one of Hemme's interviews at St. Joseph State Hospital because “she seemed completely incoherent.”
After eight rounds of questioning, Hemme's lawyers from the Innocence Project implicated a man who turned out to have a solid alibi, denying any involvement, and falsely confessing to Jeschke's murder. He said that he came to claim that he had done so.
Hemme's lawyers said the evidence instead pointed to Michael Holman, a 22-year-old police officer who was investigated on charges of insurance fraud and robbery and later went to prison. He passed away in 2015.
Holman was once questioned as a suspect. The suspect told investigators that he used Jeschke's credit card after finding the wallet in a ditch. His truck was also seen at the murder scene. The alibi he provided as to why he was nearby was not corroborated.
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A gold horseshoe-shaped earring, identified by Jeschke's father, was also found in Holman's belongings.
