Woman released after 43 years for a crime she didn't do

A woman who served 43 years for a crime she didn’t commit has been released after her conviction was overturned.

According to the BBC, Sandra Hemme was 20 years old when she was found guilty of stabbing library worker Patricia Jeschke from St. Joseph, Missouri, in November 1980. She was sentenced to life in prison.

There was no evidence linking her to the crime beyond a confession she made under duress in a psychiatric hospital, which was later found to be unreliable.

Now 64 years old, Hemme is believed to have served the longest wrongful imprisonment of a woman in U.S. history, according to her representatives.

Her legal team from the Innocence Project expressed relief that Ms. Hemme has finally been reunited with her family and stated that they “will continue to fight” to clear her name.

Although she is no longer in prison, her case is still under review.

The initial 118-page ruling by Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman overturning her conviction was issued on June 14.

The ruling stated that Ms. Hemme’s attorneys had clear evidence of her innocence, including evidence that had not been disclosed to her defense team at the time.

“This court finds that the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence,” Judge Horsman concluded.

The review revealed that local police had ignored evidence pointing directly to one of their officers, Michael Holman, who was later imprisoned for another crime and died in 2015.

Holman’s truck was seen at the crime scene on the day of the murder, his alibi could not be verified, and he used Patricia Jeschke’s credit card after claiming to have found it in a ditch.

Unique gold rings identified by Ms. Jeschke’s father were also found in Holman’s home.

None of this evidence was disclosed to Ms. Hemme’s defense team at the time, the review stated.