Justice for Sandra Hemme
Sandra “Sandy” Hemme was freed on July 19 after more than four decades in prison for a crime that evidence supports she did not commit, making her the longest-known wrongly incarcerated woman in the U.S. On June 14, 2024, Livingston County Presiding Judge Ryan Horsman overturned Ms. Hemme’s conviction in the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.
No witnesses linked Ms. Hemme to the murder, the victim, or the crime scene. She had no motive to harm Ms. Jeschke, nor was there any evidence that the two had ever met. Neither did any physical or forensic evidence link Ms. Hemme to the killing. The only evidence that ever connected Ms. Hemme to the crime was her own unreliable and false confessions: statements taken from her while she was being treated at the state psychiatric hospital and forcibly given medication literally designed to overpower her will.
At the same time, the St. Joseph Police Department hid evidence implicating one of their own: a fellow police officer was found using the victim’s credit card the day after the murder. His truck was seen parked near the victim’s home at the time she was killed and he was caught hiding the victim’s earrings in his home.
In its June ruling overturning her conviction, the Court found that Ms. Hemme proved her actual innocence, noting that “the only evidence linking Ms. Hemme to the crime was that of her own inconsistent, disproven statements, statements that were taken while she was in psychiatric crisis and physical pain.” Meanwhile, the evidence implicating the police officer was so significant, “it would be difficult to imagine that the State could prove Ms. Hemme’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on the weight of the evidence now available that ties Holman to this victim and crime and excludes Ms. Hemme.”
Although Ms. Hemme, now 64, has spent the majority of her life wrongfully imprisoned, she has never given up hope that her name will one day be cleared.
Add your name to join Ms. Hemme’s fight for justice.