PMZFri, 21 Feb 2025 22:35:30 +0000 11, 2016 Local News
Chillicothe, Mo. (KFMO) - A Missouri woman walked out prison Friday after serving 43 years in prison on a murder conviction, after it was overturned. She was released over the objections of the state’s attorney general.
64-year-old Sandra Hemme left the Chillicothe Correctional Center, but only after a judge threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt if they continued to try to stop it.
Hemme had been serving a life sentence after she was twice convicted of the 1980 murder of library worker Patricia Jeschke. The judge had originally ruled June 14th that Hemme's attorney's had established "clear and convincing evidence" of "actual innocence," but Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought against her release in the courts.
Hemme's attorney, Sean O'Brien says that she will need help and that she won't be eligible for social security because of her long incarceration.
The innocence project says Heme falsely confessed after police exploited her mental illness. The group says evidence points to a corrupt officer as the killer.
