A woman in the US state of Missouri may have been wrongfully behind bars for more than 43 years. Sandra Hemme is accused of murdering another woman. However, a district judge now spoke of “clear and convincing” evidence to the contrary.
These would previously point the way to a police officer who died in 2015. The victim’s earrings were found with him. According to Judge Ryan Horsman, there were also investigative and procedural errors. The accompanying report is 118 pages long. The now 64-year-old’s lawyers then asked for her release. According to media reports, prosecutors now have 30 days to decide whether to charge Hemme again or drop the charges.
If Sandra Hemme is released, it would be the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in United States history. She has been behind bars for 43 years.
“Contradictory Statements”
Hemme was convicted in 1980 of murdering a 31-year-old in her St. Joseph apartment. “The only evidence linking Hemme to the crime is her own contradictory, unproven statements, statements made while she was in a psychiatric crisis and in physical pain,” Horseman wrote in the report. The American had no motive and there was no forensic evidence.
However, two weeks after the crime, she accused herself of committing the murder alone. It was possible that she had stabbed the 31-year-old with a hunting knife, she told investigators at the time. Hemme’s lawyers justify this with a psychological crisis and strong medication influence. They were unable to provide proof of this.
Source: Krone
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