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Excerpt from www.foxnews.comA judge overturned the conviction of a Missouri woman who spent 43 years in prison after incriminating herself in a 1980 killing while she was a psychiatric patient, with the judge and the woman’s lawyers suggesting a former police officer may have been the killer.
Judge Ryan Horsman ruled late Friday that Sandra Hemme, now 64, established evidence of actual innocence and must be released within 30 days unless prosecutors retry her in the case of 31-year-old library worker Patricia Jeschke’s death. The judge said Hemme’s trial counsel was ineffective and prosecutors did not reveal evidence that would have helped her defense.
Hemme’s attorneys, who filed a motion seeking her immediate release, said this is the longest time a woman has been incarcerated for a wrongful conviction.
“We are grateful to the Court for acknowledging the grave injustice Ms. Hemme has endured for more than four decades,” her attorneys said in a statement, pledging to continue in their efforts to dismiss the charges and allow Hemme to be reunited with her family.
