by Sandra ‘Sandy’ Hemme was sitting in a psychiatric hospital on the night of her arrest.
It was one of a series of hospitalizations that began when she began hearing voices at age 12. A year later, she tried to kill herself by overdosing on cocaine, court records show.
Deeply transfixed with her eyes rolling into the back of her head, the Missouri resident gave “one-syllabus” answers to the police’s questions, until finally, Hemme admitted he was a murderer. She was later sentenced to life.
But earlier this week, more than 43 years later, that conviction was overturned. She has served more time than any other American woman wrongfully imprisoned, according to her legal team at the Innocence Project.
Patricia Jeschke, a 31-year-old librarian, went missing on November 13, 1980.
Her mother climbed through the window of her apartment to find her bound naked body lying in a pool of blood. She had a pair of pantyhose and a telephone cord wrapped around her neck, while a knife was behind her head.
Hemme was implicated in the murder two weeks later when she arrived at her former nurse’s house wielding a knife. At first refusing to leave, she was later taken back to St. Joseph State Hospital, where she was questioned about Jeschke’s killing — it happened nearby and she also had a knife — and she confessed.
Hemme pleaded guilty to manslaughter to avoid the death penalty in April 1981.
“Well, I killed Pat, you know,” said the 21-year-old at the court. “I saw her in the head and choked her, you know, and hit her in the head a couple of times. I don’t know why.”
On June 5, 1985, she was sentenced to life imprisonment in a one-day trial that lasted only three and a half hours, in which there was no major evidence other than a confession.
Evidence ‘omitted’
Now, her lawyers have established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence”, a judge ruled.
Hemme was released from the hospital and kicked out of town the last day Jeschke was seen alive. That evening, she was said to be at her parents’ home, more than 100 miles east of the slain woman’s apartment.
An extensive review found that Hemme was in a “malleable mental state” when investigators examined her before her confession more than four decades ago.
The psychiatric hospital treated her with antipsychotic drugs that induced involuntary muscle spasms, and detectives said she appeared to be “mentally confused,” her attorneys argued.
Her lawyers claimed she was “unable to hold her head up straight”.
The main strand of the prosecutor’s evidence was that Hemme confessed to the murder, her lawyers said. The lawyers believe that his confession was false.
Forensic psychiatrist Judith Edersheim recently determined that Hemme’s “fundamental psychological vulnerabilities” increased the likelihood that she falsely incriminated herself.
It is also alleged that the police left out a crucial piece of evidence: a fellow officer was also a suspect.
Michael Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment.
Holman allegedly tried to use her credit card to steal more than $600, and her earrings were found at his home.
The FBI told local police in 1981 that Holman’s prints were “completely and clearly recorded” needed to rule him out as a source, as palm prints were found on a television antenna cable in Jeschke’s apartment, records show. .
Hemme’s lawyers say police have sent Holman’s prints off for analysis.
Hair found on the victim’s bed sheet had “microscopic characteristics similar to Holman’s scalp hair samples and could not be eliminated as a source,” according to the FBI report.
Before Hoklman died in 2015, he denied killing Jeschke.
‘dragon fruit’
Jurors in Hemme’s trial never heard these details – along with others – because police did not share them with prosecutors, the judge found.
Last month, Missouri Judge Ryan Horsman found the 64-year-old not guilty and officials at the time said she was forced to make false statements.
“This Court’s finding that the evidence shows that Ms. Hemme to the police so unreliable that the evidence points to Michael Holman as the one who committed the crime. [is] so objective and probative that no reasonable juror would find Mr. Hemme guilty,” Horsman concluded.
The wrongfully accused woman must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors decide to retry her. That 30 days ends this past Sunday, but local politicians are trying to make sure she is kept in prison.
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey wants to keep Hemme behind bars as the case is reviewed. His office is also arguing that decades-old sentences for prison violence should begin to be served now – and are taking the case to the state’s highest court.
Hemme’s lawyers said any additional time provided would be a “terrible result”.
