July 20th 2024.
A woman named Sandra Hemme was finally released from prison after serving 43 years of a life sentence for a murder she didn't commit. This was despite the efforts of the state's attorney-general, who had been trying to keep her behind bars for the past month.
On Friday, Sandra was able to walk out of the prison in Chillicothe, Missouri, after a judge threatened to hold the attorney-general's office in contempt if they continued to oppose her release. She was greeted by her family at a nearby park, where she embraced her sister, daughter, and granddaughter. Sandra fondly recalled a photo her mother had sent her many years ago, saying her granddaughter looked just like her when she was little.
After her release, Sandra's granddaughter joked that she gets that a lot. According to her legal team at the Innocence Project, Sandra was the longest-serving wrongly incarcerated woman in the United States. The judge had originally ruled on June 14 that there was clear evidence of her innocence and overturned her conviction. However, the Republican Attorney-General, Andrew Bailey, continued to fight against her release.
Sandra's attorney, Sean O'Brien, expressed frustration at the difficulty of freeing an innocent person, saying it shouldn't be so hard. During a court hearing on Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman scolded Bailey's office for calling and instructing prison officials not to release Sandra, even after he had ordered her to be freed. The judge also threatened to hold the attorney-general's office in contempt if Sandra wasn't released within hours.
Sandra declined to speak to reporters after her release, and instead went straight to be by her father's side. He had recently been hospitalized and moved to palliative care. Sean O'Brien said this had been a long time coming, and that the delays had caused their family irreparable harm and emotional distress. He also noted that Sandra would need help, as she wouldn't be eligible for social security due to her long incarceration.
Despite multiple court rulings in her favor, Sandra was still being held behind bars due to the attorney-general's actions. This left her lawyers and legal experts puzzled, with some calling it unprecedented. Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge, said that once the courts have spoken, their orders should be obeyed.
The only obstacle to Sandra's freedom was the attorney-general, who filed court motions to make her serve additional years for past prison assault cases. The warden initially refused to release her, based on Bailey's actions. However, the judge ruled in Sandra's favor, citing evidence of her actual innocence. The Missouri Supreme Court also declined to undo the lower court's rulings that allowed her to be released.
Bailey, who is facing opposition in the upcoming primary election, responded by filing another request late on Thursday, asking the Circuit Court to reconsider. Sandra had been serving a life sentence for the 1980 stabbing death of a library worker in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Her immediate release was complicated by sentences she had received for crimes committed while in prison.
Her attorneys argued that keeping her incarcerated any longer would be a draconian outcome, and some legal experts agreed. Peter Joy, a law professor, said the effort to keep Sandra in prison was shocking to the conscience of any decent human being, as evidence strongly pointed to her innocence. Bailey's office did not respond to requests for comment.
Sandra's lawyer, Sean O'Brien, said that Sandra had been heavily sedated and in a vulnerable mental state when she was repeatedly questioned by investigators after the murder. Her ultimate confession was described as monosyllabic responses to leading questions. Other than this confession, there was no evidence linking her to the crime.
The Saint Joseph Police Department ignored evidence pointing to another officer, Michael Holman, who had since passed away. The prosecution was also not informed of FBI results that could have cleared Sandra, and these were never disclosed during her trials. Evidence presented to the judge showed that Holman's vehicle was seen outside the victim's apartment, and her earrings were found in his home. The judge ultimately called Sandra "the victim of a manifest injustice."
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