The Missouri Attorney General's Office has reportedly agreed to an evidentiary hearing for a woman convicted of murder in the 1980s who has maintained her innocence for more than 40 years.
Sandra Hemme was convicted in 1985 after a one-day trial in the 1980 murder of library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, who was found killed in her apartment.
Hemme's attorneys with The Innocence Project, a criminal justice nonprofit, say she was wrongfully convicted after police allegedly sedated her while she was experiencing a mental crisis and coerced her into making false statements.
Her lawyers filed a petition for habeas relief — meant to review the validity of her conviction — in February in Livingston County, arguing there is evidence to prove her innocence in Jeschke's murder.
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AG Andrew Bailey's office said in their response that Hemme's attorneys have "alleged facts that if true may entitle her to relief," according to The Kansas City Star.
Hemme was 20 years old at the time of her conviction in Jeschke's murder and was a patient at St. Joseph’s State Hospital, where she received treatment for various health conditions. She had been a psychiatric patient since age 12, according to The Innocence Project.
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After her arrest, when Hemme was receiving treatment in a hospital and taking sedative drugs,...
Although on appeal the court distinguished that there was new information in the claim, the court ultimately found the new information was not material, nor was it plead with particularity. The U....