Sandra Hemme's Attorneys Argue Innocence, Point to Former Police Officer as True Perpetrator

If exonerated, Hemme's prison term would mark the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history.

Sandra Hemme, 63, has spent 43 years in prison for the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Hemme's attorneys argue that the only evidence linking her to the murder are her 'wildly contradictory' and 'factually impossible' statements made while she was a psychiatric patient.
The legal team points to Michael Holman, a former police officer who was investigated for insurance fraud and burglaries, as the potential true perpetrator.
Holman, who died in 2015, had been a suspect and was questioned once. He admitted to using Jeschke's credit card after finding a purse in a ditch, and his truck was seen in the area of the murder.
A pair of gold horseshoe-shaped earrings identified by Jeschke’s father was found in Holman’s possession.