Midwest
Judge overturns murder conviction of Missouri woman who spent more than 40 years in prison
A 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.
JUDGE RULES MISSOURI ABORTION BAN DID NOT AIM TO IMPOSE LAWMAKERS’ RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON OTHERS
Sandra Hemme, now 64, spent 43 years in prison before a judge overturned her murder conviction. (Missouri Department of Corrections via AP)
Hemme was shackled in wrist restraints and so heavily sedated to the point that she “could not hold her head up straight” or “articulate anything beyond monosyllabic responses” when she was initially questioned about Jeschke’s death, according to her lawyers.
The lawyers said in a petition seeking Hemme’s exoneration that authorities ignored her “wildly contradictory” statements and suppressed evidence implicating then-police officer Michael Holman, who attempted to use Jeschke’s credit card. Holman died in 2015.
The judge wrote that “no evidence whatsoever outside of Ms. Hemme’s unreliable statements connects her to the crime.”
“In contrast, this Court finds that the evidence directly ties Holman to this crime and murder scene,” the judge wrote.
On Nov. 13, 1980, Jeschke missed work and her concerned mother climbed through a window in her apartment and discovered her nude body on the floor in a pool of blood. Jeschke’s hands were tied behind her back with a telephone cord, a pair of pantyhose was wrapped around her throat and a knife was under her head.
Hemme was not being investigated in connection with the killing until she showed up nearly two weeks later at the home of a nurse who once treated her while she was carrying a knife and refused to leave.
Police located Hemme in a closet and transported her back to St. Joseph’s Hospital. She had been hospitalized several times starting when she began hearing voices at the age of 12.
Hemme had been discharged from that same hospital the day before Jeschke’s body was found, and arrived at her parents’ house later that night after hitchhiking more than 100 miles across the state. The timing seemed suspicious to law enforcement, and Hemme was subsequently questioned.
Hemme was being treated with antipsychotic drugs that had triggered involuntary muscle spasms when she was first questioned. She complained that her eyes were rolling back in her head, according to her lawyers’ petition.
Detectives said Hemme appeared “mentally confused” and not fully able to understand their questions.
“Each time the police extracted a statement from Ms. Hemme it changed dramatically from the last, often incorporating explanations of facts the police had just recently uncovered,” her attorneys wrote in the petition.
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Sandra Hemme established evidence of actual innocence, a judge ruled. (iStock)
Hemme eventually purported that she witnessed a man named Joseph Wabski kill Jeschke.
Wabski, whom Hemme met when they both stayed in the state hospital’s detoxification unit, was initially charged with capital murder before prosecutors quickly learned he was at an alcohol treatment center in Topeka, Kansas, at the time and dropped the charges against him.
After learning Wabski was not the killer, Hemme cried and claimed she was the killer.
Police were also starting to look at Holman as a suspect. About a month after the killing, Holman was arrested for falsely reporting his pickup truck was stolen and collecting an insurance payout. The same truck was seen near the crime scene and Holman’s alibi, in which he claimed to have spent the night with a woman at a nearby motel, could not be confirmed.
Holman, who was ultimately fired and has since died, had also attempted to use Jeschke’s credit card at a camera store in Kansas City, Missouri, on the same day her body was discovered. Holman claimed he found the credit card in a purse that had been left in a ditch.
During a search of Holman’s home, police found a pair of gold horseshoe-shaped earrings in a closet, which Jeschke’s father said he recognized as a pair he bought for her. Police also found jewelry stolen from another woman during a burglary earlier that year.
The four-day investigation into Holman then ended abruptly, and Hemme’s attorneys said they were never provided many of the details uncovered.
Hemme wrote to her parents on Christmas Day in 1980, saying she might as well change her plea to guilty.
“Even though I’m innocent, they want to put someone away, so they can say the case is solved,” Hemme wrote.
“Just let it end,” she added. “I’m tired.”
The following spring, Hemme agreed to plead guilty to capital murder in exchange for the death penalty being taken out of consideration.
Sandra Hemme’s attorneys filed a motion seeking her immediate release. (MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
But the judge initially rejected her guilty plea because she failed to share enough details about the incident.
Her attorney told her that her chance to avoid being sentenced to death relied on having the judge to accept her guilty plea. Following a recess and some coaching, she gave the judge more details.
The plea was later thrown out on appeal, but she was convicted again in 1985 after a one-day trial in which jurors were not provided details of what her current attorneys say were “grotesquely coercive” interrogations.
The system “failed her at every opportunity,” Larry Harman said in her lawyers’ petition. Harman, now a judge, previously helped Hemme have her initial guilty plea thrown out.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Several Milwaukee leaders are condemning recent Immigrations and Customs Enforcement activity in the city, though questions remain whether actions meant to limit the agency within city limits can be enforced.
The group led by U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore expressed anger at the nature of the at least 57 confirmed arrests made by ICE agents across Wisconsin during “targeted operations” that began in late June.
“They’re being kidnapped. They’re being disappeared. They’re being rushed through a judicial process without due process because they don’t have any money. And we’re here to decry that,” said Moore during a press conference July 9.
Back in April, Milwaukee Common Council members unanimously passed one of the key pieces of their “ICE Out MKE” package: an ordinance that prohibited ICE agents from wearing masks while working in the city. But the Department of Homeland Security has indicated they will not adhere to the ordinance, with representatives asserting the US Constitution’s Supremacy Clause allows for federal laws to supersede any local ordinance.
“State and local sanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from wearing masks is despicable and a flagrant attempt to endanger our officers,” said an ICE spokesperson in a statement to WTMJ. “To be crystal clear: we will not abide by unconstitutional bans. The Supremacy Clause makes it clear that state and local sanctuary politicians do not control federal law enforcement.”
During the recent arrests, ICE agents were spotted by groups like Voces de la Frontera wearing masks despite the ordinance. Agents also used the Milwaukee Police Department District 2 parking lot for staging purposes, which is against another “ICE Out” city ordinance. A statement from MPD said they were not told in advance that ICE intended to use the parking lot, and then asked them to leave.
No citations have been written by Milwaukee Police against any agents who have violated the mask ban, with the department citing the need for legal clarity from City Attorney Evan Goyke.
“We’re waiting to see what the city attorney’s advice will be on that,” said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson July 9 when asked by WTMJ if any of the “ICE Out” package is enforceable.
ICE says those arrested will remain in custody pending removal proceedings.
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Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis chief communications officer Adam Fetcher out amid possible criminal charges
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Minneapolis’ chief communications officer, Adam Fetcher, is out of his job and now faces possible legal trouble.
Adam Fetcher’s departure from city hall
What we know:
City officials say Adam Fetcher’s last day as chief communications officer was Monday, July 1.
Fetcher, who previously worked in the Obama administration, started his role with the City of Minneapolis last year. The city has not shared any further details about the circumstances surrounding Fetcher’s departure.
Legal questions for the former official
What they’re saying:
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says it has received a case involving Fetcher and added that charges are possible. Fetcher’s attorney had no comment.
The nature of the case has not been made clear by officials.
What we don’t know:
It is not clear what the case involving Fetcher is about or what specific charges, if any, might be filed.
The Source: Information from the City of Minneapolis and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Education leaders on Thursday said waiting for rulemaking limited the number of programs approved for a new grant program, but they expect more approvals soon.
Created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed last year, the Workforce Pell Grant program allows students to use Pell Grants for short-term, direct-to-workforce training programs. The program began on July 1. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and Vincennes University, which are Indiana’s two two-year vocational and technical institutions, are the only institutions in the state authorized for the program so far, though state officials have said they’ll consider expanding it to other institutions depending on the results of the first year.
So far, state education officials have approved three programs for Workforce Pell Grants: certified clinical medical assistant programs at Ivy Tech and Vincennes, plus an electrical maintenance technician bootcamp Vincennes offers. Final approval must come from the federal government, which has not yet green-lit any of those programs.
Molly Dodge, Ivy Tech’s senior vice president for workforce and careers, said Ivy Tech leaders needed to make sure they thoroughly understood the requirements they would face. To be eligible, a program must have at least a 70% completion rate and a 70% job placement rate. It also must lead directly to a job in a high-growth, high-demand job sector. Dodge said the rules were finalized this spring. After that, she said Ivy Tech leaders began going through each of their courses to see which ones would be eligible.
“Workforce Pell has a significant requirement related to job placement and wages, and so we need to backward design from an employer, in many cases, to make sure that we’re successful in launching these Workforce Pell programs,” she said.
Tony Hahn, Vincennes University’s vice president for government and legal affairs, said July 1 was the earliest under federal statute the program could begin. In practice, he said the rollout will take some time because programs must be offered for one year in exactly the same format before they become eligible for the Workforce Pell Grant.
“These are often programs that we have offered through Next Level Jobs programs and other Department of Workforce Development funding, but didn’t have the exact same requirements on number of classroom hours or number of total weeks offered,” he said. “And so, we made some modifications and we’ll be able to expand this list.”
Both Dodge and Hahn said leaders at their respective institutions are reviewing their course catalogs for other potentially eligible programs. They said they expect to add approved programs in the coming months.
Dodge said Workforce Pell-eligible programs are often designed with the expectation that you will go to work with a partner employer upon completion of the program, but that doesn’t mean education ends there. She said Workforce Pell Grant programs are stackable and can be pursued as part of a longer-term higher education strategy. Students can qualify for both traditional Pell Grants and Workforce Pell Grants, though not at the same time.
Hahn said prospective students won’t be able to apply for Workforce Pell Grants until this fall or next spring. If you’re interested, he said you should fill out a federal student financial aid form. He said Vincennes University leaders expect to add information about eligible programs to their application website once approved.
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