Sandra Hemme, 63, left prison Friday, hours after a judge threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt if they continued to fight against her release.
By Heather Hollingsworth and Jim Slater, Associated PressSandra Hemme, center, meets with family and supporters after she was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center, Friday, July 19, 2024, in Chillicothe, Miss. Hemme's murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison, despite objections from Missouri’s attorney general.
“It was too easy to convict an innocent person and way harder than it should have been to get her out, even to the point of court orders being ignored,” her attorney Sean O’Brien said. “It shouldn’t be this hard to free an innocent person.” “She’s going to need help,” he said, noting she won’t be eligible for social security because she has been incarcerated for so long.
Horsman ruled on June 14 that “the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence.” A state appeals court ruled on July 8 that Hemme should be set free while it continued to review the case. The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday declined to undo the lower court rulings that allowed her to be released on her own recognizance and placed with her sister and brother-in-law.
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