This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

Listen Live
Donate
MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

July 22, 2024Buchanan County, MO |  By: AP

64-year-old innocent woman still behind bars

Prison Cell

A circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court agree that a woman whose Buchanan County murder conviction was overturned should be free after 43 years in prison.

Yet Sandra Hemme is still behind bars, leaving her lawyers and legal experts puzzled. The lone holdup to freedom for the 64-year-old woman is opposition from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who has filed court actions seeking to force her to serve additional years for decades-old prison assault cases. The warden at the Chillicothe Correctional Center has declined to let Hemme go, based on Bailey’s actions. Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ruled on June 14th that “the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence.” A state appeals court ruled on July 8th ruled that Hemme should be set free.

The Missouri Supreme Court last 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.