A woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years of a life sentence was released Friday, despite attempts in the last month by Missouri’s attorney general to keep her behind bars.
Sandra Hemme, 64, left a prison in Chillicothe, hours after a judge threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt if they continued to fight against her release. She reunited with her family at a nearby park, where she hugged her sister, daughter and granddaughter.
Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project. The judge originally ruled on June 14 that Hemme’s attorneys had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence” and he overturned her conviction. But Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought her release in the courts.
“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.”
Money isn’t justice, the judge and the jury who prosecuted her should be imprisoned at least for 43 years for that.
yeah but still, she shouldn’t have to work to make a living now, she should just be able to enjoy life from now on
It’s not justice, but she definitely deserves it to make her life easier. Wtf is wrong with you
I’m not saying she shouldn’t be paid, what I’m saying it’s giving someone money for that isn’t justice, that’s it. You can’t fix everything just paying money.
But you can try not coming across as arguing against something that should absolutely happen just because you don’t think it goes far enough by itself…
True. But we can’t give her back that time. Money is the next best thing.