PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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BACKGROUND: From Innocence Project: "Sandra “Sandy” Hemme has spent more than four decades in prison for a crime that evidence supports she did not commit, making her the longest-known wrongly incarcerated woman in the U.S. Although Ms. Hemme, now 63, has spent the majority of her life wrongfully imprisoned, she has never given up hope that her name would one day be cleared. Ms. Hemme was wrongly convicted for the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri, after police exploited her mental illness and coerced her into making false statements while she was sedated and receiving treatment for hallucinatory episodes. In late February 2023, Ms. Hemme’s attorneys filed a petition for habeas relief in the 43rd Circuit Court of Livingston County based on compelling new evidence of her innocence. This new evidence was withheld by the State for decades and pointed to a police officer as the person who committed the crime. Here are key facts you should know about her case: 1. Ms. Hemme, who had no connection to the victim, was a psychiatric patient receiving treatment when she was targeted by police. At the time of Ms. Jeschke’s death, Ms. Hemme, then 20, was a patient at St. Joseph’s State Hospital receiving treatment for auditory hallucinations, derealization, and drug misuse. Ms. Hemme had spent the majority of her life starting at age 12 in inpatient psychiatric treatment. 2. Ms. Hemme was repeatedly interviewed by police under extremely coercive circumstances. Police conducted hours-long interviews with Ms. Hemme while she was in the hospital. At some points, she was so heavily medicated that she was unable to even hold her head up and was restrained and strapped to a chair. Over the course of these coercive interrogations, Ms. Hemme’s statements conflicted with the known facts of the crime and were internally inconsistent. More than 10% of exonerated people were wrongly convicted in cases involving false confessions.3. Ms. Hemme’s lawyer presented no witnesses at her trial, which lasted just one day. The jury never heard about the profoundly coercive circumstances under which police obtained her statements. Those statements were the only “evidence” against her at trial. 4. The jury also never heard about the crime scene evidence that supported Ms. Hemme’s innocence. Ms. Hemme was excluded as a source of all the hairs and fingerprints taken from the crime scene. There was no physical, forensic, or eyewitness evidence that linked her to the victim or the crime scene. 5. Evidence pointed to a St. Joseph police officer as a suspect in Ms. Jeschke’s killing. Michael Holman, a St. Joseph police officer, admitted to being near Ms. Jeschke’s home at the time of the murder, and his white pickup truck was parked near the scene. Officer Holman had also attempted to use Ms. Jeschke’s credit card the day after her murder. 6. Police hid evidence that implicated Officer Holman as the person who actually killed Ms. Jeschke. Ms. Jeschke’s uniquely designed wishbone earrings — identified by her father, who had gifted them to her — were found in Officer Holman’s possession, along with jewelry stolen during another home burglary. Failing to turn over favorable evidence to the accused person is known as a Brady violation. 7. Witnesses could not corroborate Officer Holman’s alibi. Officer Holman claimed he was at a motel adjacent to the victim’s home during the time of the murder with a woman named Mary. However, when asked by police he refused to give details about Mary or the motel room they both stayed in. All three witnesses from the motel and attached gas station told police they did not remember seeing Officer Holman or Mary that day. 8. This isn’t the first time the St. Joseph police wrongfully targeted and convicted a person with a mental health illness or disability that made them uniquely vulnerable to falsely confessing. In 1979, 24-year-old Melvin Lee Reynolds, who also spent time at St. Joseph’s State Hospital, was convicted of the 1978 murder of a 4-year-old boy. Many of the same officers who worked on Ms. Hemme’s case also worked on Mr. Reynolds’ case. And much like in Ms. Hemme’s case, officers obtained an alleged confession — a statement that did not align with the known facts of the crime — from Mr. Reynolds after interrogating him repeatedly. Four years later, Mr. Reynolds was exonerated. Ms. Hemme is represented by Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Jane Pucher, Staff Attorney Andrew Lee, and Post-Conviction Litigation Fellow Natalie Baker. She is also represented by Missouri-based attorney Sean O’Brien.
https://innocenceproject.org/news/8-facts-about-sandra-hemmes-case-you-need-to-know/
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Steven Fueston, a retired St. Joseph Police Department detective, testified that he stopped one of the interviews with Hemme at the St. Joseph State Hospital because “she didn’t seem totally coherent.” Over eight sessions of questioning, Hemme’s attorneys with the Innocence Project say her story changed from denying any involvement to implicating a man who turned out to have an airtight alibi and falsely confessing to Jeschke’s murder. Hemme’s legal team said evidence instead points to Michael Holman, a 22-year-old police officer who was investigated for insurance fraud and burglaries and later went to prison. He died in 2015. Holman had been a suspect and was questioned one time. He told investigators he used Jeschke’s credit card after finding a purse in a ditch. His truck was also seen in the area of the killing; the alibi he provided about why he was nearby could not be corroborated. A pair of gold horseshoe-shaped earrings identified by Jeschke’s father was also found in Holman’s possession."
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STORY: "Attorneys argue woman is innocent in 1980 killing and shift blame to former Missouri police officer," published by Associated Press News.
CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) — Attorneys for a Missouri woman who has spent more than four decades in prison for a murder her supporters believe she did not commit argued at a hearing this week that the evidence points to a police officer who was investigated for burglaries and later went to prison.
The only evidence linking Sandra Hemme to the 1980 killing of St. Joseph library worker Patricia Jeschke is the “wildly contradictory” and “factually impossible” statements she made to detectives while she was a patient at a psychiatric hospital, her attorneys say. Hemme, who goes by Sandy and is now 63, was sentenced to life.
The hearing to present evidence of her innocence was granted after her attorneys filed a 147-page petition laying out their claims. Livingston County Presiding Judge Ryan Horsman will issue a decision in the coming weeks or months, The Kansas City Star reported.
If Hemme is exonerated, her prison term would mark the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history.
Steven Fueston, a retired St. Joseph Police Department detective, testified that he stopped one of the interviews with Hemme at the St. Joseph State Hospital because “she didn’t seem totally coherent.”
Over eight sessions of questioning, Hemme’s attorneys with the Innocence Project say her story changed from denying any involvement to implicating a man who turned out to have an airtight alibi and falsely confessing to Jeschke’s murder.
Hemme’s legal team said evidence instead points to Michael Holman, a 22-year-old police officer who was investigated for insurance fraud and burglaries and later went to prison. He died in 2015.
Holman had been a suspect and was questioned one time. He told investigators he used Jeschke’s credit card after finding a purse in a ditch. His truck was also seen in the area of the killing; the alibi he provided about why he was nearby could not be corroborated.
A pair of gold horseshoe-shaped earrings identified by Jeschke’s father was also found in Holman’s possession."
The entire story can be read at:
https://apnews.com/article/missouri-1980-killing-sandra-hemme-hearing-fa2b2d24072d179563f5e5dca774b57a
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog; |
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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