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. The hearing to present evidence of her innocence was granted after her attorneys filed a 147-page petition laying out their claims. If Hemme is exonerated, her prison term would mark the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history. 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. His truck was also seen in the area of the killing; the alibi he provided about why he was nearby could not be corroborated.

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Persons: Sandra Hemme, Joseph, Patricia Jeschke, Ryan Horsman, Hemme, Steven Fueston, Michael Holman, Holman, Jeschke’s Organizations: Kansas City Star, Joseph Police Department, Joseph State Hospital Locations: CHILLICOTHE, Mo, Missouri, Sandy, Livingston County, “