Unjust Conviction

Dear Readers, Over time, Constitutional protections have been grafted onto our criminal justice system to prevent an innocent soul from being wrongfully imprisoned.  

We have mandated court-appointed attorneys, limitations on questioning by law enforcement (Miranda), the right to subpoena witnesses, and something called “Brady” material having to be disclosed. We also make the state prove its case as the sole burden and “beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.”  

Even so, mistakes still happen. The Central Park Five were innocent, even if they were tried in the court of public opinion and labeled “guilty.”  They went to prison for a crime they did not commit, and their false incarceration cost the state of New York $40 million.

Forensic DNA testing has been a revelatory investigative tool.  A boon to prosecutors, making otherwise unprovable crimes prosecutable.  PCR testing has evolved to where microscopic DNA from fragments of material yield legally significant results.  The opposite is also true.  The wrongfully convicted use DNA analysis to prove innocence.  Most states now have statutes guaranteeing the right to post-conviction DNA testing.

Sandra Hemme is one of the “faceless” unfortunate victims of our criminal justice system.  She had always been a marginal member of our community, suffering from significant mental health issues.  On November 12, 1980, Patricia Jeschke was murdered in St. Joseph, Missouri.  Ms. Hemme served 34 years behind bars for this crime; 21 of her 64 years alive lost to wrongful incarceration.  As in similar tragedies, her trial representation was a public defender (and poorly at that). 

There was no physical evidence connecting Ms. Hemme to the murder, nor did she have any personal connection to Ms. Jeschke: no forensic evidence, no witnesses.  The only thing against her were statements made in a medical haze, where such evidence always starts highly questionable and falsely suggestive.

Ms. Hemme’s statements were particularly flimsy.  She has been treated with psychotropics since age 12 and was under the influence of heavy sedatives at the time of the questioning.  Multiple interviews were conducted while she was being treated at a psychiatric hospital and forcibly medicated.  During these interrogations, court documents show her responses were “monosyllabic,” “not totally cognizant of what was going on,” and she could barely hold her head up at times.  She was in pain because of the medications.  Yet, her trial attorney made no attempt to attack their veracity or police procedures used to obtain them – in a one-day murder trial.

On July 19, Ms. Hemme was released from prison after 4+ decades behind bars.  This is a month after Missouri’s Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, fought against a stinging 118-page opinion by Circuit Court Judge Ryan Horsman, concluding, “This court finds that the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence.”  At the time of her release, Ms. Hemme may have been the longest-serving wrongfully convicted woman in United States history; her defenders asserted this as fact. 

All signs point to a now-deceased St. Joseph police officer, Michael Holman, being the perpetrator.  He had gone to prison for a different crime and died in 2015.  The night of the murder, his truck was seen in the area, and his alibi fizzled.  Mr. Holman had used Ms. Jeschke’s credit card, explaining he found it in a ditch.  A pair of her earrings were found by her father in Holman’s home.  It makes you go, “Whoa”!  Guess what? None of this was disclosed to Ms. Hemme’s attorney. 

Think about Ms. Jeschke’s family’s angst.  For 43 years, they had solace of believing that justice had been served for their loved one, only to learn they had been deceived.  Shame on the police and prosecutors!  Their job is to convict the guilty and clear the innocent.  They failed; they did neither. Not only did a woman have her life stolen, but a family was robbed of justice.

Humans make human mistakes.  There is so much pressure on police to solve a crime.  Prosecutors are biased in favor of having faith in the investigations conducted by their brothers and sisters in law enforcement. What is needed is to stop, breathe, and review the police file with a healthy dose of skepticism.  That’s how justice is achieved.  It also keeps everyone honest and averts the tragedies of Ms. Hemme and Ms. Jeschke’s family. 

This sad tale demonstrates why there are so many guardrails in the criminal justice system. We should never blindly accept the results of a law enforcement investigation.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.