A woman found guilty of a 1980 Buchanan County murder is in court in Livingston County, seeking her freedom. Sandra L Hemme was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the death of 31-year-old Patricia Jescke of St Joseph. Hemme is serving her sentence at the Chillicothe Correction Center.
In February of 2023, attorneys for Hemme filed a Habeas Corpus suit against the prison seeking release.
Hemme was 20 at the time of the murder and has maintained she was a psychiatric patient and under sedation when interrogated. She had plead guilty to the crime and later the guilty plea was withdrawn. In 1985 she was found guilty by a jury of Capital Murder.
The case is before Judge Ryan Horsman today and Friday.