Court upholds freedom for woman whose conviction was overturned after 43 years behind bars
An appellate court ruled Tuesday that a lower court was right when it decided to overturn the murder conviction of a woman who spent 43 years behind bars for a killing that her attorneys argue was committed by a discredited police officer.Sandra Hemme was freed in July while the decision to overturn her conviction was reviewed -- at the insistence of Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who argued she should remain imprisoned.Presiding Judge Cynthia Martin wrote in the scathing 71-page ruling that some arguments raised by Bailey's office bordered “on the absurd” and gave prosecutors 10 days to refile charges.“It is time for this miscarriage of justice to end,” Hemme's attorneys said in a statement.Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project.A spokeswoman for Bailey didn’t immediately respond […]
