Midwest Innocence Project

Michael Politte served 23 years behind bars for a murder he says he didn't commit. He won parole in 2022, but a juror who helped put him in prison won’t rest until Politte's name is cleared.

Freed after more than 43 years in prison, Sandra Hemme’s story illustrates how difficult it is to correct errors when the criminal justice system gets it wrong. In Missouri, the challenge is complicated by an attorney general's office that opposes innocence claims regardless of the evidence.

Sandra Hemme spent 43 years in a Missouri prison for a murder she did not commit. Some estimates suggest that a false confession played a role in almost a third of wrongful murder convictions.

Missouri has little support available for exonerees after they're freed, despite the difficulties of obtaining housing, health care or a job. Senate Bill 36 would allow exonerated defendants to claim damages of $179 per day of wrongful imprisonment with a yearly cap of $65,000.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell is the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project. She joined KCUR's Up To Date to for our new series "5 Questions" to discuss what she's reading, streaming and more.

In June, a judge overturned Hemme’s conviction for the 1980 murder of a librarian from St. Joseph, Missouri. After five months of legal battles, the same judge signed the final order granting her freedom.

For the first time in more than four decades, Sandra Hemme may get to spend Thanksgiving with her family — not in prison. Hemme was wrongly convicted of murdering a St. Joseph librarian in 1980, but a Missouri judge overturned the charges this year.

The Missouri Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Wednesday in the innocence case of Sandra Hemme, who served 43 years in prison — more time than any other wrongly convicted woman in the U.S.

At the age of 18, Chris Dunn was sentenced to life in prison for a crime he says he didn't commit. It would take two key witnesses recanting and a new state law to free him — even as the Missouri Attorney General worked to keep him behind bars.

Without intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court, Marcellus Williams will be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday. Gov. Mike Parson has said he will not grant clemency to Williams.

Williams is set to be executed Tuesday for the 1998 killing of Felicia Gayle, a crime that he has always denied any role in. His attorneys have launched multiple legal battles in an attempt to save his life.

Without intervention from Gov. Mike Parson or the U.S. Supreme Court, Marcellus Williams will be executed Sept. 24. Williams was nearly saved from death row after prosecutors and attorneys reached a plea deal for life in prison, but it was later withdrawn.