Conviction overturned for mom on Arizona's death row for son's murder
March 14, 2013 12:08 pm • Associated Press
Debra J. Milke - On December 2, 1989, James Lynn Styers filed a missing child report, advising police that his roommates's son, Christopher Milke (age 4), had disappeared during their visit to Metrocenter mall. Roger Mark Scott was present with Styers. On December 3, 1989, Scott admitted during a police interview that he had accompanied Styers the previous day to a desert wash in the area of 99th Avenue and Jomax Road where Styers shot and killed Christopher Milke. Styers agreed to provide Scott with $250 to file a social security claim. Styers believed he would receive some of Christopher's $5,000 life insurance policy. At the conclusion of the interview, Mr. Scott led police to the desert area where they found Christopher Milke's body. During a police interview, Debra Jean Milke, Christopher Milke's mother, conceded that she had conspired with Styers to have her son killed. She indicated that it would be better to have her son die than grow up like her husband.
Arizona Death Row Inmates
A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out the convictions of a woman on Arizona’s death row who was found guilty of murder in the 1989 killing of her 4-year-old son, who was shot in the back of the head so the defendants could collect a life insurance policy.
Debra Jean Milke has been on death row for more than 22 years after being convicted of first-degree murder and other charges in the killing of her son Christopher. Prosecutors say she sent the boy to his death by telling him he was going to see Santa Claus. Instead, he was taken into the desert by two men and shot three times in the back of the head.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the prosecution failed to disclose information about a history of misconduct by a detective who testified that Milke confessed to plotting her son’s murder.
“Some of the misconduct wasn’t disclosed until the case came to federal court and, even today, some evidence relevant to (the detective’s) credibility hasn’t been produced,” the ruling said. “In the balance hangs the life of Milke, who has been on Arizona’s death row for 22 years.”
The ruling reversed a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling and ordered the lower court to require Arizona authorities to turn over all relevant personnel records for the detective.
Once the material is produced and defense lawyers have time to review it, prosecutors will have 30 days to retry her. If they don’t, she will be released from prison.
Prosecutors had yet to read the ruling and had no immediate comment on the decision. Milke’s defense lawyer was also unavailable for comment.
Milke, 48, is one of three women on death row in Arizona.
Sort of like the Law of Attraction? or if you close your eyes real tight and click your heels all of a sudden she'll be innocent? Don't think so. See, SHE admitted killing him, the problem is that nobody believed her STORY, now she is a convicted MURDERER. Yep, a cold blooded MURDERER. You can try to deny it, lie about it, call other people hateful names because they see and know the truth, tell others they don't know the facts (we've seen the evidence remember), we've also heard from her own mouth and we don't believe her, you can defend her all you want, but that only makes you look foolish for buying into her lies. It's one thing to support someone you love, but to go along with her and blame the TRUE VICTIM, to blame everyone except for the person who is responsible makes you just like her. Don't live your life like that. You will have a miserable life if you always blame someone else for everything that happens to you. Look what happened to JA. Still not taking any responsibility for what SHE did. (and that is a fact, not what the media portrays (not portraits). It's not the media's fault (they only reported what they were told and heard from HER mouth, it's not the jury's fault, it's not her attorney's fault, it's not the prosecutor's "fault",it certainly isn't Travis' fault, it's HER FAULT, she committed the crime, now she has to pay the consequences. Quit blaming everyone else.
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