Prosecuting Innocence: Condemned Debra Milke finally free!

 This woman has been punished long enough, I think, for something she quite possibly didn't even do. Arizona's prosecutors should stuff their politics for once, and let the woman be. This is one really good reason why we shouldn't be so quick to believe the cops' version of things and execute people willy nilly.

The following clip is for those of you still eager to see a woman get executed, though, since so many Arizonan's are disappointed now. The movie is Dancer in the Dark. Enjoy.
 

For those of you who find executing human beings offensive, on the other hand, please come to a legislative summit on the death penalty in Arizona, which is second only to Texas in the number of prisoners we executed last year. 

Here is the flyer

Legislative Summit
 Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona
AZ Senate Building , Hearing Room 1  
(1700 W, Washington St. Phoenix)
September 13th at 9am 

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Debra Milke, Arizona woman who had murder conviction tossed, freed

By Greg Botelho, CNN

updated 6:18 PM EDT, Fri September 6, 2013

 

(CNN) -- For the first time in well over (two decades) -- and in the months since a federal judge overturned her murder conviction -- Debra Milke is free.

A short time after the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office indicated she'd be leaving, video showed someone who appeared to be Milke being driven away Friday from the Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix. Sheriff's office spokesman Brandon Jones subsequently confirmed that Milke had been released.

Even though she's no longer behind bars -- leaving the jail without addressing reporters -- Milke's legal ordeal may not be over.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said in March that his office would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court the judge's decision to toss her conviction and the death sentence that went with it.

9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' Chief Judge Alex Kozinski ruled this spring that Milke did not receive a fair trial.

Milke still faces charges and was released on bond pending the possibility of a retrial.

Arizona woman's murder conviction, death sentence overturned

Milke's legal team will at some point address the media about their client's release, though it's not known when, said one of the lawyers, Lori Voepel.

A jury convicted Milke of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse and kidnapping on October 12, 1990, less than a year after her 4-year-old son was found dead. She was sentenced to death a few months later.

A day after seeing Santa Claus at a mall, young Christopher Milke asked his mother if he could go again. 

That was the plan, she said, when the boy got into the car with Milke's roommate, James Styers.

Styers picked up a friend, "but instead of heading to the mall, the two men drove the boy out of town to a secluded ravine, where Styers shot Christopher three times in the head," according to Kozinski's summary of the case. Styers was convicted of first-degree murder in the boy's killing and sentenced to death.

During her trial, "no ... witnesses or direct evidence (linked) Milke to the crime" other than Phoenix police Detective Armando Saldate Jr., according to Kozinski.

The detective questioned Milke -- an interrogation that wasn't recorded or seen by anyone else -- and later claimed she'd confessed to her role in the murder conspiracy, saying it was a "bad judgment call."

But Milke offered a vastly different view of the interrogation and denied that she had admitted to any role in a murder plot.

"The judge and jury believed Saldate," Kozinski wrote in his March ruling overturning Milke's murder conviciton. "But they didn't know about Saldate's long history of lying under oath and other misconduct."

The judge explained that he'd made his decision because prosecutors did not disclose the "history of misconduct" of its key witness.

Unbeknown to the defense or to the jury, previous judges had tossed out four confessions or indictments because Saldate had lied under oath, among other issues.

Horne, the Arizona attorney general, has argued the woman should remain on death row, given his understanding of what happened.

"After dressing him up and telling him he was going to the mall to see Santa Claus, Milke was convicted of sending her young son off to be shot, execution style, in a desert wash," he said.

Executing innocence: AZ police and prosecutorial misconduct work hand in hand.

Shame on the AZ Attorney General's office and the Maricopa County Attorney for not disclosing any of this during Debra Milke's prior hearings.  They would sooner let an innocent woman be executed than admit that their colleagues made a serious mistake when they prosecuted her based on Saldate's testimony in the first place.  She's STILL sitting on death row because of this pig Armando Saldate - he's the one who should be doing hard time, but the AZ AG's office apparently didn't think he did anything wrong, because they still wanted to kill Debra. 

We'll see if Bill Montgomery really believes Saldate's testimony - or is willing to use it to prosecute Debra Milke again. He'll probably offer to let her walk free with time served if she pleads no contest to the murder of her son, just to mitigate the liability the state has for her wrongful imprisonment; a cowardly thing to do, for a  prosecutor, I think. That's what AZ did to Bill Macumber and Louis Taylor.

Thanks again to Wendy Halloran and Channel 12 News for holding the "justice" system accountable again. This is one more reason why prosecutors need to have consequences when they refuse to turn over critical information to the defense, and otherwise engage in malicious and wrongful prosecutions.

 

"Sex, Rent and the Constable" (CH12/KPNX)

 

Appeals court: Debra Milke sent to death row by police & prosecutorial misconduct.

Believe it or not, all sorts of innocent people end up in prison and on death row - especially in this state, it seems.  I heard from Arizona prisoner Eddie Sanders not long ago; he's doing life for the rape and murder of an elderly woman in Tucson at a time when there was a rash of such assaults, and can't seem to get anyone to listen to his defense, which he has tried to wage himself - check out his heartbreaking plea below. 

I don't know how to begin to help this guy - the AZ Justice Project apparently hasn't decided to pick up his case - at least, not yet. If you have any ideas or wish to spend some time helping Eddie get a reasonably fair shake, please drop Peggy Plews a note at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Now for the good news about Debra Milke...

Debra and son Christopher

HERE'S THE ACTUAL RULING

 from CNN.com:

Arizona woman's murder conviction, death sentence overturned

By Greg Botelho, CNN

updated 7:27 PM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013

(CNN) -- After 22 years on death row, Debra Milke is close to freedom.

A jury convicted the Arizona woman, now 49, of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse and kidnapping on October 12, 1990, less than a year after her 4-year-old son was found dead.

A judge sentenced her to death a few months later.

But those convictions and the related sentence were tossed out Thursday by a federal appeals court judge. In explaining his decision, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals chided the prosecution for remaining "unconstitutionally silent" on the "history of misconduct" of its key witness, a Phoenix police detective.

"The Constitution requires a fair trial," Kozinski wrote. "This never happened in Milke's case."

A day after seeing Santa Claus at a mall, young Christopher Milke asked his mother if he could go again. That was the plan, she said, when the boy got into the car with Milke's roommate, James Styers.

Styers picked up a friend, "but instead of heading to the mall, the two men drove the boy out of town to a secluded ravine, where Styers shot Christoper three times in the head," according to Kozinski's summary of the case. Styers was convicted of first-degree murder in the boy's killing and sentenced to death.

The detective, Armando Saldate, said the friend told him that Debra Milke was involved in a plot to kill her son. But neither the friend nor Styers testified to that assertion in court.

In fact, "no other witnesses or direct evidence (linked) Milke to the crime" other than Saldate's testimony.

"The trial was, essentially, a swearing contest between Milke and ... Saldate," said Kozinski.

The detective testified he "didn't buy" Milke's reaction after he informed her that her son was dead. After that, Saldate said he placed Milke under arrest. In a subsequent interrogation, she confessed that her role in the murder conspiracy was a "bad judgment call," the detective said.

But Milke offered a vastly different view of the interrogation and denied that she had confessed to any role in a murder plot.

There was no recording of the interrogation, no one else was in the room or watching from a two-way mirror, and Saldate said he threw away his notes shortly after completing his report.

"The judge and jury believed Saldate," said Kozinski of the verdict and sentence. "But they didn't know about Saldate's long history of lying under oath and other misconduct."

Specifically, the judge noted that the detective had been suspended five days for taking "liberties" with a female motorist and lying about it to his supervisors; that judges had tossed out four confessions or indictments because Saldate had lied under oath; and that judges suppressed or vacated four confessions because Saldate had violated a person's constitutional rights.

"The state knew of the evidence in the personnel file and had an obligation to produce the documents," Kozinski said. "... There can be no doubt that the state failed in its constitutional obligation."

The judge ordered "the state" to turn over Saldate's personnel records to Milke's lawyers, after which "a police official" must state under oath that everything has been disclosed and nothing has been "omitted, lost or destroyed."

Once this is done, a district court must order Milke's release unless prosecutors tell the court within 30 days that they plan to retry her soon.

"In the balance hangs the life of Milke," Kozinski said, explaining the importance of his decision to overturn her convictions.