09-08-2013, 09:25 PM
Arizona Conviction Overturned on Appeal; Death Row Inmate Released
![[Image: milke-son-215x300.jpg]](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/files/2013/06/milke-son-215x300.jpg)
![[Image: debra-milke.jpg]](http://murderpedia.org/female.M/images/milke-debra/debra-milke.jpg)
![[Image: debra-milke-e1368198421253.jpg]](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/files/2013/05/debra-milke-e1368198421253.jpg)
Christopher Milke (murder victim). Debra Milke, Christopher's mother, back in 1989 and today.
If Debra Milke is guilty of arranging the execution of her son, sure hope she is retried and ends up back on death row. Her ex, the father of her murdered child, is adamant that she was behind their 4 year old son's death (for the insurance money).
But, I do believe the judge was right in overturning her conviction.
During her prosecution, police detective Armando Saldate Jr. testified that she confessed to him in a closed interrogation room. That was a major piece of the state's case against her.
But Saldate's honesty was called into question during Milke's appeals. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in March that prosecutors' failure to turn over evidence related to Saldate's credibility deprived Milke's attorneys of the chance to question his truthfulness before jurors.
The court noted four cases in which judges threw out confessions or indictments because Saldate lied under oath and four instances in which cases were tossed out or confessions excluded because Saldate violated the suspect's constitutional rights.
Debra Milke's ex-roommate and his friend are on death row for taking the boy to the desert and shooting him to death back in 1989. Milke has always contended that she let the roommate take Christopher because she believed the roommate when he told her that he was taking the boy to the mall to visit Santa Claus.
Milke has a lot of supporters; they put up her 250k bond and bought her a house to live in.
Here's the sad story of Christopher's last day and the murder case against his mother:
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/...index.html
Christopher Milke (murder victim). Debra Milke, Christopher's mother, back in 1989 and today.
If Debra Milke is guilty of arranging the execution of her son, sure hope she is retried and ends up back on death row. Her ex, the father of her murdered child, is adamant that she was behind their 4 year old son's death (for the insurance money).
But, I do believe the judge was right in overturning her conviction.
During her prosecution, police detective Armando Saldate Jr. testified that she confessed to him in a closed interrogation room. That was a major piece of the state's case against her.
But Saldate's honesty was called into question during Milke's appeals. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in March that prosecutors' failure to turn over evidence related to Saldate's credibility deprived Milke's attorneys of the chance to question his truthfulness before jurors.
The court noted four cases in which judges threw out confessions or indictments because Saldate lied under oath and four instances in which cases were tossed out or confessions excluded because Saldate violated the suspect's constitutional rights.
Debra Milke's ex-roommate and his friend are on death row for taking the boy to the desert and shooting him to death back in 1989. Milke has always contended that she let the roommate take Christopher because she believed the roommate when he told her that he was taking the boy to the mall to visit Santa Claus.
Milke has a lot of supporters; they put up her 250k bond and bought her a house to live in.
Here's the sad story of Christopher's last day and the murder case against his mother:
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/...index.html