Botched child-murder case gets tossed; mother jailed for 2 decades speaks out
Found guilty in 1990 of playing a role in the slaying of her 4-year-old son, Debra Milke spent 22 years in the Arizona prison system before she was released in 2013 after successfully challenging her conviction in a federal habeas petition.
In a scathing written opinion (PDF), the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only reversed Milke’s conviction because exculpatory evidence was withheld from the defense but said investigation was needed of those responsible for her conviction. It asked the court clerk to refer the matter to the U.S. attorney for Arizona and the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division.
State prosecutors said Milke would be retried in the Maricopa County murder case, but in December 2014 an Arizona appeals court nixed that plan. Doing so would amount to double jeopardy, the court found, “because of the state’s severe, egregious prosecutorial misconduct in failing to disclose impeachment evidence,” the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.) reported.
Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to hear a Maricopa County appeal that sought to reinstate the murder case against Milke and compel a detective to testify about the confession he claimed she made. (The detective had reportedly refused to cooperate with the prosecution after the 9th Circuit suggested that he might have lied.) On Monday, the charges against Milke were formally dismissed and an ankle monitor was removed, the Arizona Republic reported.
Meanwhile, Milke filed a federal civil rights suit in Phoenix on March 13 alleging malicious prosecution. Associated Press and Courthouse News articles provide details.
On Tuesday, Milke spoke out for the first time following the dismissal of her murder case.
“Losing a child to murder is a devastating tragedy with an indescribable pain no parent should ever have to feel. It is the purest form of anguish imaginable that sears the soul, and the hurt never goes away, ever,” she said at a news conference reported by the Associated Press. “The only thing worse is to be falsely accused of participating in your own child’s death.”
Milke’s conviction was based on a detective’s claim that Milke had confessed to him. But she denied doing so, the claimed confession was not recorded and the detective did not have a witness with him when Milke allegedly made it, the 9th Circuit noted in its opinion. Milke’s roommate and another man were convicted of actually shooting the 4-year-old to death and got capital sentences. However, they refused to testify against her.
The detective, Armando Saldate of the Phoenix police department, had a history of misconduct that was not disclosed to the defense, as required, the 9th Circuit said.
“This history includes a five-day suspension for taking ‘liberties’ with a female motorist and then lying about it to his supervisors; four court cases where judges tossed out confessions or indictments because Saldate lied under oath; and four cases where judges suppressed confessions or vacated convictions because Saldate had violated the Fifth Amendment or the Fourth Amendment in the course of interrogations,” the court wrote, noting that there may have been more misconduct that wasn’t part of the record.
Related coverage:
Arizona Republic (opinion ): “Sorry, I’m shedding no tears for Debra Milke”
Valley Fever (Phoenix New Times): “Arizona Supreme Court Won’t Allow Retrial of Debra Milke”
