Woman escapes execution

PHOENIX: A federal appeals court threw out the convictions of a woman sentenced to death in the notorious 1989 killing of her 4-year-old son, ruling that the case was tainted by a detective with a history of lying under oath.

The ruling marked a surprise turn in a case that made headlines with the brazen and gruesome nature of the crime.

Prosecutors said Debra Jean Milke dressed up her son Christopher in his favourite outfit and told him he was going to see Santa Claus.

Instead, he was taken into the desert by her boyfriend and another man and shot three times in the back of the head as part of what prosecutors said was a plot by Milke and the two other defendants to collect a $50 000 (R458 000) life insurance policy.

Milke would have been the first woman executed in Arizona since the 1930s had her appeals run out. The Arizona Supreme Court had gone so far as to issue a death warrant for Milke in 1997, but the execution was delayed because there were further federal appeals.

The US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on 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. That record included multiple court rulings in other cases that former Detective Armando Saldate Jr either lied under oath or violated suspects’ Miranda rights during interrogations.

There was no other witness or recording of the purported confession by Milke, who has proclaimed her innocence.

“No civilised system of justice should have to depend on such flimsy evidence, quite possibly tainted by dishonesty or over-zealousness, to decide whether to take someone’s life or liberty,” Chief Justice Alex Kozinski wrote in the decision.

The trial amounted to “a swearing contest” in which the judge and jury ultimately believed the detective over Milke, but they didn’t know of his record of dishonesty and misconduct, Kozinski wrote.

The ruling reversed a US District Court judge’s ruling and ordered the lower court to require Arizona authorities to turn over all relevant personnel records on the detective.

Once the material is produced and defence lawyers have reviewed it, prosecutors will have 30 days to decide whether to retry her. If they don’t, she will be released from prison.

The Arizona attorney general’s office said it was reviewing the case and will probably appeal.

In 2009 Milke defence lawyer Michael Kimerer said his client maintained her innocence and was a loving mother who still grieved over her son’s death.

The two men convicted in the Milke’s case, Roger Scott and former Milke roommate James Styers, are both on death row in a Florida prison.

Scott confessed during a police interrogation and led detectives to the boy’s body. But neither Scott or Styers would testify against Milke. – Sapa-AP

SAVED: Debra Jean Milke