News / Human Rights

Arizona woman exonerated after 23 years on death row

Tuesday, 24 March 2015 1:31 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 24 March 2015 2:05 PM ]

Debra Jean Milke listens to a judge during a hearing at a court in Phoenix in 2013.

A woman in the US state of Arizona has been exonerated after spending more than two decades on death row for the 1989 murder of her 4-year-old son, which was based on “flimsy evidence.”

A Maricopa County judge dismissed all charges against Debra Milke on Monday, bringing an end to a controversial case that relied almost entirely on the work of a detective with a long history of misconduct.

Milke has been free on bond since 2013 after a federal appeals court tossed out the conviction. The Arizona Supreme Court denied an eleventh-hour appeal by prosecutors seeking a retrial last week.

Milke, 51, was born in Berlin, Germany. She was the daughter of a German mother and an American man.

She spent 23 years on Arizona death row for the December 1989 murder of her 4-year-old son, Christopher.

However, Milke's conviction was entirely based on her confession given to a now-discredited Phoenix police detective.

A federal appeals court believed that prosecutors knew about detective Armando Saldate's long history of misconduct, but decided to ignore it.

The federal appeals court leveled harsh criticism over the case in a 2013 opinion. "No civilized system of justice should have to depend on such flimsy evidence," the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Milke filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the city of Phoenix, Maricopa County and numerous individuals.

She accuses that authorities violated her civil rights. Milke claims she was denied a fair trial and was a victim of malicious prosecution.

According to a study released in April, one in every 25 death row inmates in the United States is innocent. Approximately 3,000 US prisoners are waiting to be put to death.

In November, two African American men imprisoned in the US state of Ohio for 39 years for a murder they did not commit were freed, making them the longest-held US prisoners to be exonerated.

AHT/GJH

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