WOMAN TO BE RELEASED AFTER 22 YEARS ON DEATH ROW

[cali]

A jury convicted Arizona resident Debra Milke, now 49, of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse and kidnapping on October 12, 1990.

That was less than a year after her 4-year-old son Christopher was found dead. She was sentenced to death a few months later.

And now those convictions and the sentence have been tossed out. They were tossed out Thursday by a federal appeals court judge.

In explaining why he overturned the convictions Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the Arizona woman never got a fair trial to begin with and he hammered the prosecutors for remaining "unconstitutionally silent" on what he called a 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."

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http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com/BREAKING-NEWS/WOMAN-TO-BE-RELEASED-AFTER-22-YEARS-ON-DEATH-ROW-BR-Judge-cites-misconduct-by-police-detective-prosecutors-1292064

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Good.

Now let's do the country a favor and kick the entire barbaric practice to the curb altogether.

[snappyturtle]

2. This story is very scary. It should never happen....i.e. an unfair trial. I understand

the judge citing the prosecutors but where was the jury? How they came to their decision without any doubt is beyond me.

[sharp_stick]

3. What amazes me is that

the prosecution will probably walk away from this debacle without so much as a slap on the wrist. The prosecutor and DA should be disbarred for it at the very least. The fact that they were able to actually secure a death penalty verdict on word of mouth from a single cop without even his interrogation notes should probably cost the trial judge his career too but he's sitting pretty.

The culture of the prosecutors office being "convict at all costs" just baffles me. In so many cases it's been proven that they have lied, covered up evidence, hidden witnesses and much more just to convict someone. As soon as they get a suspect in their sights they concentrate everything on that one person and refuse to believe any new evidence that comes to light.