USA - Arizona. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction of Debra Jean Milke, 49, white

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction of Debra Jean Milke after she spent 22 years on death row. Milke, 49, white, born in Germany, was sentenced to death in the killing of her 4-year-old son. The appeal court today ruled that Milke's murder conviction would not stand after they determined that a detective who testified against her in her trial had an undisclosed history of misconduct. Milke was found guilty of murder in 1990 for arranging the 1989 killing of her son Christopher. According to prosecutors, two men told Christopher that he was going to see Santa Claus in December, 1989, and then took him out into the Arizona desert and shot him. Authorities alleged Milke was behind the plot, and that her motive was insurance money. Prosecutors said Milke confessed to the crime but that Detective Armando Saldate, who obtained the confession, failed to tape record it. Milke denied that she ever confessed, but was found guilty and sentenced to death. Saldate's history, according to the court ruling, includes eight cases in which judges tossed out confessions, indictments, and convictions because Saldate lied under oath or violated suspects' rights during interrogations. He was also suspended for "taking liberties" with a female driver he pulled over and lying about it, the court said. Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that because the prosecution did not disclose the Saldate's history of misconduct, the conviction and sentence could not stand, according to the opinion released today. "Milke's conviction was based largely on the testimony of Police Detective Saldate, who allegedly obtained her confession," the court wrote in its decision. The ruling mandated that Arizona authorities must turn over all of the information that was not disclosed during the trial to Milke's defense team. Once they do, the prosecution must decide whether to retry Milke. Otherwise, she will be released from prison.