22 years on death row, now she’s free

PHOENIX — A woman who spent 22 years on death row in her son’s killing tearfully described Tuesday how she suffered twin tragedies in losing her child and being the victim of a “blatant miscarriage of justice.”

Debra Milke spoke at a news conference a day after her case was officially dismissed in the 1989 slaying of her 4-year-old son, Christopher, who thought he was going to see Santa Claus when he was taken to the desert and shot in the back of the head.

An appeals court overturned her murder conviction, ruling that it was tainted because of the work of a discredited detective.

Milke sobbed as she read a statement about her ordeal, fondly recalling her son’s love of bubble gum and riding his big wheel.

“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. “The only thing worse is to be falsely accused of participating in your own child’s death.”

Milke was convicted and sentenced based almost entirely on an unrecorded confession authorities say she made to Det. Armando Saldate. Her lawyers called him a “dirty cop.”

Prosecutors lost their final appeal last week to have Milke retried. Authorities say Milke’s motive was that she didn’t want the child anymore and didn’t want him to live with his father.

The two men who led Christopher to his death, James Styers and Roger Scott, have refused to testify against Milke. Both men remain on death row.