Debra Jean Milke listens to a judge during a hearing as she awaits a retrial in the 1989 shooting death of her 4-year-old son, Christopher, at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix in this Aug. 1, 2013 file photo.PHOENIX – An Arizona woman who spent more than two decades on death row was released on bond Friday after a judge ruled there’s no direct evidence linking her to the death of her young son, other than a purported confession to a detective whose honesty has been questioned.
Debra Milke walked out of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s jail after supporters posted $250,000 bond.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned her conviction in March, stating that prosecutors should have disclosed information that cast doubt on the credibility of a since-retired detective who said Milke confessed.
The 49-year-old Milke has not been exonerated, but a judge said she could go free while preparing for a new trial in a case that made her one of Arizona’s most reviled inmates.
Milke was convicted in the death of her 4-year-old son, Christopher, who was allegedly killed for a $5,000 insurance payout. His mother was accused of dressing the boy in his favorite outfit in December 1989 and telling him he was going to see Santa Claus at a mall before handing him over to two men who took the child into the desert and shot him. She had been imprisoned since 1990.