Debra Jean Milke (née Sadeik; born March 10, 1964) is a German-American woman who spent over 25 years in prison in the state of Arizona. She was one of three people sentenced to death for December 2, 1989, shooting death of her four-year-old son, Christopher Conan Milke. Her alleged conspirators were her roommate James Lynn Styers and his friend Roger Mark Scott. Neither testified against her and both agreed that she was not present at the shooting. Scott implicated Milke as the mastermind while Styers said she had no involvement whatsoever. They implicated each other as the actual shooter.
With the passage of time, Milke's conviction became increasingly polarizing, largely due to the conduct and testimony of Phoenix police detective Armando Saldate, Jr. Saldate testified that Milke confessed to him. The alleged confession was uncorroborated, however, and Milke is adamant it did not occur. Saldate was later accused of perjury. Questions about whether a confession was made and whether Milke had voluntarily waived her Miranda rights, Saldate’s long history of misconduct, and prosecuting attorney Noel Levy withholding Saldate’s personnel record from the defense, became central issues of Milke’s appeals.
In March 2013, a three-judge panel of the United States Ninth Circuit Court unanimously overturned Debra Milke’s conviction. In their ruling, the judges excoriated the conviction. Milke was released on $250,000 bond that September by Judge Rosa P. Mroz of the Maricopa County Superior Court. County prosecutor Bill Montgomery unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the state supreme court, which blocked a proposed retrial. On March 23, 2015, all charges against Debra Milke were formally dismissed with prejudice by Judge Mroz.
Milke has filed a civil wrongful conviction lawsuit. It names the city of Phoenix, Maricopa County, Bill Montgomery, and Armando Saldate, among others, as defendants.
In August 1989, Debra Milke and her son Christopher Milke moved into an apartment with Jim Styers, a man she knew through her sister. On December 2, 1989, Styers took 4-year-old Christopher to the Metrocenter mall in Phoenix, Arizona. That afternoon he called Milke, who was doing laundry at the apartment, and told her that the boy had disappeared from the mall. Styers alerted mall security, while Milke dialed 9-1-1. A missing person investigation was launched. The next day Phoenix police arrested Roger Scott, a long-time friend of Styers. After more than fourteen hours of interrogation, Scott admitted that he knew where Christopher was and that the boy was dead. He directed the police to a desert area north of Phoenix, where Christopher's body was discovered. Christopher had been shot three times in the head. According to the lead case detective Armando Saldate, Jr., Scott claimed that Styers had committed the murder and that Styers had told him Milke had "wanted it done." However, Scott would not testify against Milke at her trial.
