Arizona judge drops charges against ex-death row inmate Milke

By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A judge in Arizona formally exonerated a woman on Monday who spent more than two decades on death row for the 1989 murder of her 4-year-old son before a federal appeals court tossed out the conviction. After a brief hearing, a Maricopa County judge dismissed all charges against Debra Milke, 51, after the state's highest court denied a last-ditch appeal by prosecutors last week seeking a retrial. That court ruled another trial would amount to double jeopardy. Her son, Christopher, had been dressed in his best outfit and was told he was going to see Santa Claus with his mother's roommate, James Styers, shortly before Christmas. Instead of taking the boy to a Phoenix-area mall, Styers picked up another man and took the child to a secluded ravine where the boy was shot in the head and his body left in the desert. Milke was found guilty in 1990 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse and kidnapping, but the conviction was overturned by a federal court in March 2013 based on prosecutorial misconduct. A U.S. appeals court ruled the prosecution failed to disclose in court that a detective who said he heard Milke's admission of guilt had a long history of misconduct, including lying under oath. Milke, who has filed a civil rights lawsuit against law enforcement officials involved in the high-profile case, was convicted based largely on the confession, which she denies making, and which was never recorded nor witnessed. A spokesman for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Andre Grenon)