(Part 1) Debra Milke, previously sentenced to death row for her son's murder, shares her story — Transcript

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1. 0:00tonight in a fox 10 exclusive one of
2. 0:03only four women to sit on Arizona's
3. 0:04death row Deborah milke is telling her
4. 0:07story she was at the center of one of
5. 0:09the most heinous crimes in Arizona
6. 0:11history back in 1989 weeks before
7. 0:14Christmas her four-year-old boy was told
8. 0:17he was going to the mall to meet Santa
9. 0:19Claus
10. 0:20instead he was taken to the desert and
11. 0:22shot three times in the back of the head
12. 0:25his mother 25 year old Deborah milke was
13. 0:28sentenced to death for arranging the
14. 0:30murder one of her roommates would-be
15. 0:33Suitor and his friend were convicted of
16. 0:35carrying out the murder they are both on
17. 0:38Arizona's death row milky always
18. 0:40maintained her innocence she spent 23
19. 0:43years behind bars before a U.S appeals
20. 0:46court ruled that she was wrongfully
21. 0:48convicted and the detective who claimed
22. 0:51she confessed to the murder didn't
23. 0:53record it there were no witnesses to the
24. 0:56confession and he had a history of
25. 0:58misconduct and lying milky was set free
26. 1:01in 2013 and nearly 10 years later she's
27. 1:05still trying to make sense of it all
28. 1:08photojournalist Brad gas sat down
29. 1:10recently with milky this is her story
30. 1:18I have worked on some very high profile
31. 1:20cases and appeals but I have never seen
32. 1:22anything even remotely coming close to
33. 1:26the injustices that I saw that occurred
34. 1:28in Deborah's case in 1989 I thought she
35. 1:31was guilty as hell the whole world
36. 1:33thought she was guilty as hell she
37. 1:35confessed to killing her son on the way
38. 1:37to see Santa Claus how could you be any
39. 1:39more Despicable and that's what everyone
40. 1:42thought for the next 24 years until a
41. 1:44group of attorneys came in and started
42. 1:46digging around and developing evidence
43. 1:48and looking at what really happened in
44. 1:49this case and that led the ninth circuit
45. 1:52to say to Arizona you either give this
46. 1:53woman a fair trial for the first time or
47. 1:56you set her free and everyone's head
48. 1:58exploded I remember asking the detective
49. 2:03have you heard anything about my son and
50. 2:05he just ignored me as if I never asked
51. 2:08the question
52. 2:09and then when he finally looked at me he
53. 2:13just
54. 2:14we found your son
55. 2:16he was murdered and you're under arrest
56. 2:18just like in one sentence it was like
57. 2:21such a blow that I couldn't even process
58. 2:24what he was saying I know one thing for
59. 2:28sure
60. 2:29I did not confess to him I did not
61. 2:32confess at all this whole case rested on
62. 2:36one thing that she had confessed that to
63. 2:38Armando soldate Jr then of detective in
64. 2:41the Phoenix Police Department that she
65. 2:42had confessed to him and that he had
66. 2:44written a report that said she told me
67. 2:46yes I killed my son I wanted to kill my
68. 2:48son and on his word alone the confession
69. 2:52wasn't taped the confession wasn't
70. 2:54witnessed the confession wasn't signed
71. 2:56by her it was simply his word against
72. 2:58her and is the way that they presented
73. 3:01the case this man's word had absolute
74. 3:03was gold the golden standard well in
75. 3:06fact this detective had a history that
76. 3:08the state and city knew about of lying
77. 3:11under oath of Miranda violations of
78. 3:14coercing and fabricating confessions all
79. 3:17of which Deborah said happened in her
80. 3:19case and yet they fought to keep that
81. 3:22evidence including this detective's
82. 3:24personnel file showing the misconduct
83. 3:27and showing his character for
84. 3:28untruthfulness away from the jury and
85. 3:31then away from the public for the next
86. 3:3224 years one minute I'm free and I'm
87. 3:36dealing with a missing child and trying
88. 3:39to get help from the police
89. 3:41and then the next minute I'm in custody
90. 3:44for the next 25 years
91. 3:46and for 25 years she was maligned and
92. 3:49she was on death row for something she
93. 3:51didn't do I don't want people to think
94. 3:52oh she got off on a technicality there's
95. 3:54no technicality here this wasn't just
96. 3:56our story
97. 3:57I mean this this was the evidence that
98. 4:00the ninth circuit reviewed over the
99. 4:02course of five years wasn't just
100. 4:05negligent or an oversight they called it
101. 4:07more akin to active concealment I saw
102. 4:10perhaps the greatest Injustice in the
103. 4:13American judicial system I saw a state
104. 4:16that had ignored the law had ignored the
105. 4:18evidence and ignored the truth and had
106. 4:20sent a young woman at 24 years of age to
107. 4:23spend half her life on death row in
108. 4:25solitary confinement I saw a case that
109. 4:28had no basis whatsoever and I saw a
110. 4:31dirty cop at the very heart of this
111. 4:33whole story I know sometimes when I
112. 4:35think back I think wow
113. 4:38I survived that but at some point and I
114. 4:41don't know when one day it just all
115. 4:45melted into the other I don't know I
116. 4:48mean the years went by but it was like
117. 4:51one Continuous Flow for me Deborah is
118. 4:54one of the strongest people I have ever
119. 4:57known her ability to be on death row for
120. 5:0222 years in an 8 by 12 cell with no
121. 5:06contact visits with anyone including
122. 5:09family or us and sustain her fight and
123. 5:15continue to believe in herself and her
124. 5:18innocence
125. 5:20is extraordinary you can imagine
126. 5:23going to your bathroom and shutting the
127. 5:25door and saying this is where I'm going
128. 5:27to live for 25 years that's what it's
129. 5:29like to be in prison on death row in
130. 5:31Arizona I was even amazed myself by the
131. 5:36strength that I had to keep going
132. 5:38because there were days when I was so
133. 5:41tired
134. 5:42that all I wanted to do was go to sleep
135. 5:44and hoped I never woke up but innocent
136. 5:47people don't give up they don't
137. 5:51and
138. 5:52right is right and wrong is wrong and
139. 5:55you just don't go down without a fight I
140. 6:00felt that if I gave up that I was giving
141. 6:02up on my my son
142. 6:06coming up next in part two of our
143. 6:09exclusive interview with Deborah milky
144. 6:10the message she has for the man who she
145. 6:13says destroyed her life I don't advocate
146. 6:16for their execution because it's not
147. 6:19going to bring my son back the death
148. 6:21penalty for them
149. 6:23once they're executed it's over for them
150. 6:25but it's not over for me