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Strange, I couldn't find a thread on this anywhere but the Politics forum and I don't want to post there.
I saw the Milke case for the first time last night on an old American Justice rerun.
I believe the detective lied about the confession. C'mon, she'd have had to have cracked in the first few minutes of the interrogation and spilled her guts very quickly to have the whole thing over with in 30 minutes if the program reported that timeline correctly. And he destroyed his contemporaneous notes after he typed up the official confession? Who does that?
I also don't agree with prosecutors who use character assassination tactics to turn the jury against the defendant like this one did with the testimony from Debra's former roommate, and her sister and father. It seems like if they have to rely on people badmouthing a suspect's character, they don't have enough to prosecute her. Just because someone is a manipulative biotch doesn't mean they're a killer.
That said, I do believe she hired her roommate to kill the child. Why would both he and his friend lie about that? AFAIK their confessions were taped -- I hope. The program indicated both men had low IQ's probably not smart enough to hatch a believable story and stick with it consistently. Why wouldn't that be enough to convict Debra without resorting to the lying detective?
I did a cursory search to see if she's going to be re-tried for the crime but didn't find anything. Has anyone heard?
Strange, I couldn't find a thread on this anywhere but the Politics forum and I don't want to post there.
I saw the Milke case for the first time last night on an old American Justice rerun.
I believe the detective lied about the confession. C'mon, she'd have had to have cracked in the first few minutes of the interrogation and spilled her guts very quickly to have the whole thing over with in 30 minutes if the program reported that timeline correctly. And he destroyed his contemporaneous notes after he typed up the official confession? Who does that?
I also don't agree with prosecutors who use character assassination tactics to turn the jury against the defendant like this one did with the testimony from Debra's former roommate, and her sister and father. It seems like if they have to rely on people badmouthing a suspect's character, they don't have enough to prosecute her. Just because someone is a manipulative biotch doesn't mean they're a killer.
That said, I do believe she hired her roommate to kill the child. Why would both he and his friend lie about that? AFAIK their confessions were taped -- I hope. The program indicated both men had low IQ's probably not smart enough to hatch a believable story and stick with it consistently. Why wouldn't that be enough to convict Debra without resorting to the lying detective?
I did a cursory search to see if she's going to be re-tried for the crime but didn't find anything. Has anyone heard?
The can't retry her as it would constitute double jeopardy. I've always thought she ha the boy murdered. The fact that the guy refuses to testify in her trials speaks pretty loudly.
The can't retry her as it would constitute double jeopardy. I've always thought she ha the boy murdered. The fact that the guy refuses to testify in her trials speaks pretty loudly.
I believe it's only double jeopardy if the jury had found her not guilty. In that case she could never be tried again for that crime.
In this case she was convicted but the conviction was overturned on appeal because the judge thought the fact that the detective had previously lied in another case should have been heard by the jury. I believe she can be tried again if the prosecutor wants to do it.
"Being a mother was something I absolutely enjoyed"<<<very, very odd.
Forensic linguistics -
"absolutely" is unnatural - an emphasis where none is needed
"enjoyed" is unnatural - motherhood isn't like watching a ball game - Milke inadvertently opens the question of motherhood being something to NOT enjoy.
"Being a mother" - she distances herself from Motherhood status very subtly. You never quit being a mom no matter if your child is on this earthly plane or the next. Most women would phrase that "BECOMING a mother" or "becoming/being a mom" (less formal).
Putting the preposition "being" first also distances her - its something she no longer identifies with. Which is inexplicable if she loved her baby.
Milke may as well be talking about a jumper she was knitting then quit.
When found guilty she says "I didn't even think it would come to that"<<whats It, Debbie?
Not the court case where you were being tried for murder, which everyone knows can go any way at all, so what do you mean by IT? The Murder Plot is what she's referring to - like a true psychopath she never expected to get caught!
"I cannot believe how wrong they got it" <<< what you'd say if you were innocent.
Having a life insurance policy on your own child, when you can barely afford gas? Come on!
"Trying to support a child and myself" instead of "Trying to support MY child and myself" or "trying to support the both of us" >> more distancing language.
ETA: just got to the bit about Ernie - this woman is another Susan Smith. Inconvenience Infanticide, its actually quite common.
What isn't usual is a female manipulating a man to do it for her. Usually they do it themselves.
Guilty as sin!
Last edited by cindersslipper; 09-17-2015 at 03:33 PM..
"Being a mother was something I absolutely enjoyed"<<<very, very odd.
Forensic linguistics -
"absolutely" is unnatural - an emphasis where none is needed
"enjoyed" is unnatural - motherhood isn't like watching a ball game - Milke inadvertently opens the question of motherhood being something to NOT enjoy.
"Being a mother" - she distances herself from Motherhood status very subtly. You never quit being a mom no matter if your child is on this earthly plane or the next. Most women would phrase that "BECOMING a mother" or "becoming/being a mom" (less formal).
Putting the preposition "being" first also distances her - its something she no longer identifies with. Which is inexplicable if she loved her baby.
Milke may as well be talking about a jumper she was knitting then quit.
When found guilty she says "I didn't even think it would come to that"<<whats It, Debbie?
Not the court case where you were being tried for murder, which everyone knows can go any way at all, so what do you mean by IT? The Murder Plot is what she's referring to - like a true psychopath she never expected to get caught!
"I cannot believe how wrong they got it" <<< what you'd say if you were innocent.
Having a life insurance policy on your own child, when you can barely afford gas? Come on!
"Trying to support a child and myself" instead of "Trying to support MY child and myself" or "trying to support the both of us" >> more distancing language.
ETA: just got to the bit about Ernie - this woman is another Susan Smith. Inconvenience Infanticide, its actually quite common.
What isn't usual is a female manipulating a man to do it for her. Usually they do it themselves.
I just finished reading A Stolen Life, The Debra Milke Story, by Jana Bommersbach, an acclaimed journalist who has been honored with 2 life-time achievement awards.
I firmly believe in her innocence. She was working for an insurance company, and the insurance policy she had with the company was for burial costs of $5,000. If she had had her son killed, then she wouldn't have been able to collect any insurance money.
I don't believe for one minute she arranged his murder. Quite clearly, it was Richard Scott and not her roommate Jim Styers.
This was a complete travesty of justice! And the media (they can't sell anything unless it's sensational) helped put her on Death Row.
I just looked her Wiki page and I was curious as to the lawsuit she filed against the State for false imprisonment of 25 years, to see if the paid her anything, and she was never paid a dime for her 25 years in Prison. In some states, if it's found someone was falsely imprisoned, there's a payout. I thought I read, one time, that the payout in TX is $80k.
She's the 157th Death Row inmate to be released.
She now travels around the country addressing Exoneree's!
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