Arizona Court Upholds Death Sentence for James Styers, One of 24 Inmates on Death Row for Over 20 Years

By James King Fri., Jul. 1 2011 at 1:24 PM

Arizona Department of Corrections

James Styers

The Arizona Supreme Court has again upheld the death sentence of a man who murdered his girlfriend's 4-year-old son more than 20 years ago.

Styers is one of 24 inmates who's been on Arizona's death row for two decades or more.

In a 4-1 ruling today, the court has again affirmed the death sentence for James Lynn Styers, who was convicted in the 1989 murder of Christopher Milke.

According to various media reports from the time of the murder, Styers was living with his girlfriend, Debra Jean Milke, and her son when he hatched a scheme to cash in on a $5,000 insurance policy on the 4-year-old boy's life.

Debra Jean Milke, also sentenced to death for her son's murder, dressed the boy in his favorite outfit and told him he was going to see Santa at the Metrocenter mall on December 8, 1989. Instead, Styers took the boy into the desert, near 99th Avenue and Jomax Road, where he fatally shot him and left the body.

That same day, Styers reported the boy missing.

However, during an interview with police the next day, Styers admitted to killing the boy and took authorities to the desert where he'd shot him.

Debra Jean Milke later admitted to police that she'd conspired with Styers to kill the boy and collect the life-insurance money. She told detectives it would be better to have her son die than to grow up like her husband.

According to the Associated Press, Justice Andrew Hurwitz dissented in the ruling to affirm Styers death sentence, saying Styers is entitled to a new sentencing proceeding involving a jury.

Tags:

arizona, arizona supreme court, christoher milke, death penalty, death row, debra jean milke, james styers

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Guest

Girlfriend or friend, the point is irrelevant, he was living with her a the time of the murder and had dated her previously. Seriously, our court system needs to come up with quicker ways to execute members of death row. 20+ years on death row......all 3 of them need to have their sentences handed out.

Afriend

Interesting. The record shows that police changed the story of what actually happened (five to seven shots were fired originally - not three). Also, the timeline the state came up with is in harsh conflict with all police records. How can you sustain a call for execution then? http://youtu.be/dOXmdwoctic

guest

Debra Milke was not his girlfriend. Get your facts straight or stop writing..

Perrymount1

Ok lets recap:

1. He admitted to killing the boy.2. Showed where the body is.3. Admitted it was for insurance money.4. Not claiming any type of mental condition ( that i can tell from the story )

Why has it taken over 20 years to carry out the sentence? Executions need to be televised over closed circuit TV to every inmate in the prison. They can either see what they are in for if they commit a crime that they get the death penalty.

vinceclortho1

Actually, the whole basis for the rehearing was that the 9th Circuit thought the Arizona Supreme Court had not considered evidence to PTSD (which is a mental condition).

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