Debra and Christopher
article by Stephanie
Death.
What a horrible word for a justice decision…
20 years ago,
Debra Milke had been wrongfully convicted.
20 years, think about that:
Think about all the things you’ve done during the last 20 years, all the places you have seen,
all the people you have met…
Maybe you got married, maybe you even had kids; Debra had none of it.
Debra’s life fell apart in December 1989 when her 4 years old son, Christopher, was murdered.
Debra had to face the horrible tragedy of losing her single son in terrible conditions. If you have kids, try to imagine how you would feel
if your child disappeared. Try to imagine how you would feel if his/her body was found dead, shot several times in the head…
You would surely lose your mind and howl with pain!
But you would trust the system and be assured that all will be done to find the murderer of your child. A police officer would talk to you but his goal won’t be to help you but to make you pay for the crime because he is convinced that you are implicated. He would not listen to you, would ignore your tears and tell you that you’d better say the truth.
If you were in this situation, how would you react? You would be frightened, you would freak out, not understanding what is going on. You would hear this police officer pretending that you confessed to the horrible crime, you would hear people saying that you organized the murder of your single and lovely child for reasons which don’t make any sense to you! You would be described as a terrible mother, a cold-blooded monster, whereas you have always deeply loved your child… But no-one would listen to you and after a travesty of justice, you would be condemned to death, because the words of a police officer are much more powerful than yours, because the justice did not give you one single chance to defend yourself…
Think about it and tell me, how would you feel?
20 years… 7’300 days…175’200 hours…spent in a cell, behind bars….INNOCENT.
The years go by and you are still sitting on death row, facing your own death every day… how would you feel? Do you give up the fight? Do you keep hope? Or do you cry every day? Ask yourself these questions and try to imagine how Debra feels; because this is exactly what happened to Debra. Or maybe you thought that this story was a fiction, because it sounds so unreal?? No, this is not a fiction, this is reality, the terrifying reality of the death penalty…
None of the people who live in a state, where the death penalty applies, is safe. What happened to Debra could happen to any of us, to you, to me…
After the loss of her single son, after her condemnation to death, after having spent 20 years of her life on death row, Debra keeps hope. Debra still believes that, sooner or later, the justice will finally listen to her. She still believes that, sooner or later, her innocence will be proven. It can happen but it won’t happen if we don’t help her. Do you think that suddenly the justice will realize that a mistake has been done? No. It is our goal to prove that a mistake has been done. It is our goal to prove Debra’s innocence, because, obviously, the justice failed.
All alone, Debra doesn’t have the power to do it and that’s why she needs our help.
Please join the fight and help us to save her life.
Thank you,
-Stephanie