Milke case on hold while Arizona high court considers appeal

PHOENIX (AP) - The case of Debra Milke has been put on hold while the Arizona Supreme Court considers prosecutors' appeal of a lower court's decision dismissing charges against the former death row inmate.

Judge Rosa Mroz of Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday canceled a scheduled Feb. 2 retrial for Milke in the 1989 killing of her 4-year-old son. Mroz cited a stay issued last week by the Supreme Court at the request of prosecutors.

Prosecutors are appealing the Arizona Court of Appeals' Dec. 11 ruling that ordered Milke's case dismissed because of prosecutors' failure to turn over evidence about a detective with a long history of misconduct and lying.

Milke was on death row for two decades before a federal appeals court in 2013 threw out her conviction.