Timed to the one-year anniversary of Debra Milke’s exoneration from death row, “Anatomy of a Confession: The Debra Milke Case” is the story of a woman who was convicted of conspiring with two men to kill her son, allegedly for an insurance payout. Twenty-three years later, Milke became the second woman on Arizona’s death row to be exonerated.

The book details Milke’s trial for murdering her four year-old son based solely on a confession she never gave. The two men who killed Christopher Milke are still on death row. Neither testified against her, nor would they implicate her. Armando Saldate, the cop who took a true confession from one killer, could not break the other one. So, he made up a confession by the boy’s mother. The trial judge hid damning impeachment evidence about Saldate. The jury believed the cop over the mother. They all believed her guilty. No one presumed her innocent.

“Anatomy of a Confession” is a vivid reminder of what America’s vaunted presumption of innocence is supposed to be all about, and what can happen when the criminal justice system fails and presumption of innocence becomes just the opposite, a presumption of guilt.

Author Gary L. Stuart teaches law and writing at Arizona State University. Prior to teaching, he practiced law for 32 years with one of Arizona’s largest law firms. He has published dozens of law review articles, op-eds, essays, and short stories, and is the author of six previous books, including “The Gallup 14”, “Miranda: The Story of America’s Right to Remain Silent,” and “Innocent Until Interrogated: The Story of the Buddhist Temple Massacre.”