Statement at Colorado State Capitol Press
Conference
-- By Conor Boyle, CADP Board Member
The use of capital punishment is in the
decline across the United States. Recently
New York, New Jersey, and New Mexico joined
12 other states in abandoning the death penalty.
In New Mexico and New Jersey, legislation
to repeal the death penalty and add the possibility
of life without parole sentences was passed
and signed by those states' governors. Maryland,
Montana, New Hampshire, Kansas, and Colorado
have all had bills introduced this year to
repeal the death penalty citing mostly the
fiscal challenges of sustaining the death
penalty. Governor O'Malley of Maryland is
seeking the end of the death penalty because
it is no longer economically defensible.
Republican state senator Carolyn McGinn of
Kansas said that each case that sought life
imprisonment instead of the death penalty
could save the state $500,000. Not all of
these attempts to end the death penalty have
been successful but we see a growing awareness
of the financial waste caused by the death
penalty.
The current economic crises combined
with the unnecessary fiscal burden of the
death penalty are beginning to compromise
quality of our justice systems. Florida public
defenders and prosecutors are experiencing
furloughs due to a 15% budget cut. According
to the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association
this will cause a backlog which would result
in an increase in jail population and a decrease
in time spent on cases due to unmanageable
workloads. The National Bureau of Economic
Research stated that counties manage these
high costs by decreasing funding for highways,
police and by increasing taxes. The fact
is, no state has unlimited resources and
we have to make tough decisions. We cannot
afford to compromise the quality of our justice
system or the safety of our citizens to maintain
this out of date practice.
The costs of these
uncertainties will be diminished with the
abolition of the death penalty and the adoption
of life without parole. Let us take a moment
to compare due process when seeking the death
penalty and due process in seeking life without
parole. I've provided each of you with a
cost sheet which elaborates on what contributes
to the high costs such as:
- The increased number of attorneys that
must be assigned to a capital case.
- The
duration of capital trials, which means
additional payment for sheriffs, paralegals,
jurors, and attorneys.
- The "opportunity
costs," or
the drain on attorneys' and sheriffs' time
and resources which could have otherwise
been applied to trying other cases.
- The
appeals process for capital cases, which
requires additional attorneys who must
also be paid.
I am certainly available to answer
any questions you have about the details
of this cost sheet after all the speakers
have finished their remarks.
Colorado has the opportunity to choose between
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars
for a zero net return or redirecting the
funds our state has been wasting on the death
penalty to help Colorado's many families
who have lost loved ones to unsolved murders.
The families have suffered enough and they
deserve a better chance to learn the truth
about what happened to their family members.
Hopefully, in solving these crimes we will
also catch more killers who are still free
before they have a chance to kill again.
In the end, passage of House Bill 1274: Repeal
of the Death Penalty will make Colorado a
safer and more just state.
Cost Comparisons In Colorado Between The Death Penalty Process And Life Without
Parole
The following comparisons are based on an
analysis of a current case being tried in
the Arapahoe County Courthouse.
The number
of lawyers involved in this death penalty
case is:
- 3 prosecutors, plus 1 or 2 paid lawyers
from the Attorney General's offices
- 3 defense
attorneys, plus 1 appellate defense attorney
- 1 judge along with...
- 1 by a paid lawyer
law clerk
If
it were life without parole was being sought
in Colorado we would see:
- 2 prosecutors
- 1-2
defense attorneys
- 1 judge
That is a difference of at least 4 trained
lawyers per death penalty trial. Some have
argued that we shouldn't give so much opportunity
to the convicted and speed the trial up but
the American Bar Association requires that
all 4 attorneys are necessary for minimally
competent representation. Even with these
high standards for minimally competent representation
we have had 130 death row prisoners exonerated
since 1976.
Time and Opportunity Costs are Other Factors
to Consider
Time
The costs continue to rise when we
look at the difference in duration of trials:
If we look at the current death penalty
case being tried in Arapaho County Court
House there was 6 weeks for jury selection
and 10 weeks of trial are scheduled. This
is a total of 16 weeks. If this were a life
without parole cases may last as few as 2-3
weeks
The longer a capital trial goes on,
the more money is expended to pay sheriffs,
paralegals, investigators, detectives, and
court reporters. Each of the required 12
jurors is paid $50 a day costing tax payers
$600 a day and $5,000 for the final day of
jury selection. In addition to jury pay and
additional personnel, we should consider
a conservative estimate of $100 per attorney
per hour for a death penalty trial which
comes to approximately $10,000 per day.
Opportunity
Costs
Consider the opportunity costs of the
attorneys, sheriffs, and jurors. The longer
they are wrapped up in Death Penalty trials
the less time they are spending on other
duties such as investigating and trying other
cases. There are few studies that actually
calculate these costs but they must not be
overlooked as we evaluate all the costs of
the Death Penalty in Colorado.
After the
trial, convicted persons are given the opportunity
for appeals.
A convicted death row inmate
has attorneys he or she had during the trial
and receives an additional 3-5 while a convict
serving life without parole is afforded 1-2.
The above statement was provided at
the April 6, 2009 press
conference at the Colorado
State Capitol. A broad coalition of groups,
including Coloradans Against the Death Penalty,
rallied in support
of HB-1274.
