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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Ind. Courts - More on "A call for a moratorium on executions"
Updating this ILB entry from August 9th, Jon Murray has a story today in the Indianapolis Star headed "Activists again seek moratorium on death penalty in Indiana." Here are some quotes from the later part of the lengthy story:
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said Indiana's rules for death-penalty cases already protect defendants by providing top-notch lawyers, with costs shared by counties and the state.Here are some earlier ILB entries on the monetary cost of the death penalty:"Whether or not there should be a death penalty is for the people and the legislature to decide," Brizzi said. "In this state, there are more than adequate protections in place that ensure that a defendant gets a fair trial and multiple appeals."
But the costs -- estimated by a state panel in 2002 at an average of $624,000 for defense and appeals, eight times what it costs when the most severe option is life imprisonment without parole -- often strain government budgets.
In western Indiana's rural Parke County, county officials increased the income tax by 0.25 percentage point in 2007 to cover the costs of a death-penalty trial that ultimately ended with a guilty plea and a life sentence. * * *
Thirty-five states have death penalty statutes.
"I think states are now willing to look at the larger question, given its costs and how little we're using it," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, based in Washington. "Prosecutors are using it sparingly, even in Texas."
Indiana's governor has said he has moral reservations about capital punishment but thinks it's fitting for the worst crimes. * * *
Among board members and official advisers to the [Indiana Coalition Acting to Suspend Executions, or InCASE] are former Kernan administration officials Tom McKenna and Jon Laramore. Another, community activist Tim Streett, supported then-Gov. Kernan's decision in January 2005 to commute the death sentence of his father's killer to life imprisonment.
Cost issues in particular, Laramore said, could resonate with people who otherwise support capital punishment.
Ind. Decisions - More on "Third trial ordered for Camm""Another Camm trial would put strain on county’s finances" is the headline to this story today by Chris Morris of the New Albany / Jeffersonville News & Tribune:Prosecuting the two David Camm murder trials and subsequent appeals have cost Floyd...
Posted in The Indiana Law Blog on June 27, 2009 09:54 AM
Law - More on "Citing Cost, States Consider End to Death Penalty"
Updating this ILB entry from Feb. 25th, the Washington Post has a similar story today by Deborah Hastings of the AP. The long story begins:-- After decades of moral arguments reaching biblical proportions, after long, twisted journeys to the nation's...
Posted in The Indiana Law Blog on March 7, 2009 12:39 PM
Law - "Citing Cost, States Consider End to Death Penalty"That is the headline to this lengthy NY Times story today by Ian Urbina. Some quotes:When Gov. Martin O’Malley appeared before the Maryland Senate last week, he made an unconventional argument that is becoming increasingly popular in cash-strapped states: abolish...
Posted in The Indiana Law Blog on February 25, 2009 08:01 AM
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 18, 2009 12:23 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts