Kansas: Will death penalty fall victim to recession?

Death penalty opponents are emphasizing a different argument in an attempt to abolish it this year: cost.

"Right now we are clearly looking at things outside the box in order to solve some of our budget deficits," said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, who introduced Senate Bill 208, which would abolish the death penalty in cases sentenced after July 1.

"Part of that process means looking at how we do business in the future of the state."

Lawmakers are working to cut this year's budget by about $300 million -- and next year's by even more.

McGinn and other death penalty opponents point to a 2003 Legislative Post Audit that showed the median cost for death penalty cases was $1.26 million through execution, compared with $740,000 for non-death penalty cases through the end of incarceration.

"It's part of the discussion that probably hasn't been had or given a very good hearing," McGinn said. "I think we really have to focus on the costs."

Supporters of the death penalty, such as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, are not convinced.

"I've never thought the death penalty should be decided by dollars andcents," he said. "It's a political decision, it's a moral decision and it's a public policy decision."

Schmidt's stance is shared by Kansas Attorney General Stephen Six and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston.

"We have a responsible death penalty statute in Kansas and I oppose this attempt to abolish it," Six said in an e-mailed statement.

The higher costs of capital cases

Capital murder cases cost more for a variety of reasons, including longer trials, the need for more expert witnesses, the number of motions typically involved and a more expensive jury selection process, said Michael Birzer, associate professor of criminology and director of the School of Community Affairs at Wichita State University.

Total costs for death penalty cases in the state -- for prosecution, defense and trials -- are unknown.

The Board of Indigent Defense Services allotted $1.9 million for defense in capital cases in fiscal 2008, which ended June 30. It would receive $1.76 million in the governor's proposed 2010 budget. The board includes the Death Penalty Defense Unit, which provides defense attorneys in capital murder cases and handles appeals.

Patricia Scalia, the board's director, estimated McGinn's proposal would save the program about $1 million in 2010, although they are still calculating an exact savings. Some money still would be needed for ongoing appeals.

Foulston said it is difficult to analyze the costs of individual cases.

"It should be remembered that costs are not driven by punishment; they are driven by the individual facts of each case," she said in a statement.

The death-penalty prosecution of Jonathan and Reginald Carr, sentenced to death in 2002 for the murders of 4 Wichitans, had no additional budget impact on the district attorney's office, she said.

She cautioned against focusing too much on the costs of capital murder trials as a reason to abolish the death penalty.

"Often the driving force is, in reality, a moral objection rather than a financial one," Foulston said. "In considering the expenses associated with death penalty litigation, there must be (an)... assessment of the loss to victims, their families and our communities."

But Bill Lucero, the Kansas facilitator for the group Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, contends that the death penalty offers families the myth that they will find closure. Victims' families are kept involved in the cases as they go through appeals, sentencing or even resentencing.

"It's just so painful for those family members to have to recount all the details and relive the trauma," he said.

"The real question is how can we cut vital services to children includingeducation, health care, mental health -- all the social serves they are in need of -- and then increase a budget for the state albatross?" he asked.

No executions since 1965

The state has put 10 men on death row since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994. But no one has been executed in Kansas since 1965.

"The irony is, after the waste of these millions of dollars, we haven't executed anyone," said Sen. David Haley, D-Topeka, who has long opposed the death penalty.

"This is one area where our financial straits are causing me relief," he said.

"Since Kansas now has the option of life without parole for the most heinous crimes, I believe justice is served for these atrocities by a lifetime behind bars."

The availability of a sentence of life without parole has bolstered the case against the death penalty, said Birzer, the WSU professor. People used to think that without the death penalty, criminals would be back on the street in 10 to 15 years.

"When you really look at this issue and study it and think, 'My gosh, we can put someone away for the rest of their lives for half the cost of putting on death row,' I think that is an effective argument," he said.

Birzer also said there is also little evidence that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

McGinn's bill is scheduled for a hearing Feb. 26-27 in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

If it passes, Kansas would join 14 other states and the District of Columbia in not having a death penalty.

Source: Wichita Eagle, Feb. 9, 2009