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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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South Carolina's taxpayers paid $648,000 for Tim Jones' death penalty trial

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Tim Jones Jr. is sitting on death row for murdering his 5 children. 

SC taxpayers paid nearly $648,000 for his death penalty trial.

Final numbers released by Lexington County officials show South Carolina taxpayers forked over $648,000 to pay for the 2-month-long death penalty trial of Tim Jones Jr.

In June, Jones was convicted of 5 counts of murder in the deaths of his 5 children, Merah; 8, Elias; 7, Nahtahn; 6, Gabriel; 2 and Abigail; 1. 

During the sentencing phase, the jury took only a few hours to sentence Jones to death. He currently sits on death row at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

According to the county, the Lexington County Clerk of Court’s Office spent $39,612.05 on expenses related to renting a van to transport jurors, food, and meals for the jury and juror pay. 

The 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office accrued expenses of $34,725.49, used to pay for their travel, transcripts and travel expenses for witnesses and experts.

The state’s public defender office spent the most money throughout the trial, as Jones claimed insanity in the deaths of his five children. 

The county said the office submitted expenses totaling $573,315.73. 

The money was used for evaluations of Jones by numerous experts and psychiatrists, transcripts, the travel expenses of witnesses and experts who testified and general legal defense expenses.

Altogether, South Carolina taxpayers paid $647,653.27 for the trial.

Lexington County taxpayers are on the hook specifically for money spent by the Clerk of Court’s Office and the Solicitor’s Office, but taxpayers from across South Carolina help foot the bill for the state’s public defender office.

Source: WIS TV news, Staff, October 30, 2019


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: South Carolina, USA
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