Florida execution, death row costs compared to life in prison

Billy Kearse was the third Florida execution this year, after a record 19 in 2025. He killed Fort Pierce cop Danny Parrish in 1991.

Billy Leon Kearse spent 29 years on death row for killing Fort Pierce police Sgt. Danny Parrish in 1991 — and the case likely cost taxpayers over $1 million or potentially much more.

Before Kearse’s execution on March 3, his various appeals over the decades may have racked up legal fees, but research shows the cost of capital punishment outpaces that of life imprisonment sentences.

Death row inmates cost two to three times more than average prisoners serving life, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that analyzes capital punishment research.

The exact price tag for executing someone is unclear, as there is no single agency that records the various legal, medical and incarceration costs, and capital cases often toggle between state and federal courts.

But there are estimates.

A 2021 investigation by the South Florida news outlet NBC 6 found death penalty cases cost Florida taxpayers about $920,000 a month. A 2000 Palm Beach Post report estimated that capital cases cost $51 million more than life sentence cases without parole.

Similar patterns appear in other states — a 2021 report by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission using data from multiple states found that capital cases exceed life sentence cases by as much as $1 million to $3 million per case.

Why do death row cases take so long?

Capital cases tend to be more thorough in their adjudication, and the attorneys on both sides are more dedicated to exhausting every avenue before someone is put to death.

On average, capital cases can take between two to six times longer in court, according to a 2014 Kansas Judicial Council study.

Here are some of the main drivers of cost in capital cases:

Public defenders: Most death row defendants cannot afford private counsel.
Lengthy pre-trial: Capital cases take significantly longer to reach trial.
Jury selection: Prospective jurors are individually questioned on death penalty views.
Trial length: Trials last four times longer, raising costs for jurors, attorneys and court staff.
Specialized housing: Most death row inmates are housed in high-security, single-cell facilities.
Extensive appeals: Cases can reach the Florida Supreme Court, federal circuit courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kearse was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm in October 1991 and sentenced to death in March 1997.

The case since has bounced around the legal system, going before the Florida Supreme Court 11 times, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta three times and the U.S. Supreme Court another three times, according to 19th Circuit State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl.

Florida executions at record high

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Kearse’s death warrant Jan. 29, ordering the execution as the third this year. Kearse's death comes after a record 19 executions in 2025.

The governor alone signs death warrants. Beyond the record pace of executions, DeSantis has moved to make them easier to carry out. In 2023, he signed a law that allowed juries to suggest death without a unanimous vote.

Only eight of 12 jurors need to recommend the death penalty in Florida, whereas all 12 must agree in order to convict someone of first-degree murder.

Florida’s two-thirds jury threshold is the lowest in the nation, ahead of Alabama that requires at least 10 jurors to agree on the recommendation of death.

Source: tcpalm.com, Jack Lemnus, March 23, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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