The Cost of James Holmes Death Penalty Prosecution

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Sat May 11, 2013 at 08:43:00 AM EST
Tags: James Holmes, Aurora Theater Shootings (all tags)

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Interesting segment last night on Fox News 31 (Denver) on the cost to taxpayers of prosecuting Aurora Theater Shooting defendant James Holmes as a death penalty case. It explains the cost is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars. It brings up the Nathan Dunlap case, brought by the same office. Dunlap was recently scheduled for execution in August and a petition for clemency is pending. The cost of his case so far: $18 million.

It also points out that the D.A. turned down Holmes' offer to plead guilty and accept life without parole. I kept waiting for some former DA to come on and attempt to justify the decision to seek the death penalty. It didn't happen. Maybe they couldn't find anyone to take the other side.

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The Cost of James Holmes Death Penalty Prosecution | 8 comments (8 topical)

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I think (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Jack203 on Sat May 11, 2013 at 09:12:20 AM EST

He is a schizophrenic. He should have gotten life without parole.

i'm going out on a short limb, (none / 0) (#1)
by cpinva on Sat May 11, 2013 at 08:18:48 AM EST

and assuming said DA is planning on running for higher political office, as a lawnorder kinda guy.

: Well, good for Jeralyn (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by womanwarrior on Sat May 11, 2013 at 08:53:39 AM EST

for exposing him as a giant waster of the tax payers' dollars. I hope this gets traction with Colorado voters.

I (none / 0) (#3)
by TeresaInPa on Sat May 11, 2013 at 09:03:54 AM EST

(who don't believe in the death penalty under any circumstances) am finding Holmes sad demented clown act annoyingly overdone. Normally I think we are too critical of the insanity defense, but this time I am not finding the guy convincing. Still, I hope he avoids the death penalty. I feel sick every time we put someone to death.

So, now we know ... (none / 0) (#5)
by scribe on Sat May 11, 2013 at 03:15:05 PM EST

Law Enforcement Follies for $800, Alex:

"What is the cost to taxpayers of a politically-ambitious prosecutor's ego?"

is that really extra cost to the taxpayer, (none / 0) (#8)
by jpe on Sat May 11, 2013 at 09:41:08 PM EST

or does it represent time spent by employees that would be paid regardless? if the latter, there's still cost, just in the form of less attention to other cases, perhaps. even if that is the case I'm sure there's some cost (maybe more expert witnesses or something), but it'd be nice to get a sense of what the breakdown is.

well, (none / 0) (#9)
by bocajeff on Sat May 11, 2013 at 10:28:34 PM EST

look at it as economic stimulus for the legal and law enforcement communities.

: Light bulb moment (none / 0) (#10)
by kdm251 on Sun May 12, 2013 at 09:57:28 AM EST

Suddenly our disfuctional criminal justice system makes complete sense to me.