March 17, 2010 in Opinion

Editorial: Death row’s elimination would save state money

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Because of the irreversible nature of the death penalty, there are seemingly endless ways for defense lawyers to delay the day of reckoning.

First, there is the initial charge, trial, conviction and sentencing. Then there are appeals based on the conduct and facts of that trial. Following that is a habeas corpus appeal that challenges the conviction or sentence on constitutional grounds. Then federal courts may be asked to review the state’s handling of the constitutional issues. Beyond that, death row inmates can seek clemency from a state parole board.

Legal challenges can occur right up to the point where the state is about to administer a lethal injection. Case in point is Darold Stenson, a Clallam County man who murdered his wife and business partner 17 years ago. He was back in the news recently because his attorneys successfully challenged Washington state’s method for administering lethal injections. Two other inmates have made similar challenges.

Stenson’s lawyers argued that the state’s administration of the three-drug “cocktail” of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The trio of chemicals knocks out an inmate, then paralyzes him, then stops his heart. Bolstering the appeal is a botched execution in Ohio, which uses the same execution protocol. Executioners tried for hours to find a suitable vein and had to give up. The inmate appealed an attempted retry.

Washington state has decided to sidestep the issue by changing to single-drug injections, and the attorney general’s office is asking that appeals based on the former protocol be tossed.

If all of this sounds hopelessly technical and confusing, welcome to the reality of death penalty appeals. It’s no wonder that the last person the state lethally injected was James Elledge in 2001. But the question society should ask isn’t whether one form of execution is better than another; it’s whether the death penalty is worth pursuing at all.

We think the answer is no. Behind the mind-numbing appeals are some salient facts. According to a 2006 death penalty study by the Washington State Bar Association, “death penalty cases are estimated to generate roughly $470,000 in additional costs to the prosecution and defense over the cost of trying the same case as an aggravated murder without the death penalty and costs of $47,000 to $70,000 for court personnel. On direct appeal, the cost of appellate defense averages $100,000 more in death penalty cases than in non-death penalty murder cases. Personal restraint petitions filed in death penalty cases on average cost an additional $137,000 in public defense costs.”

That kind of spending cannot be justified, especially in an age of tight budgets. The state ought to forget about the death penalty and pursue life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. That’s the best solution to endless appeals.

To respond online, click on Opinion under the Topics menu at www.spokesman.com.

One comment on this story so far. Add yours!

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  moonlightwalkersusmc on March 20 at 12:45 p.m.

  This idea never was though out by your editorial on saving money by doing away with death sentencing in WA State, What a knee jerk reaction from the media who have no clue to the cost of housing inmates yearly. “Did you know Mr. Opinion the cost to house inmates in the easy time system within our State?” I do! In fact have fought my way through as a Correctional manager, what a silly idea. We need to reduce the appeals process and kill them faster. Life in prison is very costly. In this state, inmates have told me they come here to commit crime because its a holiday inside our fuzzy wizard of oz boys camps. If you wanna really save money then get the union under control and cut WSM “Washington State management sysytem, the good old boy/girls system that suck your tax dollars like leech. You have radicals from the 60’s running our prisons. My buddy Joe in Az. is the only Sherriff who runs law enforcement right in our country. Look towards his methods. This is an outrage! as usual the Spokeman never has a feeling for the families who have lost son, daughters, famly to animals like M. Clemens who ambushed four lakewood, Wa police in cold blood. if that freak was alive you would want him to be in prison for life. So those killers can prey on the weak within the prisons? Wow get a grip WA. Elect someone who knows how to make real cuts, some pro active within Olympia. I spend time and my money trying to make our prisons work and you write this trash fuzzy thinking. Wonder how my friends still working inside the prisons around the State felt if our elected officals even consider this silly knee jerk reaction? Bad Idea! What happen to accountability folks? have you all lost your direction with this mind set? You should be ashmed Spokesman. Come talk with my friends then we can really make reform, in prisons. With management, If you only knew?

  A former usmc moonlightwalker on point………..