The death penalty has cost Maryland taxpayers at least

The death penalty has cost Maryland taxpayers at least $186 million more in prosecuting and defending capital murder cases over 2 decades than would have been spent without the threat of execution, according to a study to be released today. In addition, because most death sentences in Maryland are overturned and eventually reduced to life without parole, state residents are often saddled with the high cost of a capital case and the bill for housing a convicted killer for life, the study found.
Paid for by the Baltimore-based Abell Foundation and prepared by the Urban Institute, a national, nonpartisan research organization in Washington, the study estimates that the cost of reaching a single death sentence costs the state an average of $3 million, which is $1.9 million more than a non-death penalty case costs, even after factoring in the long-term costs of incarcerating convicted killers not sentenced to death. Using data collected by a University of Maryland professor, the Urban Institute researchers examined 162 capital murder cases that were prosecuted between 1978 - when Maryland reinstated capital punishment as a sentencing option - and 1999. Maryland taxpayers have paid at least $37.2 million for each of the state’s five executions since 1978.
The 106 cases in which a death sentence was sought but not handed down in Maryland cost the state an additional $71 million. Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, noted, "This is a compelling argument against the death penalty - the enormous costs to the state's taxpayers." The costs report comes as Maryland lawmakers are debating whether to repeal the death penalty and holding hearings in Annapolis on a bill that would eliminate capital punishment as a sentencing option.
A similar bill was defeated by one vote in a Senate committee last year (see March 15, 2007).
The entire study at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/CostsDPMaryland.pdf.