April 13, 2000		2000-R-0461
COMPARISON OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT COSTS IN TEXAS AND CONNECTICUT
By: Sandra N. Bragg, Legislative Fellow

You asked us to compare the cost of a capital case involving the death penalty in Texas with one in Connecticut.

SUMMARY

We were unable to find comprehensive cost data specific to death penalty cases. According to several criminal justice officials in Texas and Connecticut, neither state compiles statistics on the cost of capital punishment on a per case basis. Further, Connecticut has not executed a prisoner since 1961 and none of the seven death row inmates' cases has reached final state and federal habeas levels. Therefore, complete data for calculating the final cost for any Connecticut death row case are not available. (State habeas challenges the legality of imprisonment after conviction in state court; federal habeas challenges the legality of imprisonment in federal court.)

The only readily available costs are for incarceration. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the approximate cost of housing a male death row inmate at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville is $48.45 per day ($17,684.25 per year or $183,739.36 based on an average10.39 years spent on death row).

According to the Connecticut Department of Correction, it costs $158.71 per day ($57,929.15 per year) to house a prisoner at the Northern Corrections facility (which houses all of the state's death row inmates and prisoners with a Level 5 classification). For fiscal year (FY) 1999-00, it will cost $405,504.05 to house all seven death row inmates.

The higher cost in Connecticut is attributable to a higher guard-to- prisoner ratio and the fact that death row inmates in Texas are securely confined to single cells for 23 hours a day.

CALCULATING THE COST OF CAPITAL CASES

There are several problems involved in trying to determine the cost of a capital case. First, there is a wide variety of costs associated with capital cases. These include costs for prosecuting and defense attorneys, interpreters, expert witnesses, court reporters, psychiatrists, secretaries, and jury consultants.

Another problem is the length and complexity of the process. Cases tend to last several years and can pass through three possible phases. The first phase includes state trial court (two trials-one to determine guilt, the other for sentence), state Supreme Court, and possible appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. The second phase is the state habeas corpus (post-conviction process) and appeals. The final phase is federal habeas corpus, which includes appeals to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and to the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael Ross was originally sentenced to death in July 1987. His case is at the first phase state Supreme Court level. (For additional information on the Connecticut death penalty appeals process, see enclosed OLR Report 2000-R-0146.)

A third problem is the way states budget money for entities that are involved with capital cases. For example, Texas and Connecticut allocate specific sums to their judicial departments. It is difficult to separate the costs each department incurs for capital cases from those for other cases.

From a data-gathering standpoint, Texas presents yet another problem. Each county (there are 254) must bear the costs of its capital cases. It is extremely difficult to get data from the counties. Dallas is the only county from which we received partial data, and we were unable to determine whether they are representative of other counties.

For all of the above reasons, the only information we were able to gather is fragmentary.

TRIAL AND APPELLATE COSTS

Texas

The Dallas District Attorney's Office estimates that it will spend $410,000 on capital case trials during FY 1999-00. The figure covers salaries for five full-time attorneys who spend half of their time working on capital punishment cases, three full-time investigators, and one full-time deputy chief who also spends half of his time on these cases.

The office estimates the cost of prosecuting appeals at $275,000 for the same period. The costs include professional services such as interpreters' fees, expert witnesses, and court reporters. Other appellate costs are not available.

We were unable to get information on defense costs.

Connecticut

Chief State's Attorney Office. The chief state's attorney office has not compiled any recent data on individual capital cases. But in FY 1998-99, it spent $333,000 on capital cases. These costs included two attorneys assigned to appellate capital cases who received salaries totaling $150,000. And the office spent $238,000 for a jury consultant's report showing jury membership to reflect that of Connecticut communities. Certain costs, such as those for expert witnesses and court reporters (among other things) are not available.

Chief Public Defender's Office. The chief public defender's office has not compiled any recent data on individual capital cases. But between 1984 to 1989, it incurred $341,556 in costs on the Michael Ross case, as follows: legal services, $252,467; investigative services, $10,913; psychiatric and psychological services, $48,868; transcripts, $18,981; and miscellaneous costs, $10,327. (Attachment 1 provides details on this case and four others on death row in 1989.)

In FY 1998-99, the annual cost to operate the office's Capital Defense and Trial Services Unit, which concentrates solely on death penalty cases, was $906,000. The unit employs five attorneys, three investigators, a social worker, and two secretaries. An additional $1,511,000 (6% of the office's FY 1998-99 total budget) was spent on expert witnesses and field work for the trials and appeals. These costs do not include expenses associated with the appointment of special public defenders or the proportionality review process.

In 1992, the Chief Public Defender's Office reported that it had incurred an estimated $348,000 in defense costs (excluding secretarial and clerical expenses) for the four Connecticut inmates who were being tried for capital cases (Table 1).

Table 1: Capital Case Defense Costs for Four Connecticut Inmates in 1992

Cases	Sedrick Cobb**	Jason Day	Richard LaPointe	Daniel Webb**	Total
Services*	$45,000	$52,000	$80,000	$74,000	$251,000
Expenses	14,000	19,000	33,000	31,000	97,000
Case Total	$59,000	$71,000	$113,000	$105,000	$348,000

Source: Division of Public Defender Services 1992 memo

*Does not include secretarial or clerical expenses.

**Still on death row as of April 10, 2000.

JUDICIAL COSTS

Neither Texas nor Connecticut courts separate capital case costs from other case costs. Thus, costs in this section are for both capital and other cases.

Texas

According to the Court of Criminal Appeals for FY 1999-00, the estimated cost for all appellate court operations is $3,823,000. Judicial and court personnel training costs are estimated at $4,027,500.

For the same period, Texas has earmarked $4 million or $25,000 per capital case, for judges to use when trying capital cases at the state habeas level. No information is available on the cost of federal habeas cases.

Connecticut

Table 2 shows $6,887,403 in FY 1999-00 expenditures relating to the appellate system. In addition, the state estimates it will spend $694,229 for judicial and court personnel training costs.

Table 2: General Fund Expenditures to the Appellate System FY 1999-00*

	Appellate Court Adjudication	Supreme Court Adjudication	Reporter of Judicial Decisions	Clerk's Office	Staff Attorney's Office	Total
Personal Services	$2,052,687	$2,189,146	$901,398	$858,142	$634,762	$6,636,135
Other Expenses	65,627	106,853	6,745	65,998	6,045	251,268
Total	$2,118,314	$2,295,999	$908,143	$924,140	$640,807	$6,887,403

Source: Judicial Branch

*Includes capital and noncapital cases

DEFENSE AND PROSECUTION HABEAS LEVEL COSTS

Texas: Defense and Prosecution

Texas will pay up to $25,000 in defense costs for each capital case at the state habeas level and another $25,000 for federal habeas levels. Any cost in addition to the $25,000 cap at either of these levels is absorbed by the county where the crime occurred.

For prosecution, the state will also pay up to $25,000 per case at the state habeas level, with any additional costs absorbed by the county.

At the federal habeas level, the Capital Litigation Division (part of the Attorney General's office) solely prosecutes capital punishment cases. Currently, there are eight attorneys in this division and their combined salaries total $487,330. But two additional attorney positions are vacant.

Connecticut

None of the seven capital cases has reached state or federal habeas levels.

EXECUTION COSTS

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, Texas has used lethal injection as the form of execution. The cost of drugs used in these executions is $86.08 per execution.

P.A. 95-16 replaced the electric chair with lethal injection as the form of execution in Connecticut. The state has not executed anyone using this method and no cost estimates are available.

Case	Factors	Pre-Trial	Trial	Post-Trial	Total
Steven Wood	Legal Services	$67,554	$78,633	$44,242	$190,429
(1982 to 1988)	Investigative Services 2
	Psychiatric/Psychological Services	9,378	39,180		48,558
	Transcripts	668		14,741	15,409
	Miscellaneous	998	27,661		28,659
	Case Total	$78,598	$145,474	$58,983	$283,055
Kevin Usry	Legal Services	$21,423	$48,832	$8,248	$78,503
(1982 to 1987)	Investigative Services	14,378	5,814		20,192
	Psychiatric/Psychological Services	4,590	7,800		12,390
	Transcripts		666	1,592	2,258
	Miscellaneous	461			461
	Case Total	$40,852	$63,112	$9,840	$113,804
Jerry Daniels	Legal Services	$11,370	$41,099	$29,145	$81,614
(1984 to 1988)	Investigative Services 3	698			698
	Psychiatric/Psychological Services	4,422	6,092		10,514
	Transcripts	990	1,099	3,778	5,867
	Miscellaneous	786	3,541		4,327
	Case Total	$18,266	$51,831	$32,923	$103,020
Michael Ross**	Legal Services	$75,078	$20,736	$156,653	$252,467
(1984 to 1989)	Investigative Services	5,584	5,329		10,913
	Psychiatric/Psychological Services	14,719	34,149		48,868
	Transcripts	1,685		17,296	18,981
	Miscellaneous	4,930	5,397		10,327
	Case Total	$101,996	$65,611	$173,949	$341,556
Mark Chicano	Legal Services	$14,283	$9,003	$11,739	$35,025
(1987 to 1989)	Investigative Services	18,581	4,707		23,288
	Psychiatric/Psychological Services	6,016	4,290		10,306
	Transcripts		202	5,000	5,202
	Miscellaneous		677
	Case Total	$38,880	$18,879	$16,739	$74,498
	Grand Total	$278,592	$344,907	$292,434	$915,933