The Big Spring Herald reports, "County considers capital crime insurance."
Howard County commissioners are considering joining an 85-county public defender task force in order to hold down costs of capital murder cases.
The goal of the task force is for counties to pool their resources to help pay for the rising costs of providing defense counsel for death penalty cases.
Jack Stoffregen, an attorney with the West Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases task force, addressed commissioners during their Monday meeting and said his organization could end up saving the county tens of thousands of dollars by providing qualified public defenders in capital cases.
“The cost of capital cases to counties is enormous,” he said, estimating that Howard County would end up spending anywhere between $80,000 and $200,000 per death penalty trial.
The cost to Howard County taxpayers would be slightly more than $53,000 over a four-year period, he noted.
For that cost, the task force would provide two defense attorneys, a mitigation specialist and an investigator to anyone charged with a capital crime.
Stoffregan likened participation in the task force to an insurance policy.
Earlier coverage is here.
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