"Legal costs near $7 million for defendants in 2007 Carnation slayings," is by Jennifer Sullivan in the Seattle Times. Here's the beginning of this detailed report:
Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe have been residents of King County Jail for nearly six years — far longer than any other inmate.
As the one-time couple await their respective trials that could result in the death penalty, the cost of their prosecution and defense continues to mount, a figure now approaching a combined $7 million.
And with no firm trial date in sight for either defendant, the expense of defending and prosecuting the pair in connection with the slayings of six members of Anderson’s family on Christmas Eve 2007 is the highest in preparing for a potential death-penalty case since the $12 million cost of investigating and prosecuting Green River killer Gary L. Ridgway, the most expensive in county history.
The amount, even when factoring in two defendants, already exceeds the average price of an individual death-penalty case — from trial to execution — of $3 million, as determined by a 2008 study by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.
King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg declined to talk about the case. In past interviews, he has defended the county’s filing of death-penalty cases despite the high cost.
In another case, AP reports, "State Supreme Court upholds death penalty in triple murder." It's via the Yakima Herald.
The Washington Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Dayva Cross who was sentenced to die for killing his wife and two of her daughters in 1999 in Snoqualmie.In a decision Thursday the court said the death penalty sentence could be based on an Alford plea, in which the defendant admits there is enough evidence for a conviction but doesn’t specifically plead guilty.
Cross entered an Alford plea in the stabbing deaths of his wife, Anouchka Baldwin, and two of her teenage daughters. He was arrested after a surviving girl escaped and called police.
The Washington Supreme Court ruling is available in Adobe .pdf format.
Earlier coverage from Washington begins at the link. You can also jump to earlier coverage of the Carnation case.
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