Local News | King County's death-penalty dilemma: Soaring cost worth it? | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News King County's death-penalty dilemma: Soaring cost worth it? Seattle Times Newspaper

"The cost of prosecuting two men and a woman accused of two of the most heinous crimes in King County in recent years is $656,564 and counting.

The cost of defending them is even higher: $4.3 million, and also climbing.

Like other counties in the state, King County is struggling with the rising cost of criminal justice, which has forced Prosecutor Dan Satterberg to eliminate the jobs of 36 prosecutors since 2008. But while budget constraints have forced some counties to all but abandon death-penalty cases, King County currently has two active capital cases.

A third, last year's prosecution of Conner Schierman for killing a Kirkland family of four in 2006, has thus far cost the county $2.4 million.

The county's current death-penalty cases include the prosecution of Christopher Monfort, who is accused of ambushing two Seattle police officers, killing one, on Halloween night 2009. Two other defendants, Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe, could also face execution if convicted of the slayings of six members of Anderson's family on Christmas Eve 2007.

While trials for the three defendants are months off, defense lawyers are racking up costs for expert witnesses, investigators, forensic analysis and other elements crucial for death-penalty trials. In the meantime, prosecutors, police officers and crime-lab analysts are also tallying up costs while prepping for the trials.

Portland-based defense attorney Jeff Ellis, who handles death-penalty cases across the country, said the high costs of prosecuting death-penalty cases — which can also include years of appeals — has resulted in a drop in death-penalty cases. King County, with two cases, is an anomaly, he said.

"There is a downturn in the number of death-penalty sentences being sought and imposed because of the costs associated with them," Ellis said. "What's happening now [in King County] is a reverse of what's happening nationwide."

In 2010, there were 46 executions in the U.S., including one in Washington state — a 50 percent drop since 1999, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Satterberg defends the county's filing of death-penalty cases despite the high cost. He blames much of the increased costs on what he calls an "industry" that has been created by death-penalty attorneys."