Pay the piper
I have discussed earlier in this space the great difficulty facing a community when the state seeks the death penalty in a criminal case. In the case I discussed earlier, the state dropped the death penalty under a plea after the county had to borrow $500,000.00 from the road repair fund to finance the prosecution.
Now another local county is facing a financial crisis due to a death penalty case:
Madison County’s fiscal problems could have an impact on the death penalty case filed earlier this year against Fredrick Baer, accused of slashing the throats of a Lapel mother and her daughter.
Baer’s attorney, Doug Long, filed a motion to dismiss the death sentence request against Baer in Madison Superior Court 1 because the county has not been paying claims submitted by the defense team.
The financial impact on these cases can be seen in comments of the prosecutor:
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said the financial situation is a concern.
“Unfortunately, we have to consider it,” Cummings said. “I don’t think we should determine if a person should be executed based on whether or not we can afford it.”
Cummings has not requested the death penalty in other cases because the outcome was in question.
“We can’t take the risk of wasting $500,000,” he said. “I have given some thought to this. We need to hear from the people who manage the money whether or not to go forward
Full story from the Anderson Herald Bulletin.
