BY ANY measure, New York State’s decision to re-enact the death penalty in 1995 has proven to be costly.
On the defense side alone, since the capital punishment law took effect on Sept. 1, 1995, the state has paid $68.4 million to lawyers representing 702 defendants charged with crimes that might warrant the death penalty. A significant portion of that sum has been absorbed in representing the 13 defendants who have gone to trial for their lives, with six being sentenced to death and seven to life without parole.
