The recent fed­er­al cap­i­tal tri­al of Brian Richardson in Atlanta illus­trat­ed the high costs of lit­i­ga­tion when the death penal­ty is sought. Richardson’s case required more than 30 lawyers, and cost hun­dreds of thou­sands of dol­lars in expert wit­ness fees. The U.S. Attorney’s Office assigned eight pros­e­cu­tors to the case and appoint­ed 20 pri­vate attor­neys to rep­re­sent inmates who were tes­ti­fy­ing against Richardson. The Federal Defender’s Office assigned four attor­neys and two inves­ti­ga­tors to Richardson’s defense. The office spent almost $200,000 for its experts and expens­es. Other costs to tax­pay­ers includ­ed more than $150,000 billed by men­tal health experts who planned to tes­ti­fy at tri­al, but were pro­hib­it­ed from doing so. In the end, the defen­dant was sen­tenced to life with­out parole. U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper barred the expert tes­ti­mo­ny after find­ing that pros­e­cu­tors mis­led him as to how the experts would con­duct Richardson’s men­tal health eval­u­a­tion. Two assis­tant U.S. Attorneys were also removed from the case. One was strick­en after record­ings revealed a dis­turb­ing con­ver­sa­tion between the pros­e­cu­tor and a gov­ern­ment snitch. The sec­ond pros­e­cu­tor was barred because of a con­flict of inter­est, but he con­tin­ued work­ing on the case behind the scenes, in defi­ance of the judge’s order. Brian Mendelsohn, one of Richardson’s lawyers, said, ​“This was a colos­sal waste of tax­pay­er mon­ey. Brian was will­ing to plead guilty in exchange for a life sen­tence from day one. This entire episode could have been avoided.”

Richardson was in prison for armed rob­bery and had mur­dered his cell­mate in the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. The pros­e­cu­tion took four years and result­ed in a 9‑week tri­al. The gov­ern­ment helped get reduced sen­tences for some of the inmates they brought in and who coop­er­at­ed with the pros­e­cu­tion. The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility is inves­ti­gat­ing the actions of the original prosecutors.

(B. Rankin, ​“Costs ques­tioned in failed death-penal­ty case,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 12, 2012). See Costs and Federal Death Penalty. Listen to our pod­cast on Costs.

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