COSTS: Louisiana Spent $7.7 Million on Death Penalty Defense in One Year. It Hasn’t Executed Anyone in 13 Years

According to the Louisiana Public Defender’s Office, the state spent $7.7 mil­lion on the legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of defen­dants in death penal­ty cas­es just in 2022. That total does not include the costs of pros­e­cu­tors, judges, and oth­er crim­i­nal jus­tice per­son­nel. The state has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion in 13 years and has had only one exe­cu­tion in the past 21 years. State offi­cials have attrib­uted the most recent exe­cu­tion delays to dif­fi­cul­ties obtain­ing the drugs need­ed for lethal injec­tion and has stopped set­ting execution dates.

The expens­es out­lined by the Defender’s Office involved the cost of ini­tial tri­als, appeals, and post-con­vic­tion legal chal­lenges, includ­ing the cost of expert wit­ness­es. Despite there being only 18 open cap­i­tal cas­es and two appeals in 2022, State Public Defender Rémy Voisin Starns explained that his office also rep­re­sents about two-thirds of the state’s death row, which con­sists of 62 people.

While offi­cials and juris­dic­tions are request­ing more funds for pub­lic defend­er ser­vices, the rev­enue from traf­fic court fees, which is one of the main sources of fund­ing for pub­lic defend­ers, has sharply decreased. The num­ber of traf­fic court fil­ings fell from 1.26 mil­lion in 2009 to 475,335 in 2021.