Federal District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein said recent­ly that seek­ing the death penal­ty against Humberto Pepin Taveras in New York is not worth the effort of pros­e­cu­tors or tax­pay­ers’ mon­ey. ​“Based on the his­to­ry of cas­es tried in met­ro­pol­i­tan New York, the chance of Pepin receiv­ing the death penal­ty is vir­tu­al­ly nil,” Weinstein said. The case against Taveras, who con­fessed to mur­der­ing two drug traf­fick­ers in the 1990s while already serv­ing more than 12 years in prison for oth­er crimes, has already cost over $750,000 in defense costs, and Judge Weinstein expects that num­ber to increase. There has only been one death sen­tence rec­om­mend­ed by a fed­er­al jury in New York since the fed­er­al death penal­ty was reen­act­ed in 1988 (Ronell Wilson in 2007). 

Taveras’ defense attor­neys respond­ed to Judge Weinstein’s sug­ges­tion and intend to peti­tion the Department of Justice pri­or to the May 12 tri­al date ask­ing DOJ not to seek the death penal­ty if Taveras pleads guilty to the mur­der charges. If they suc­ceed, Taveras will serve life in prison.

Defense attor­ney Lou Freeman said, ​“We applaud the judge’s deci­sion as fair and com­mon sense-based.” The U.S. Attorney did not respond, but his office is seek­ing the fed­er­al death penal­ty in six cas­es in that same dis­trict.
(“Judge: Death penal­ty in drug case not worth pur­su­ing,” by Anthony Destefano, Newsday​.com, March 1, 2008). See New Voices and Costs.

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