Texas Senior District Judge C.C. Cooke, who sen­tenced three defen­dants to death, now finds the sen­tence of life with­out parole ​“more palat­able.” After a case where he doubt­ed the defendant’s guilt, Judge Cooke said, ““To be hon­est, that’s when I start­ed hav­ing some doubts about try­ing cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es. I tend­ed to believe his sto­ry.” The judge con­tin­ued, ​“I would have been more com­fort­able if he could have been locked away for life with­out parole.” In addi­tion to inno­cence, Judge Cooke found costs to be anoth­er prob­lem with the death penal­ty. ​“The last time I lec­tured on the sub­ject, a cap­i­tal tri­al cost over $3 mil­lion,” he said. ​“Well, we can keep a per­son in prison for life for about $500,000. Some say it costs too much to keep them locked up, but that does­n’t square. It’s a lot cheap­er to keep them in a 9 by 6 cell instead of pay­ing the attor­neys’ fees and all the oth­er costs that go with a cap­i­tal tri­al. Some coun­ties can’t afford it. In Brewster County, the net tax base wouldn’t pay for a cap­i­tal tri­al.” The judge con­clud­ed, ​“It’s not a debate that’s going to go away. It’s not a flaw­less sys­tem. You hope there are enough stop­gaps in the appel­late sys­tem that we don’t exe­cute an innocent person.”

(P. Kendell, ​“Judge favors sen­tence oth­er than death,” Cleburne Times-Review, April 13, 2009). See New Voices, Innocence, and Costs.

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