Trial prepa­ra­tions in the death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion of James Holmes in Colorado have already cost the state about $5.5 mil­lion, and the tri­al and like­ly appeals will add sig­nif­i­cant­ly more. Holmes is accused of the mass shoot­ing in a movie the­ater in Aurora. Most of the costs — $4.5 mil­lion — have come from the salaries of per­son­nel work­ing on the case, includ­ing the pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, the judge, inves­ti­ga­tors, and vic­tims’ advo­cates. Additional court secu­ri­ty for hear­ings in the case has cost $463,000. Experts hired by the pros­e­cu­tion have been paid $220,000, and the defense team has like­ly spent a sim­i­lar amount. Holmes has plead­ed not guilty by rea­son of insan­i­ty. He offered to waive his right to a tri­al in exchange for receiv­ing a sen­tence of life with­out parole. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper called off a recent­ly sched­uled exe­cu­tion, describ­ing the death penal­ty sys­tem as flawed and inequitable, essen­tial­ly putting all exe­cu­tions on hold. (Image by Yahoo News, click image to enlarge.)

(J. Sickles, ​“Cost of Colorado the­ater shoot­ing case exceeds $5 mil­lion months before open­ing argu­ments,” Yahoo News, February 3, 2015). See Costs and Mental Illness.

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