Prosecutor Forgoes Costly Death Penalty Trial

In Alameda County, California, pros­e­cu­tors announced that they will not seek the death penal­ty against Richard Dean Wilson because it is unlike­ly that a jury would return a death sen­tence. State authories say the deci­sion to seek a life sen­tence for Wilson avoids a cost­ly death penal­ty case and saves tax­pay­er dol­lars from financ­ing a lengthy tri­al with an uncer­tain out­come. Wilson plead­ed no con­test to the mur­der of Angela Marie Bledsoe. Prosecutor Jim Anderson not­ed, ​“This was the best penal­ty phase mit­i­ga­tion I have ever seen. We thought…the like­li­hood of get­ting a death vote on this guy was small. The best we would have ever got­ten was hung jury after hung jury.” (Tri-Valley Herald, July 30, 2004) See Costs and Life Without Parole.