Post by Reaper on Jun 15, 2009 5:50:10 GMT -5
Indiana executions at slowest pace in 15 years
South Bend, Ind. - Indiana has gone two years without an execution for the first time since the mid-1990s, and prosecutors say the decline could be a sign of things to come.
Indiana, which reinstated the death penalty in 1977, has handed down 93 death sentences since 1980. But the last person put to death was Michael Lambert, who was executed on June 15, 2007, for fatally shooting a Muncie police officer in 1991. Only two death sentences have been imposed since 2004.
US Justice Department statistics show the numnber of executions fell to 115 in 2007 from 326 two years earlier. Prosecutors and death penalty experts say time and money issues are driving the decline. A 2002 Indiana study found defense and appeals in a capital murder cost an average of $623,000 - about eight times the cost of a life without parole trial.
South Bend, Ind. - Indiana has gone two years without an execution for the first time since the mid-1990s, and prosecutors say the decline could be a sign of things to come.
Indiana, which reinstated the death penalty in 1977, has handed down 93 death sentences since 1980. But the last person put to death was Michael Lambert, who was executed on June 15, 2007, for fatally shooting a Muncie police officer in 1991. Only two death sentences have been imposed since 2004.
US Justice Department statistics show the numnber of executions fell to 115 in 2007 from 326 two years earlier. Prosecutors and death penalty experts say time and money issues are driving the decline. A 2002 Indiana study found defense and appeals in a capital murder cost an average of $623,000 - about eight times the cost of a life without parole trial.