McVeigh trial cost: $13.8 million

[Greg Newby]

>From http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010629/ts/crime_mcveigh_dc_1.html ,
an article on the high cost of seeking the death penalty.
Unfortunately, it doesn't give any details on the average
cost of a "regular" trial...but of course, this was no
regular trial, so an average wouldn't be meaningful.

For the enterprising list readers among us: it sounds like providing
expert testimony is a pretty lucrative vocation!
 -- Greg

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McVeigh's Bombing Trial Cost $13.8 Million

DENVER (Reuters) - Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (news -
web sites)'s 1997 trial in Denver cost U.S. taxpayers $13.8 million,
according to figures released on Friday by U.S. District Judge Richard
Matsch who presided over the trial.

McVeigh was executed on June 11 in a federal prison in Terre Haute,
Indiana for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building
(news - web sites) that killed 168 people and injured hundreds others.

The figure, which includes $6.7 million for 19 lawyers, only covers
expenses until Aug. 14, 1997, the day McVeigh was sentenced to die.

In cases where defendants cannot afford to pay for their own defense,
the U.S. taxpayer picks up the tab.

Costs for support staff for the attorneys, housing and security came
to nearly $1.5 million and investigators were paid nearly $2 million.

A little more than $3 million was paid to experts who testified in the
trial on McVeigh's behalf.

Travel expenses added up to $541,885, although some of that expense
also covered work done for McVeigh's former army buddy and
co-defendant Terry Nichols who was tried separately and sentenced to
life in prison for his role.

The court expects to release figures on the cost after the sentencing,
but no date has been set for that, Matsch's spokesman, James
Manspeaker said.