NAMPA — Placing an offender on death row in Idaho is more expensive than housing that inmate for life.
A costly and lengthy appeals process makes the death penalty anywhere from two to five times more expensive to administer than a life sentence, BSU criminal justice professor Michael Blankenship said.
Only one person in Idaho has been executed in the past 52 years.
First-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping are "capital offenses" and carry a possible death penalty in Idaho.
A jury must find at least one aggravating circumstance in the crime, including a previous conviction for murder, multiple murders at the same time, knowingly creating a great risk of death to many persons in the commission of the murder, murder for hire, and an "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" murder, according to state legislation.
Idaho's last execution was Keith Eugene Wells, who was 31, in 1994. Wells was convicted in the slayings of John Justad, 23, and Brandi Rains, 20, at a Boise bar.
* Since 1864, Idaho has had 27 documented executions.
* Since 1976, there have been 39 documented capital cases.
* Only one person has actually been executed in the last 52 years.
* 15 states don't have the death penalty; 35 do, plus the U.S. government and the military.
* Nationwide 1,194 people have been executed since 1976.
* California has the largest number of inmates on death row and Texas has had the most executions — 449 since 1976.
Source: idahopress.com, Feb. 15, 2010
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