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A debate over whether Utah should abolish the death penalty was renewed at the state Capitol on Wednesday, as lawmakers began an interim study focused on the costs of its use and the length of time between conviction and execution.
Those issues were front and center earlier this year when lawmakers came close to passing a ban on capital punishment during the 2016 legislative session that ended in March.
Then and at Wednesday's Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee hearing there was plenty of disagreement and questions about the facts: Do death penalty cases cost more, or don't they? Would the state save money or pay more if the practice ends? And what are the reasons that these cases take — on average — 21 years to move from conviction to execution.
A 2012 study by state fiscal analysts found that from trial to execution, Utah spends about $1.6 million more on each death row inmate than on those sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
"I'm not sure we should be doing justice based on cost. We should be doing justice based on justice," said Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, who challenged the numbers. "We're not going to throw out the death penalty to save money."
Analyst Gary Syphus told lawmakers the figure reflects only "direct and measurable" costs, but doesn't consider more specific information, such as medical care for geriatric inmates or ongoing legal expenses for inmates serving life sentences without parole.
The causes of delays seem more clear, according to Assistant Utah Attorney General Andrew Peterson, who said many are tied to the filing of abusive and repetitive claims by inmates and the snail-like pace of the U.S. District Court.
"The federal district court is where most of these cases linger," he said. It's unlikely Utah lawmakers could do anything to speed up the process, said Peterson, the state's capital case coordinator.
State appeals processes have improved since 2009, Peterson said, after legislators passed a law to better define what types of claims can be raised and the judiciary enacted new rules for post-conviction.
But defense attorney Richard Mauro, who represented defendants in 15 capital murder cases and is a member of the state's sentencing commission, told lawmakers he believes the state would see significant savings in a death penalty-free system.
Those reductions could include less spent on mitigation and investigative work, a reduced need for expert witnesses and savings in the courts, such as shorter trials and fewer overtime hours for court personnel and bailiffs.
Cases resulting in life-without-parole sentences see fewer, if any appeals, Mauro said. That's because most are negotiated plea deals that are conditioned on giving up the right to appeal.
Mauro said he shares the frustration of lawmakers and others that capital cases take so long, but he said defense attorneys are ethically bound to follow every thread of a case.
Of the nine men on Utah's death row, two were originally convicted as long ago as 1985. All but one of the rest were convicted before 1999, although one case was retired last year but resulted in a second capital murder conviction.
All nine have active, ongoing appeals underway.
Utah last carried out the death penalty in June 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad, drawing international attention to the state.
Data from the Utah State Courts, however, shows prosecutors from Logan to St. George are rarely pushing for capital convictions, even as they file the first-degree felony-level aggravated crimes that could include such punishments.
Since 2010, prosecutors have filed aggravated murder charges 58 times.
Such cases can result in punishments of 25 years to life, life in prison without the possibility of parole or death.
Court records show that only one of those 58 — a retrial of Doug Lovell's 1993 case — resulted in a death sentence.