By the end of next week accused double murderer Leslie Ware, Jr. should have a new attorney and a new trial date.
Ware is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jeffrin Nolan and Terrance Alexander at the Sole Candle Shop in 2005. He could have faced the death penalty as a punishment, but after Judge Jerry Beck declared a mistrial last week Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus said he would not seek death going forward.
That means fewer taxpayer dollars being spent on the trial.
“All murder cases are expensive, however I would have to admit death penalty cases are more expensive,” said Staubus.
Staubus said when his office originally decided to pursue the death penalty against Ware he wasn't thinking much about costs.
“I think cost--if it is a factor--should be a very small factor,” said Staubus. “I think the most important factor is what is the law.”
Still, he acknowledges death penalty cases can be costly because the jury is sequestered so the state has to pay for all its meals, lodging and security during the trial, along with plenty of other costs.
“The state pays for the attorneys that represent the defendants and any experts that they might have, court reporters,” said Staubus.
Circuit Court Clerk Tommy Kerns said in the Ware case the jury was sequestered for two days before a missing tape forced Staubus to remove the death penalty from consideration, and that's saving his office money.
‘There will be no hotel involved because they're not sequestered, there will only be one meal a day, not three,” said Kerns.
However, Kerns said even if the trial did move forward as a death penalty case it wouldn't have made much of a difference.
“It is a little more than regular case, but not a tremendous amount more,” said Kerns.
The jury was only sequestered for two days before the death penalty was removed. Kerns said he estimates the trial has cost his office roughly $15,000 so far.
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