The cost to Connecticut taxpayers of an 8-year-old racial-bias lawsuit by death-row inmates has topped $3.5 million, with more possible before an expected judge’s ruling, and then a possible appeal by whoever loses, the Hartford Courant reports. Fie convicted killers argue that the state’s death penalty is biased racially, ethnically, and geographically.
The Courant made a Freedom of Information Act request for data on how much the litigation has cost. The Chief Public Defender’s office has paid $1.8 million to law firms appointed to represent inmates. The public defender’s office has paid $513,000 to experts and estimates its staff’s time as worth $130,000. Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane has paid $1.05 million since 2007 to expert witness Stephan Michelson of Longbranch Research Associates of Hendersonville, N.C. The article lists many other possible expenses.