After reviewing the costs of maintaining the death penalty in Nevada, the State Legislative Auditor found that prosecuting death penalty cases costs more than half a million dollars MORE per case than prosecuting murder cases that don’t seek the death penalty. Considering that there are approx. 50 cases pending at the trial level in Clark County, it is costing Nevada taxpayers millions of dollars every year to maintain the death penalty.

 The legislative audit determined that litigation costs, including the trial and appeal phase, averaged about three times more for death penalty versus non-death penalty cases. And expenses are similar for all death penalty cases, regardless of whether a death sentence is given or not. Simply filing a death penalty case results in these costs.