Christa Pike execution: How much does it cost taxpayers to carry out a death penalty in Tennessee?

Christa Pike, Tennessee’s only woman inmate on death row, will be executed on Wednesday morning, September 30, for a murder she committed when she was 18 in 1995. Since then, she has been in prison for over 31 years now. And the price for pursuing a death penalty like hers is high, much higher than life in prison, WBIR Channel 10 reported, citing Don Bosch, a legal expert who has worked on seven capital punishment cases.

The now 50-year-old Pike is to be executed by lethal injection at 10 a.m. local time at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

"It's more expensive to seek the death penalty as a state because of the necessary layers of appeals," he told the outlet. "Remember, death is the one punishment that you can't correct after implementation."


Also Read: Christa Pike: US Supreme Court rejects last-minute bid to halt execution without any explanation

The accused gets two court-appointed lawyers for capital punishment cases compared to one for all other cases, he explains the system in Tennessee. "Those things that require psychologists and medical testimony get very expensive for the state, where those often don't exist in other types of cases," Bosch added.

Why it is difficult to calculate the exact taxpayer cost

Since 2004, ‘Tennessee hasn't provided data’ for how much the cost of capital punishment compares to a life sentence, the outlet noted. However, a multi-fold increase happens in price once the death penalty is scheduled, they explained, citing multiple studies. And taxpayers are the ones paying it.

"The comptroller has actually been asked over the years, and they've never provided that," Bosch said.

Now, since the court proceedings have ended, the expensive part of the trial is over. "It probably is going to be pretty close, the cost of imposing the death penalty on Pike, in terms of if she were to stay in prison the rest of her life."

Also Read: Christa Pike killed a 19-year-old girl in 1995 when she herself was 18 years old, now 31 years later she is set to become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in 200 years; here are details of the gruesome crime

Death penalty cases can cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars before execution

A 2016 article, by KARE 11, said Tennessee had 67 inmates on death row at the time and quoted state Sen. Richard Briggs as saying that “It’s costing $600,000 in legal fees before we even get to execution.”

Briggs also pointed to the unusually long legal process involved in capital cases. “It’s taking not years, but decades before we get to that point,” he said, while also raising concerns about the possibility of executing an innocent person.

Defense attorney Don Bosch told the outlet that time that the total cost of taking a case from criminal charges to execution can be “10 to 30 times” higher than sentencing someone to life in prison.