26 March 2010 :

The Senate rejected Legislative Bill 1105 (from Omaha Sen. Brenda Council) on a 22-22 vote. LB 1105 was a proposal to study the cost of the death penalty, and Senators rejected it saying they doubted it would provide accurate information or change anyone's mind. Sen. Council, an opponent of capital punishment, was seeking approval to spend $50,000 so the University of Nebraska at Omaha could do a cost analysis. Council said national studies have shown that the average death penalty case, including trial and execution costs, is between $1 million and $3 million, as opposed to about $500,000 for the average murder case involving a life sentence. She added that between 1973 and 1999, only 3 of the 89 death-penalty trials in Nebraska resulted in an execution. Council said those death-penalty cases cost a total of $45 million, according to a state legislative study. "Questions must be raised about whether the death penalty is a wise and efficient use of taxpayer dollars," she said. Earlier this year (on Jan. 21), the Legislature turned back an attempt by Council to repeal the state's death penalty (LB 306).