Cost of Justice?

The cost of the Peterson trial was very high. As of 19 November, 2004, the state had expended 2.1 million dollars and the defense has spent $320,000. Not only had the state outspent the defense by over 6.5 to one, the prosecution took an inordinate amount of court time to build its case. When it was the defenses turn, twenty-three weeks had elapsed and a daunting 184 prosecution witness had been called. All the time the defendant sat with a high cost legal team. The prosecution in the Eichmann trial used just ten weeks, and many of those witnesses were not germane to the case.

It was no wonder that the defense didn’t call expert witnesses of its own. There was likely no money left in the defense coffers. It might have made sense to hire a lower cost team, but the cost of supporting even a lower priced attorney for that time is far beyond the means of most citizens in this country.

We must keep in mind that expert witnesses come at a price and will require a retainer plus travel expenses. There will be a challenge to the credentials of the expert, and it is possible that the judge will reject the witnesses for the defense adding yet another layer of cost.

Thus, prosecution becomes a matter of draining the defense dry rather than presenting a sound case. I question the necessity of this kind of massive effort by the prosecution. If the case were well made, much of the time and expense would be not needed. If the case were so flimsy that the only way to win was to outspend the defense and to make emotional appeals rather than factual proofs, then the prosecution is putting on a show. It would be better to examine the existing case to see what was there and what was needed.

Another factor to this cost is that the investigation is made with the intent of finding a specific person guilty which can skew the evidence gathered. Arendt made her point that all the evidence used to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity from World War II, has been gathered and preserved by the prosecution.

Now if Scott Peterson did kill his wife, it would not be the first time nor will it be the last that person got away with murder. Of course, if Peterson did not murder his wife, it will not be the first nor will it be the last when an innocent person is condemned to death.