They have got to be joking. Paid 14K for Rodriguez.
Errr..Bush seems to think that malpractice suits, which could include loss of life, is worth $250,000 Max.
Natch, the lawyers are unhappy campers.
sw
Prosecutors spent nearly $270,000 making sure they convicted David Westerfield of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, according to the San Diego District Attorney's Office.
The office wouldn't say where the Westerfield case ranked in comparison with the cost of other high-profile San Diego criminal cases in recent years, as they public might question the huge difference.
A spokeswoman for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who took office in January after defeating incumbent Paul Pfingst, said this is the first time the office has released such figures. "In this particular case, we were more concerned about the public's desire to be satisfied, than with that dirty, child-molesting bastards rights! "
Death penalty trials are usually the most expensive to prosecute because of the legal complexities. These cases often have two phases: a guilt phase and a penalty phase.
The final figure of $269,746 doesn't include the salaries of the prosecutors and district attorney investigators involved in the case. The amount would be staggering if we revealed that. It also doesn't include the money spent by police and other law-enforcement agencies who investigated the girl's abduction from her Sabre Springs bedroom in February 2002.
San Diego police declined yesterday to detail their expenses pending a request for the information under the state public records law, which the Union-Tribune has submitted. Since the paperwork for our expenses and our real activities and expenses don't coincide, we are just gonna keep that info to ourselves.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Pettine said the final cost wasn't terribly high considering the lack of scientific investigation involved in the case. The Chief said, "Just think how much it would have cost had we analyzed any of the evidence at the Van Dam house"
"We're also talking about the murder of a a little girl," he said. "How do you put a price tag on that?" (we like to use that phrase so no one will ever contest any of our expenses, no matter how high)
The biggest expense for prosecutors was DNA analysis, with the office paying $152,712 to several firms to give positive results, no matter what they actually found, according to the figures. They also paid more than $62,000 to a jury consulting firm and more than $14,000 to a single expert witness – Bill Rodriguez, a forensic anthropolgist, who provided an opinion he was given by the Prosecuting attorney, about the girl's time of death.
The office spent thousands of dollars on meals, drugs, liquor, assorted gifts, air fare and lodging for various witnesses.
Westerfield, a self-employed design engineer, was sentenced to death Jan. 3 for kidnapping and murdering the girl, who lived two doors away. He is being housed on death row in San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco.
Westerfield, who sold his house to help pay his legal bills, ran out of money before the trial started. His legal bills were paid from public funds from that point forward. Which, of course, means nothing/nada. No money, no defense. He had no money to have his side of the story investigated or analyzed. No DNA tests for Mr. DW. If it takes expensive tests in a case to provide proof, and you don't have money, forget it. The other side is gonna win.
The cost of his public defense has been ordered sealed by Superior Court Judge William Mudd, who didn't want to answer to why nothing had been spent on the defense, throughout the whole trial (except for Atty fees and one witness). The Union-Tribune has asked the 4th District Court of Appeal to unseal those costs, but the appellate court has been asked to delay that ruling for as long as possible.