“And the final costs could be huge.”
And perhaps the greatest and most difficult to quantify cost is the further erosion of trust in law enforcement, the judicial system, and government in general.
No one in criminal justice system seems to understand the cumulative effect of the 1990s murders at the Weaver property, the Nifong travesty in North Carolina etc.
At first I started the above paragraph out with “exactly,” but distrust of government in general is a good thing. However, distrust in the criminal justice system undermines society. That criminal prosectors, police and other officials are sowing this distrust is doing great harm to the country.