I am a County Supervisor and I watched a death penalty case go through the system. After four years and over a million dollars they hadn't even seen the inside of a courtroom. After asking many questions, and receiving shocking answers about the system and speaking up loudly against it, (nobody is put to death anymore in Arizona) the County Attorney decided to take the death penalty off the table. The child killer/rapist received life without the possibility of parole until 2054.
Oh, but wait.. Now come the appeals. It's never ending with lawyers getting rich. Oh and one other piece of information: I knew the killer.