Using cost angle is just a backdoor way to get what death penalty foes want

Josy Elsen waited 23 years for Nevada to execute her husband's murderer. "On March 9, 2009, Mom gave up on the justice system. She was buried last Sunday," her son Andrew Elsenhans told legislators Tuesday.

Meanwhile, convicted murderer Paul Browning is still alive. And he'll stay alive if Assembly Bill 190 becomes law.

The bill sounds innocuous enough. It asks that an auditor calculate the costs of a death penalty case against a life sentence. How much would cash-strapped Nevada save if the state eliminated capital punishment?

Nobody objects to a study, despite the fact that there have been countless studies in other states. The controversial part is that the bill also would put a moratorium on executions until July 1, 2011, while the cost is studied. Murder victims' families and prosecutors want that cut from the bill.

The fight that hasn't been won in Nevada on moral grounds is being fought now as a question of thrift. Nobody disputes that capital punishment costs more than a sentence of life without parole, a lot more, because of the mandated appeals in state and federal court.

How much is justice for your dad's murder worth?

Elsenhans and his sister Linda Stinar want legislators to know that money shouldn't drive justice. "We're not just a budget item," Elsenhans said in an interview.

In 1985, their 60-year-old father Hugo was stabbed six times with a knife while he was repairing watches at his Las Vegas jewelry store.

His killer's motive: He needed money to get bail money to get his girlfriend out of jail.

Hugo Elsen's family wants Paul Browning to die for his crime. A jury said he should die. State courts have upheld his death penalty.

"After my father was killed, my grandmother died grieving for him and my mother died waiting for justice," EIsenhans said.

However, the sponsor of the bill also has first-hand knowledge of what it's like to be a family member who lost someone to murder. Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, testified that a member of his family was murdered and the killer was given the death penalty in California.

"It had a dramatic effect upon the entire family," he testified Tuesday before the Assembly Committee on Elections, Procedures, Ethics and Constitutional Amendments.

"The reality of watching how the death of a family member tears apart a family is truly amazing to watch," Anderson said. "It moved me from being a supporter of the death penalty to being against it." The constant appeals harm the family, there are racial inequities and there is the cost, he said.

Browning's conviction is a perfect example of how the costs escalate when a murderer is sentenced to death. Browning lost his appeals in the state system, and the Nevada Supreme Court said "the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming." Now he's starting the next round of appeals n federal court.

Both sides made eloquent arguments in the hearing, and if the study is approved, the question of whether Nevada should eliminate capital punishment will be a major legislative issue in 2011.

The moral debate over sanctity of life and the possibility of killing the wrong person versus whether justice means an eye for an eye is a righteous debate.

New Mexico just banned capital punishment and Gov. Bill Richardson, who supports the death penalty, signed the bill March 18 after deciding that life without parole is a severe punishment.

But it's offensive to tell families the death penalty should be abolished because of cost. This is a moral question and using the cost angle is just a backdoor way to get what death penalty opponents couldn't get through the front door.

Fight the fight honestly. No study is needed to tell us death penalty cases are more expensive, that's a fact. Some gee-whiz number won't turn death penalty proponents into capital punishment opponents. Nor should it. That's one of the weaker arguments out there.

If your 60-year old dad was stabbed to death in his store and your mom found his body, or if your baby was slammed against the wall seven times, should the cost of justice matter?

Justice isn't just a line item in a budget.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison/.