YAKIMA – The state rarely helps counties shoulder the high costs of handling aggravated murder cases, despite a law aimed at easing the financial burden such expensive prosecutions place on counties.
An analysis of reimbursement requests made under the 1999 Extraordinary Criminal Justice Costs Act revealed that the Legislature denied three out of four counties that asked for help in 2003, 2004 and 2005, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported Sunday.
Only one county has received any help in the past two years. Grant County received $54,000 last year, when it asked for more than $282,000, and received $70,000 in 2004, the newspaper said.
“The system is not working the way it’s supposed to,” said Yakima County Prosecutor Ron Zirkle.
An aggravated murder case in Yakima County has already cost taxpayers more than $1.1 million. Two men, Jose “Junior” Sanchez and Mario “Gato” Mendez, have been accused of killing 21-year-old Ricky Causor and his 3-year-old daughter Mya during a drug rip-off in February 2005.
Yakima County asked for more than $280,000 last year, and nearly $367,000 the year before that. It got nothing. Snohomish, King and Skagit counties have also been snubbed.
The costs associated with aggravated murder cases can be astronomical, especially when prosecutors seek the death penalty. Defendants are usually poor, forcing counties to foot their legal bills.
Under the 1999 law, the Legislature acknowledged the need to reimburse counties for “unexpected” and “unplanned” costs associated with aggravated murder cases.
Legislative notes state that such cases “created a major burden on county revenues. Some counties spend 70 percent or more of their budgets on criminal justice, and the substantial costs of aggravated murder cases force counties to cut back in other service areas.”
The law did not, however, set up a budget or dedicate a pot of money to be replenished each year. Instead, counties have to submit reimbursement requests on a case-by-case basis to the Office of Public Defense, which reviews the requests against a loose set of guidelines.
The No. 1 consideration is the proportionate impact a case has on a county’s criminal justice budget. Other criteria include efficient use of resources, the extraordinary nature of the costs and a county’s ability to accommodate and anticipate the costs.
The petitions are then turned over to the chairs of the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Over the past six years, the Legislature has steadily restricted reimbursements, from a high of $975,000 split among seven counties in 2000 to $54,000 in 2005.
Zirkle has until the end of the month to decide whether to seek the death penalty in the 2005 double killing. After numerous delays, Sanchez’s lawyers recently submitted a report, hoping to spare their client’s life.
It cost nearly $900,000. No one knows exactly what expenses that money covered. Records have been sealed to prevent prosecutors from gaining strategic insight into the defense’s case.
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