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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker still intends to run a bill next year to condense Utah's death penalty appeals process, even though state law enforcement officials Wednesday told legislators it's already as tight as possible.
The legislation, planned by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, would compete with a bill calling for repeal of the death penalty — a proposal that passed in the Senate earlier this year but didn't make it to the House floor before the end of the session.
After lawmakers heard from the Utah Attorney General's Office and an expert on national death penalty information, opponents of capital punishment said they felt confident legislators would recognize that abolishing the death penalty is the only cost-effective and rational choice.
"There's really no basis for an argument based on the testimony that was brought forward here today," Ralph Dellapiana, director of Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said after Wednesday's meeting of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee at the Capitol.
Andrew Peterson and Thomas Bunker, both with the Utah Attorney General's Office, told lawmakers that most delays in the appeals process happen in federal court.
"The way the statute is right now is the best that the state can do to move the cases along in both state and federal court," Bunker said.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said every cost study done in the U.S. has indicated that the death penalty is "generally far more expensive" than life in prison.
Dunham also said a "fast-track" state process could also mean more delays in federal proceedings.
"There's no argument to try to speed it up any further," Dellapiana said. "It's only going to cost more and increase the possibility of innocent people being executed, so I don't see anybody signing up to support such a bad idea."
Still, lawmakers are pushing forward with the discussion.
Ray, who did not attend Wednesday's meeting because he was traveling for work, said he'll study the information, but it's not going to "deter" him.
"People will present all different kinds of opinions, but my job is to find the most efficient and effective way," he said. "And I've met with some judges, and I've seen some areas we can make changes. Even if we take five years off of (the appeals process), that's five years we will save the taxpayer."
Ray said information presented at the meeting was "skewed" because it only addressed legal costs and not other expenses associated with life without parole sentences, such as medical costs for aging inmates.
"The reason we're talking about this is not because we're a blood thirsty Legislature and we just want to hurry up and execute everyone," said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross.
Lawmakers are "digging deep" on the costs and what makes the process take so long, Weiler said. The length of the appeals process can be difficult for victims' families, he said.
Legislative fiscal analysts estimate a capital murder case from trial to execution in Utah costs state and local governments $1.6 million more on average than a life without parole case.
Nine condemned death-row killers in Utah have yet to exhaust all of their appeals in state and federal courts. The average length of stay on death row among those men is just over 23 years, with Ron Lafferty and Douglas Carter being the longest at 31 years, and Floyd Maestas the shortest at eight years.
The last person to be executed in Utah was Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was killed by firing squad in 2010 after spending 24 years on death row.
Last year, the Utah Legislature passed a law — also sponsored by Ray — to bring back the firing squad if the lethal injection drugs aren't available. Pharmaceutical companies no longer sell the drugs for that purpose.
Ray has said he believes there's a "98 percent chance" the state's next execution will be by firing squad. Email: kmckellar@deseretnews.com Twitter: KatieMcKellar1
