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Illinois' Capital Litigation Trust Fund

By standdown

"Taxpayers bankroll waste, inflated fees," is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report on the Illinois state fund.When prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty against Jason Smith, accused of four shotgun slayings in Belleville, a million-dollar spigot opened for more than a dozen lawyers, private investigators and others brought in to defend him. Drawing on a state fund for death penalty trials, a firearms expert drove in from Indiana, charging Illinois taxpayers $300 an hour for his 6½ hours at the wheel (ultimately, $11,700 for three round trips). A Texas psychologist joined the team, billing at $270 an hour, starting with the 80 minutes it took him to pack for his flight ? a $360 tab before he set foot here. Thick stacks of expense vouchers in the case show one Springfield consultant charged $97 for the 90 minutes it took her to make $17 worth of copies at Kinko's...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).