According to a recent news report, Indiana taxpayers spend millions of dollars to send dozens of people to death row, but more than half of those sentenced have had their convictions overturned or their sentences vacated. In addition, the rising costs of the death penalty have resulted in a more arbitrary application of capital punishment due to funding constraints in certain rural counties, a fact that has many state residents questioning the punishment’s true value. Defense expenses in capital trials can cost the state more than $500,000 per case, and that figure does not reflect the millions of additional dollars spent to pay for prosecutorial expenses, appeals, and incarceration costs. In small Indiana jurisdictions such as Pike County and Posey County, those financial figures and staffing shortages contributed to prosecutors’ decisions not to seek the death penalty. Posey County prosecutor Jodi Ubelhack, who recently faced three death-eligible cases, noted, “We only have two prosecutors that handle criminal matters. If you have 3 death penalty cases, then nothing else gets handled.” Clark County prosecutor Steven Stewart said that high costs could eventually lead to eliminating capital punishment. “Once the judges accept that and start spending that kind of money on every death penalty case, it’s only a matter of time before the public at large says it’s not worth it,” Stewart said. (WFIE News, November 20, 2004) See Costs.