Murder Insurance

Regional Capital Public Defender's Office Implements Innovative Approaches to Give Counties Budget Predictability

"'None of them or anybody on the court could ever remember having a capital murder case,' Farmer said. 'That's a million dollars we don’t have. We would have had to borrow some money.'

"But through some supreme fortune, the county had just signed on to a new pilot program, a regional capital public defender's office started through a Task Force for Indigent Defense grant that plugs itself as a type of capital murder insurance for counties. That office is overseeing Thurby's defense, and the cost for attorney and defense investigation fees to Crane County will be dues paid to the office, somewhere around $4,000 a year."