Last week’s arrest of four people in connection with the Rhoden family murders in Pike County has local officials pondering the staggering costs of four deaths penalty trials. But help may be on the way.

On Monday, State Auditor Dave Yost and two state lawmakers announced a proposal to allow the state to authorize funds to cover the cost of death penalty cases in some situations that involve multiple defendants and/or multiple victims.

“These cases can very quickly be hundreds of thousands of dollars and in a complex situation can easily exceed a million dollars,” Yost said. “Justice should not be a matter of affordability.”

State Representative Shane Wilkin said that for Pike County, the cost of the pending death penalty cases could represent as much as 20% of the county’s budget.

“If you’re looking at a couple million bucks for prosecuting this, it’s just devastating to a county of this size,” Wilkin said.

The cost of death penalty cases goes beyond the prosecution. Expenses for the defense, testing, expert witnesses and in some cases putting jurors up in a hotel can add up quickly. 

The proposal being drafted by Wilkin and State Sen. Bob Peterson would establish a process that would be “narrowly tailored to only capital cases with multiple defendants and/or multiple victims when both offices [Ohio Attorney General and Ohio Public Defender]agree that extraordinary conditions require state assistance.”

Yost, who will soon take over as Ohio Attorney General, said the proposal would allow the state to fulfill its obligation to make sure that difficult cases are fully prosecuted and properly defended.