Some lawyers and investigators have abused an Illinois state fund that helps pay court expenses in death penalty cases, according to a state official who called for stricter oversight.
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said he also wants to limit how much can be paid from the Capital Litigation Trust Fund for such expenses as food, travel and hotels.
His announcement this week was in response to a story published Sunday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch detailing questionable charges to the fund, which has an annual budget of about $10 million.
The newspaper said it found that some people working on death-penalty cases in Illinois have charged the fund as much as $300 an hour for driving to the jurisdiction of a trial. In one instance, a Texas psychologist billed the state $270 an hour, beginning with the 80 minutes it took to pack for his flight, the Post-Dispatch found.
Dispatches from Chicago's south side.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Ill. treasurer questions billing to execution fund
AP:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
PLEASE READ FIRST!!!! Comment Moderating and Anonymous Comment Policy
While anonymous comments are not prohibited we do encourage you to help readers identify you so that other commenters may respond to you. Either read the moderating policy for how or leave an identifier (which could be a nickname for example) at the end of the comment.
Also note that this blog is NOT associated with any public or political officials including Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer!