I'm agaisnt the death penalty, mostly due to cost. However I don't really care what crime they are guilty of , the retarded and children should never be put to death. Period.
It's actually more expensive to feed, clothe & provide preventative medical care to inmates than it is to execute them. Gas tablets, Electricity, lethal injection... cheaper than a years worth of food alone.
Actuallly, it's not for most states.
Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
Of course it is cheaper to execute them. Just take away the appeals process and the length of time on death row. If this guy had been executed in his first year, the state would have saved 19 years of support.