Ind. county assesses cost of death penalty trial

$PHOTOCREDIT_ON$Associated Press$PHOTOCREDIT_OFF$

CROWN POINT, Ind. — Lake County officials are awaiting the final bills from the death penalty trial of a Gary man sentenced to death last week for killing his wife and two teenage stepchildren.

County officials capped the costs of Kevin Isom’s five-week trial at $750,000. Lake County Public Defender David Schneider tells The Times of Munster that defense-related costs are still being assessed.

The costs of lodging and food for the 12 jurors and four alternates sequestered throughout the trial also have not yet been determined. But County Court Administrator Martin Goldman says payroll for the jurors came to nearly $90,000.

A jury found Isom guilty last month in the August 2007 shooting deaths of his wife, Cassandra, and stepchildren, 16-year-old Michael Moore and 13-year-old Ci’Andria Cole in their Gary apartment.