“Revelations of mistakes, cases reversed by DNA testing, all of these things have put a dent in the whole system and caused hesitation,” [Richard Deiter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center] said. “I don’t think what is happening is a moral opposition to the death penalty yet, but there is a greater scrutiny applied to the death penalty that wasn’t there before.”

The bad economy has its upside as prosecutors and the lawmakers who fund them consider whether the cost of death penalty prosecutions is worthwhile.

Mr. Deiter also said that the economic meltdown and budget constraints were dissuading prosecutors from seeking capital trials, which usually cost millions of dollars and take decades to complete.

Those "millions of dollars" are wasted as inmates languish on death row. Death penalty states struggling to cope with budget shortfalls should put an end to death penalty prosecutions and appeals.