So far, the costs associated with defending Brian Nichols — charged with murdering four people in a crime rampage that began at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 11, 2005 — have surpassed $1.2 million. And the trial hasn't even started yet.

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Those expenses, which could easily reach $2 million by the time the trial ends, could wipe out, as early as this month, the yearly budget of the state's Public Defender Standards Council for death penalty trials. If a jury convicts Nichols and gives him the death penalty, the automatic appeals will increase the defense costs even more in the years to come.

Death penalty cases tend to be expensive. That's something prosecutors should keep in mind when they're deciding whether to ask for the ultimate punishment. After all, it would be unfair — indeed, immoral — to put a person on trial for his life and then withhold the funds needed to give him a vigorous defense.

That means court-appointed public defenders for accused killers such as Nichols will, on occasion, run up bills in the millions of dollars to try to keep their clients off death row. These cases can be expected to strain the state-approved system that provides lawyers for other death penalty defendants, as well as the thousands of indigent clients needing attorneys to represent them against charges for non-capital crimes such as assault or forging checks.

Judge Hilton Fuller has characterized Nichols' crimes as an attack on the judicial system itself; he is accused of killing a judge, a court clerk, a sheriff's deputy and a federal officer. There is precious little in the way of precedent for this case, no standard for what an adequate defense would look like, or cost.

But the judge's prerogative is unusual in this case, too. Fuller is a retired DeKalb County Superior Court judge, appointed for this trial because Fulton judges might have been considered biased against Nichols. Fuller is unlikely to run for office again, so he won't have to explain his decisions to voters.

That may help explain why he has sealed details of expenses in the Nichols case, declaring the information off limits even to another judge. Fuller made that decision last week, after a Gwinnett County judge ordered the public defenders council to turn over expense records in all its death penalty cases. The Gwinnett judge's order came after an attorney for an indigent defendant in a capital case complained that the Nichols defense was siphoning off money he should be getting to represent his client. Fuller may have the authority to seal the expenses, but his decision serves only to fuel suspicions that Nichols' defense is excessive.

Experience in other states shows the tab for defending indigent clients in death penalty trials often goes to $500,000. (Those cases are admittedly more routine than the Nichols case.) Other states have also learned that efforts to control the costs associated with death penalty cases — for both the defense and prosecution — haven't worked.

Because of costs and other factors, New Jersey and Maryland have halted further death penalty trials while considering whether to keep their statutes or switch to a life-without-parole sentence as the maximum penalty. Colorado, which spent $50 million pursing one death penalty case over 17 years, has embarked on a large-scale sentencing reform project that could also do away with capital punishment in that state.

The Georgia Legislature, meanwhile, wants to create a study committee to reconsider how to pay for the indigent defense system. It would be a travesty if its members used that committee as an excuse to back away from the system of providing lawyers for the poor. That network was established in 2003, replacing a patchwork system which often left poor criminal defendants in the hands of incompetent attorneys.

A couple of good ideas for reform, however, have already been offered. The best of those is a bill to allow prosecutors to ask for a life sentence without a chance for parole in more murder cases. The current law unwisely restricts prosecutors, in most cases, to asking either for the death penalty or a life sentence, which carries with it a chance for parole after 30 years. (Prosecutors may ask for life without the chance for parole only if the defendant has a prior conviction for a violent felony.) Giving prosecutors that option would likely reduce the number of death penalty trials.

Meanwhile, the Legislature is considering an emergency $9.5 million appropriation in the state's supplemental budget to shore up the indigent defense system. Those funds are desperately needed.

Perhaps this controversy will lead to a larger debate over whether Georgia is well-served by a statue allowing capital punishment. Other states have started that discussion, and it's time for the citizens of this state to do so, as well. Until then, Georgians deserve to know exactly how much the death penalty costs.

— Mike King, for the editorial board (mking@ajc.com)