Tax dollars to help defend woman accused of drowning son
by The Associated Press
Last Updated Apr 29, 2021 at 8:14 pm EDT
MIAMI — Taxpayer dollars will help cover the defence costs for a Florida woman charged with first-degree murder in the drowning death of her autistic 9-year-old son.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick ruled in an order released Thursday that Patricia Ripley, 46, is indigent for certain costs that include depositions, private investigators and experts who specialize in trying to keep defendants off Florida’s Death Row, the Miami Herald reported. Similar death penalty cases have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in experts, investigators and other expenses.