The first man put back on death row was John Devries on February 15, 1974. He was convicted of murder while committing a robbery. He was Slated to be the first man executed under the new method, but it wasn’t meant to be, because Devries committed suicide by hanging himself with bed sheets on July 1, 1974.[17] So instead on December 7, 1982 Charlie Brooks, who was on death row for the kidnap and murder of a local mechanic, became the first man to be killed by Lethal Injection, not only in the state of Texas but in the Country.[18] One problem that some people had with the new way of Execution is that it is more expensive than the electric chair was. The expenses of the electric chair were minimal, because the only cost was the electricity used, but with the lethal injection there are costs of the chemicals that are involved in the execution along with the needed and tubes used to administer the solution.[19] The cost to have an inmate on death row today is $59.98,[20] and with the new executing methods being used today it costs the state $86 every time someone is executed.[21] So it was considerably cheaper to execute someone via the electric chair back in the mid twentieth century than it is to execute someone today using the standard method of lethal injection.
[17] Marquart, Ekland-Olsen, Sorensen,The Rope, The Chair, and The Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. 1st ed. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994
[18] Prew, Kelly. "Changes in law, public opinion ended use of electric chair." Huntsville Item Apr.
2006, Print.
[19] "Welcome to HUNTSVILLE!?; Texas and the Death Penalty." http://www.todesstrafe-texas.de/Page7b.html (accessed Nov. 15, 2009).
[20]"Texas Execution Procedures and History." http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Texas-Execution- Procedures-History.htm (accessed November 17, 2009).
[21] "Welcome to HUNTSVILLE!?; Texas and the Death Penalty." http://www.todesstrafe-texas.de/Page7b.html (accessed Nov. 15, 2009).
