I know this was from a few days ago, but I was out of town.  

The fact is, is that trying to get a Death conviction just by itself, usually costs millions.  Add on to that that one is not allowed to just plead guilty to the Death Penalty, so there would have to be a trial.  After that there are mandatory appeals and a whole process that they will need to go to which can take years, even if the defendant wants to die.

On average, it costs about $31k/year to house an inmate.  At 19, lets assume he lives until he is 80, that would cost the tax payers a little under $2million for over 60 years of incarceration.  A number EASILY reached by most Death Penalty trials.

So, your notion that "libs like spending other peoples money" is a little off the mark as your suggestion of going for the DP would be MORE costly.  But, its not that surprising as most conservatives that are for the DP know very little about its reality and are often unaware of their own conflicting views.